Deities that express freedom, tigers and tecuanes, colorful demons, faces with long beards, fish and calacas. Faces that look with empty eyes and dance to the sound of tradition are displayed in the exhibition. Maskers from Guerrero, from the traditional to the fantastic.
Two hundred masks hang motionless in the National Museum of Popular Cultures to allow us to appreciate not only the ritual object, but also the hands of artisan women and men, the process of elaboration, the materials and tools that preserve ancestral techniques, and at the same time, with creativity, innovate in the fantastic carvings that enrich Mexican popular art.
The dances of the peoples of Guerrero have remained resilient and in continuous reinvention: it is estimated that there are more than 300 in this entity in the southwest of the country. From the great universe of narratives, José Luis Correa, one of the curators of the exhibition, highlights the themes of the agricultural cycle, the Conquest, evangelization, military history, the parody of colonial power and transhumance.
The purpose of the exhibition is to make visible the faces of the Guerrero mask makers who contribute to the preservation of artisan traditions, their community role in festivities, as well as the innovations of Mexican popular art with the creation of fantastic carvings
the venue reports.
Multiple materials
The art of the mask maker ranges from knowing the characters of the dance, giving free rein to his creativity and using a wide variety of materials that show the biological and cultural richness of the environment. These include the quiote (or flower stem) of the maguey, wood, lacquer, animal skin, clay, cardboard and sheets, along with other elements such as horsehair and animal horns.
Three collections (the one from the National Museum of Popular Cultures, the one from Traditional Masks of Guerrero El Calehual and the one from Víctor Sandoval) make up the exhibition of the work of some 50 mask makers from Guerrero, from the Costa Chica, Lower Mountain, upper Balsas, Mountain, Sierra and towns in the center.
▲ Some 200 masks hang motionless in the enclosure located in Coyoacán to show the manufacturing process, materials and tools that preserve the ancestral techniques of the people of Guerrero.Photo Alondra Flores
The pieces are accompanied by a selection of photographs of artisans, some with tools in hand carving the pieces, others proudly displaying their creations.
One of the core areas into which the exhibition is divided highlights the point from which the whirlwind of interest in buying and collecting these faces of popular art radiated.
Ethnographer Donald Cordry set a world benchmark in the knowledge of Mexican masks and the posthumous publication of the book Mexican masks, in 1980, which had an impact on the imagination of traditional and ornamental carvings. Some pieces from Cordry’s collection are displayed in the Cristina Payán room, and “show the collage of fantastic works and rituals.”
Another great collector, Ruth Lechuga, discovered in the 1970s the appearance of spectacular masks that were different from those used in dances, offered as antiques. This production was to satisfy the new demand of tourists and for decorative purposes.
In this regard, curator Marta Turok emphasized the wisdom of the mask maker, who makes masks for the dancers as well as decorative ones. In this way, tradition is not in danger and at the same time new and original forms are invented, while the buyer who is looking for the mask is able to find a way to make it. dance mask
falls into a kind of fetishism when he does not know the dances first hand in the localities.
The exhibition Maskers from Guerrero, from the traditional to the fantasticstic It can be visited at the museum located at Hidalgo Avenue 289, Del Carmen neighborhood, Coyoacán. It will be open until March 25, 2025.