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The Folk Baroque Churches of Mexico

Several pages on this site feature examples of what we term the "Folk Baroque" tradition in Mexican colonial art and architecture.*

Whether sculpted church fronts, tiled domes and facades, colorful murals, polychrome statues or painted ceilings, all may be described under the broad heading of vernacular architecture or popular art.

Now, photographer Carolyn Brown, filmmaker Quin Mathews and your editor, writer/illustrator Richard Perry, all veteran observers of Mexico, its arts and customs, are combining their talents to bring an appreciation of these art works, some well known and others obscure, to a larger public.

Together we have embarked on the creation of a sequence of exhibits, films and color catalogs designed to illustrate some of the more colorful examples in this venerable Mexican tradition.

Under the title Painting God's House: The Folk Baroque Churches of Mexico, the main locations of the project will include the Serra Missions of the Sierra Gorda, selected examples of the popular Pueblan Baroque, as well as clusters of painted facades in Oaxaca, Chiapas and Tabasco.

 

       

Heavens Above: The Painted Chapels of Michoacán

For the first of these planned multimedia exhibits we will focus on the extraordinary painted chapel ceilings of Michoacán. With the help of the local authorities, members of the team have already made two trips to the region to photograph and document these works of popular art in detail. A dedicated color catalog is in production.

The initial exhibition, entitled Heavens Above: The Painted Chapels of Michoacán, is planned for a major venue in the U.S in 2010, with other locations to follow in this country and in Mexico.

In the 16th century, under the impetus of Bishop Vasco de Quiroga, a network of so called pueblo-hospitals were built by the Franciscans and Augustinians as essential adjuncts to their missions, to convert and serve the native Tarascan communities of the region.

A central focus of each hospital compound, locally known as the guatápera, was its chapel, or yurishio in the purépecha language. These chapels were dedicated to the Virgin Mary - usually portrayed as La Purísima, or the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.

Many of these early chapels still stand, in varying states of preservation. Although generally humble in appearance and modest in their construction, with plain exteriors, inside, by contrast, the chapels were lavishly furnished and ornamented. Often the most impressive adornment was the painted wooden ceiling and choir - a decorative feature largely unique to colonial Michoacán.

While some of these ceilings remain in poor condition, suffering from neglect and other ravages of time and the elements, a number of them have survived, and several have recently been restored, notably those at Tupátaro, Nurio and Zacán. Further restoration work on the chapels is scheduled over the next four years.

Plans are under way to establish a tourist route for the chapels, to be known as La Ruta de los Cielos Historiados.

Please bookmark this page and visit us again for updates on this exciting project.

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