Certified Southwest
saints alive!
Don’t know a bulto from a retablo? Use this buyer’s guide to sort through the rich and continuing legacy of Hispanic devotional arts.
This painted screen by John Gonzales depicts Santa Barbara and St. John Nepomuk. Photo by Jack Parsons, courtesy of the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in Santa Fe.
David Nabor Lucero created this bulto of Santa Ana (St. Anne) with the Virgin Mary as a child, 1995, courtesy of the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in Santa Fe.
An unknown artist from the middle 1800s painted this oil on tin retablo of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad (Our Lady of Solitude) photo copyright and courtesy of Saints & Martyrs in Old Town, Albuquerque.
Another anonymous artist created the sterling silver milagro, which was made in New Mexico from an antique Peruvian design. Photo copyright and courtesy of Saints & Martyrs in Old Town, Albuquerque.
Straw inlay decorates a cross by Paula Rodriguez, 1981. Photo by Jack Parsons, courtesy of the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in Santa Fe.
This article first appeared in Spring 2008 Su Casa
Once destined for Spanish Colonial churches, today the statues of saints and angels, altarpieces, and other Hispanic religious art objects have found their way into Southwestern homes. These devotional arts have become a favorite of interior designers and homeowners who want to bring a distinctive regional accent to their decor. They have also become hot collector’s items, with values rising for antique and contemporary saints, altarpieces, crosses, milagros and ex-votos.
Hispanic devotional arts in the Southwest go back to the Colonial period, when Spanish settlers established communities in what is now New Mexico. Forging a life in the new land would have been unthinkable without metalsmiths, carpenters, carvers, and weavers. They crafted the practical necessities of everyday living—pots, pans, horse tack, house linens, and furniture—as well as religious objects for churches and personal devotions. The ingenuity of these early New Mexican craftspeople lay in rendering something precious-seeming out of the humblest materials—wood, tin, even straw—objects of great beauty that have made a lasting impression on Southwestern style.
Santos, bultos, and retablos
The term santos encompasses several categories of Hispanic religious art, including panel paintings (retablos) and elaborate altar screens (reredos), as well as freestanding carved figures (bultos). Santos served the needs of Colonial churches and lay brotherhoods (morades), but by the 1800s, people began incorporating santos into their homes. They erected altars for private devotion, elaborate displays of flowers, prayer cards, candles, and other images. Santos played the starring role in these domestic devotional spaces.
Bultos—freestanding statues of saints—are one of the most common forms of santos. Santeros (the carvers who made these saints) roughed out sections of the body, arms, head, and sometimes legs using an ax, adz, or chisels and knives, then smoothed their work with sandstone and coated them with gesso and brightly colored paint. The santero connected the body parts with wooden dowels, usually without glue, which made it easier to dress the holy figure for religious processions or feast days.
Retablos were similarly roughed out from slabs of ponderosa pine with an adz, then coated with gesso. The panel served as a blank canvas for painted decoration and a final coat of varnish to impart a slick, glossy finish. Ex-votos, a particular type of retablo, were painted on tin panels or even animal hides, portraying images of miracles or the patron praying for a miracle. In a band along the bottom, text explains what is happening in the scene or offers a personalized prayer.
Other devotional arts
In addition to santos, throughout the Southwest craftspeople have fashioned many other objects in the service of collective and individual devotion. Milagros (literally, “miracles”) are tiny metal representations of body parts and humans, animals, and objects. The devout offered milagros at pilgrimage churches, either to give thanks for an answered prayer or to lobby a particular saint for a miracle. Milagros were crafted of tin, gold, silver, iron, pewter, wood, wax, and other materials. Some shrines became so plastered with milagros that the church resold them to a vendor to be put back into circulation.
Relicarios, or lockets worn on chains, represent a lesser known but still important craft tradition. In Europe, reliquaries contained a saint’s bone or other relic in a small boxlike contraption. In the New World, Spanish and Portuguese colonists wore relicarios—minus the relic—as a locket fashioned with images of saints to provide comfort and protection against the dangers of life on the frontier.
Some of the most impressive Hispanic devotional arts are made from straw. Straw-working techniques are closely related to European marquetry, in which thin layers of different-colored materials are applied to create decorative patterns on furniture and wooden objects. Straw was a cheap alternative to precious metals such as silver or gold, which were expensive and not readily available as natural resources. These beautiful yet ephemeral straw works include crosses, boxes, chests, and panels, often with extraordinarily intricate geometric or vegetal designs.
Training your eye
The Southwest is a shopper’s extravaganza, and knowing how to tell authentic goods from cheaper wares is not always clear. Before you begin your search for that perfect collectible, visit the region’s museums to look firsthand at Hispanic devotional arts from the Colonial and later periods. Once you’ve trained your eye for what constitutes an authentic piece, you’ll be better prepared to scour the shops for an authentic treasure.
Museums with strong collections of Hispanic devotional arts include the Millicent Rogers Museum in Taos (1504 Millicent Rogers Road, 575/758-2462, millicentrogers.org). In Santa Fe, head to the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art (750 Camino Lejo, 505/982-2226, spanishcolonial.org) and, down the street, the Museum of International Folk Art (706 Camino Lejo, 505/476-1200, moifa.org). The living history museum El Rancho de las Golondrinas, outside Santa Fe (334 Los Pinos Road, 505/471-2261, www.golondrinas.org) puts these arts in their original context. In Albuquerque, visit the National Hispanic Cultural Center (1701 Fourth Street SW, 505/246-2261, nationalhispaniccenter.org). In Colorado, the Taylor Museum in Colorado Springs (30 West Dale Street, 719/634-5583, csfineartscenter.org) boasts a fine collection of santos. In Denver, the Denver Art Museum (100 West 14th Avenue Parkway, 720/865-5000, denverartmuseum.org) houses a small but impressive collection of historical santos made by artisans of southwestern Colorado and New Mexico. Also in Denver, the Dayton Memorial Library at Regis University (3333 Regis Boulevard, 303/458-4030, regis.edu/library) assembles one of the largest collections of New Mexican santos in America.
Something old, something new
If you’re considering an antique, you should buy from a reputable dealer or gallery, someone with a regional or national reputation who guarantees authenticity in writing. Ideally, buy from a dealer who specializes in Hispanic antiques, one who will patiently educate you and answer your questions. Saints & Martyrs in Albuquerque (404-A San Felipe Street NW, 505/224-9323, saints-martyrs.com) is one of the best places in the Southwest to find a unique work of the Hispanic past. Another good source is Ranchos Antique Furnishings in Ranchos de Taos (corner of Highway 68 and 518, 575/751-9323, ranchosantiques.com).
Unless you’re a serious antique collector, however, you might be better off buying a work from one of the many excellent santeros still making handmade works in traditional ways. Mostly family affairs, today’s best santeros ensure that the historical methods are passed to the next generation. In addition to traditional designs, look for creative contemporary devotional works incorporating photographs, lithographs, magazine clips, and found objects. One of the best opportunities to appreciate—and buy—authentic handmade Hispanic devotional arts is the Spanish Market in Santa Fe (July and December, 505/982-2226, spanish market.org), which hosts excellent craftspeople whose work may not be otherwise accessible. This venue provides the rare opportunity to talk with santeros face to face about their work.
Several shops in New Mexico are also good bets for quality contemporary devotional arts. In Santa Fe, head to the Móntez Gallery (125 East Palace Avenue, Suite 33, 505/982-1828, montezsantafe.com), where you will find quality bultos and retablos, ex-votos, rustic antique furniture, and unique religious art such as harder-to-find relicarios. Two galleries on Santa Fe’s Canyon Road offer a more exclusive shopping experience with a handpicked, ever-changing feast of Hispanic arts: Marc Navarro Gallery (520 Canyon Road, 505/986-8191) and Pachamama (223 Canyon Road, 505/983-4020). To see santeros at work, head to the village of Cordova, between Taos and Santa Fe. The town boasts a small yet prolific community of santeros crafting rustic pieces from juniper, aspen, and other materials.
How much?
Values for Hispanic devotional arts span a wide range, and several factors can influence the price. Is the santero known? Is the design traditional or contemporary? Did the artisan use traditional techniques? If you’re buying an antique, what is its origin and state of preservation? Rare or well-preserved antique bultos and retablos command the highest prices at art auctions and galleries specializing in Hispanic craft, and collectors compete vigorously for quality pieces made prior to 1900. Many contemporary New Mexican santos can be had for $50 to $500, making them a good value considering their uniqueness. Milagros are a real steal. Although antique, custom, or rare examples command higher prices, you can pick up many for less than a few dollars at some of the Hispanic crafts dealers in the Southwest.
When it comes to collecting Hispanic devotional arts, if you do your homework ahead of time and select something you love, you will have found a sure way to bring a distinctive and authentic Hispanic accent to your home, a one-of-a-kind piece of history hecho por mano.
Laura Morelli is the author of the “Made in” guidebook series that leads travelers to authentic shopping experiences and includes Made in the Southwest, Made in Italy, and Made in France. She is a contributing editor to National Geographic Traveler, where she writes a column called The Genuine Article. Learn more at lauramorelli.com.