Painted Jewels of Transcendence in Folk Culture of Mexico and North America

THE BACKGROUND

The Christian conversion that took place across the Americas from the 15th to the 20th centuries produced two distinct, yet comparable, genres of painting: the Mexican Folk Retablo and Ex-Voto paintings of the 19th century and the African-American Outsider Visionary Folk Art from the Southern United States of the 20th century. As both of these types of painting are produced by and for individuals with no official association to a church or institution, the observer comes to understand the spiritual convictions of the common man or “folk” in their respective societies. The paintings reflect the institutional power of the church in the collective unconsciousness of these converted populations. Throughout the centuries the church has commissioned many artistic works to moralize and/or propagate its importance but in this instance, these devotional images were produced by disenfranchised people seeking or reflecting their experience of direct connection with the Christian God. Their desire to seek contact with this God was great. A sense of helplessness due to economic and social challenges imposed upon them drove these ex-slave populations to share the motivation to connect directly with divinity. Their reverent paintings are diamonds of hope, beauty created out of years of pressure from struggle, oppression and humiliation while holding a continued belief in the possibility of redemption.

I see these devotional paintings as the physical manifestation of prayers. “Conventional wisdom divides prayer into a number of categories: petition, confession, adoration, sacrifice, intercession, contemplation, thanksgiving, vows, and so on.” (p. 6, Zaleski) Despite the categorization of prayer, the intention is clear, contact with God. The paintings can be viewed as ritual elements or tokens of ritual itself. “Prayer craves ritual expression, and ritual practice virtually always includes prayer; for ritual is the sacred theater in which unfold crucial events, such as blessings of the harvest and initiation into new stages of life from birth to death, whose successful outcome depends on an appeal to divine powers”. (Zaleski, p. 10) These paintings were based on the collective cultural notions of Christianity and filled with metaphors taught to them by their Christian counselors yet styled in a manner reflecting their folk cultures. They are perfectly blended presentations of the amalgamation of Christian and non-Christian native cultures desiring to contact the Holy Spirit. Both Mexican retablo and ex-voto paintings of the 19th century and African-American outsider visionary folk art in the mid 20th century provide the viewer with insight into the world of the devout artist whose symbols and icons emerge from deep histories veiled by new spiritual interpretation.

As God is unknowable, the interpretation of God by the human hand is merely a representation. These are works painted by regular human beings not mystics. Hence, the artists or the patrons are claiming to have experienced transmission from the divine not mystical enlightenment. Christians view Jesus Christ as the incarnation of God, but in artistic renderings Jesus, Mary, the saints and angels are personified as intermediaries of God. Therefore the artworks I will be examining reveal various dimensions of the one Christian God seen from the vantage point of these two different cultures in the eyes of the unenlightened, but converted, man. I believe that discussing their choice and execution of subject will reveal how they digested the mythologies of the Christian church and provide the observer with evidence of how important Christian belief was to these individuals and their community, furthering his appreciation of the fundamentals of spiritual inspiration of the common folk. “If prayer lies at the heart of culture, then it stands to reason that the dominant prayers of a society will reveal to us its preeminent values.” (Zaleski, p. 14) This thesis will examine the cultural interpretations of Christian iconography of the peoples of Mexico and the African-Americans of the southern United States highlighting their similarities and differences by examining theme and painting style.
The folk artist is a conduit manifesting the personal, religious, cultural and ethical interests of the society to which he or she belongs. Folk art originated from the creation of necessary objects such as tombstones, quilts and religious ceremonial aids and grew into a variety of handcrafted works that localize them to a specific region. “Folk art: art created by artists who have little or no formal art education. Folk artists may work within established traditions or innovate their own distinct art forms.” (nmsu.edu/~artgal/Retabloweb/zarured/zarured.glossary.htm) Folk artists create their art primarily for themselves and/or for members of their immediate community reflecting visions of struggle and aspirations of daily or spiritual life. Folk art is simplistic and honest. Typically, folk art is made by individuals who are deeply immersed in their culture. Therefore, the individual’s expression exists within, and is enabled by, collective ethnic forms and traditions.

Christian religious iconography varies in execution from culture to culture yet the meaning remains the same. Carl Jung claims there are universal archetypes that have operated throughout time and civilizations, which are basic to humanity. Mother, father, hero, warrior and martyr are symbolic representatives of the divine that span time and culture. We find that both genres of painting being discussed utilize common representation as a means for understanding their world. As archetypes are ubiquitous, transposing the indigenous belief system to the Christian belief system was not unsettling as long as the act of worship was available. What was striking to the indigenous people was the concept of a God separate from the natural world and a world made up of dualities: right – wrong; sin – atonement; heaven – hell. Freud explains the evolutionary role of God.

"The gods retain their threefold task: they must exorcize the terrors of nature, they must reconcile men to the cruelty of Fate, particularly as it is shown in death, and they must compensate them for the suffering and privations which a civilized life in common has imposed on them….And the more autonomous nature became and the more the gods withdrew from it, the more earnestly were all expectations directed to the third function of the gods – the more did morality become their true domain. It now became the task of the gods to even out the defects and evils of civilization, to attend to the sufferings which men inflict on one another in their life together and to watch over the fulfillment of the precepts of civilization, which men obey so imperfectly. Those precepts themselves were credited with a divine origin; they were elevated beyond human society and were extended to nature and the universe.” (Freud, p. 21-22)

The evolution of man brought on the shift in his concerns from natural phenomena and the Gods that controlled nature to a God that was concerned for his personal well-being. As nature became autonomous, God had more time to concern himself with man’s fate and became a God with human qualities who devotes himself to the destiny of every man.

The introduction of this caring God conveniently paralleled the conquering and enslavement of these indigenous populations. The struggles and hardships of life were natural in the Christian dualistic view of the world. Heaven would be the reward for a righteously lived life. Christianity professed, “God is good. Unlike the gods of ancient Sumer, who appeared at best indifferent to human welfare, or the gods of ancient Greece, who were at times petty and vindictive in their dealings with mankind, the God of Catholicism loved mankind and willed man’s good.” (Woods, p.218) They could pray for assistance from this good God who cared: an omnipresent, omnipotent God having a direct concern for them. He was their personal “father” who had the power to help them through their sufferings and grant them respite from their hardships. He was also presented as moral and just. Following His teachings guaranteed entry into Heaven and His omnipotent nature bestowed miracles from which the devout could benefit.

THE MOTIVATION

The indigenous Mexicans and the African-Americans descended from socially complex civilizations closely connected to the earth. They viewed themselves as sharing an orderly world with all living beings guided by distinct Gods representing natural phenomenon and saw themselves at the mercy of unseen forces of nature. Snakes, birds, panthers, the planets and the elements are but a few important symbols of their past cultures which they carry into their art. This art feels chaotic, raw and immediate; a primitive impulse appealing to an omnipresent, omnipotent being. These genres evolved because the converted peoples incorporated the principals of Christianity while clutching aspects of their previously held belief systems. Their concerns were simple: growing and gathering food, maintaining shelter and appeasing the powerful forces of nature controlling their physical environment. But with the intrusion of an oppressor, the slave master, their concerns shifted to how they could remain alive at the hands of these tyrants. No longer were they part of a community whose members worked together in various capacities with nature. Suddenly they were members of a community of victims being persecuted by an authority desiring to exploit them and control the land under their feet; that land which they depended on for their survival. While human and animal sacrifice had once been performed with purpose, now the “sacrifice” appeared random and senseless. The Aztecs and the African peoples became slaves and pawns in a system whose sole purpose was economic success of the dictator. Their need to transcend the senseless brutality and exploitation drove them to embrace a newly introduced God who was presented to them as “good” and personally caring.

The differences between the Mexican people and the African-America people stem from their distinctly different histories. At the time of Cortez’s infiltration of the Aztec people, Tenochtitlan, ancient Mexico City, was one of the largest cities in the world (only Paris, Venice and Constantinople were larger). The Aztecs were a highly civilized and powerful nation with a propensity for violent ritual. “For the Aztecs, particularly the ruling elites, warfare and ritual were functions of their religion – a religion which, like any other, was at the heart of a complex expression of humanity’s place in nature and the cosmos.” (Joseph, p. 61) Mexico was conquered and the indigenous people made slaves by the viceroys of the Spanish monarchy. The viceroys and the Roman Catholic Church were “given” land by the monarchy and whoever happened to be living on that land became their property as a byproduct. Therefore the Indians remained in their environment and were trained to substitute offerings to Montezuma for offerings to the Spanish Monarchy or the Catholic Church. Although their rituals of worship were somewhat similar, the missionaries that infiltrated Mexico introduced a much different notion of the cosmos to the Indians. “The Aztec and the European religious concepts and practices are comparable only when one takes into consideration that both cultures are devoted to a large number of sacred images: use of table like objects as altars: offering of flowers, sacred objects and candles: and chants, prayers, and sacrifices. While the Aztec and other pre-Columbian cultures sacrificed human beings, the Catholic sacrifice of the Mass reenacted the Last Supper with offerings of bread and wine symbolizing the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ who sacrificed himself for the salvation of humanity.” (Zarur and Lovell, p.20) The shift in worship was refocused from the Aztec gods to a single universal God and a plethora of saints. The Spanish and the Catholic Church destroyed all Aztec temples and rebuilt Catholic Churches on the footprint effectively leaving any indigenous worship rituals to take place in newly created Catholic environments. Those rituals were prescribed buy a strict code established in the Nicean Creed. It dictates that the role of the Church, the Sacraments and the Mass are necessary paths one needs to take to recognize and be recognized by the Holy Spirit. The Catholic Church of Mexico held an authoritarian sacramental position regarding divinity.

“For the Indians, new gods presented no problem. They could be worshipped right alongside the older deities. In addition, to the great gods concerned with the creation and operation of the world and the nature deities (of rain, fire, water) within the indigenous pantheon, there were gods of every kind: regional, local and household gods. The calendar was carefully designed so that a festival could be held in honor of each one. To both Catholic and indigenous religious feeling, images were central. The appeal of sight and sound spoke much more directly to the Indians than religion communicated through preaching or the written word (“They come from the remotest areas to listen to music. This is how we make converts not through sermons,” wrote Bishop Juan de Zumarraga).3 The need to worship all these gods covered the land with temples. For the Indians, the temple was not only a sacred site but the highest symbol of kingdom and community. When the temples disappeared, each settlement demanded its own Christian church with its own local god: a patron saint.” (Krauze, p.71)

From this, the cult of the saint evolved and resulted in two types of paintings: the retablo and the ex-voto. Retablos are religious images painted on small metal plates that represent Christ, Mary and popular saints. They were for placement on makeshift or home altars and usually painted by artist/peddlers who sold them door-to-door or at stands in front of churches during feast days and holidays. The Spanish word retablo is a derivative of the Latin phrase retro tabulua meaning, “behind the altar”. Where once sculptures and paintings were placed behind the altar of a church, in Mexico the practice was extended into the home and wherever one may be. As Mexican life became more tumultuous and violent, it sent worshipers into the safety of their homes. An addition, the practice of pilgrimages flourished and the need for “portable” devotional objects grew.

Ex-votos are votive paintings whose tradition stems back to ancient Rome. The word ex-voto comes from Latin phrases meaning; “the promise of, “from a vow”, or “the miracle of”. Like the retablo, they are small and painted on tin but they are vignettes of personal miracles where the art commissioner has invoked the help of Jesus, Mary or a saint who has answered their prayers. That saint is included in the vignette.

“In Christian Mexico the faithful have long entered into contractual relationship with Mary, with Jesus Christ and with the angels and saints through the articulation of a promesa, or vow. Invoking a specific saint or a particularly potent image of Jesus or Mary, the person begs for divine intervention in obtaining a special favor. Among the many and varied things the petitioners an and do pray for are aid in finding employment; the restoration of health after a long illness; a spouse; the successful conception, carriage and birth of a baby; crop and livestock fertility; the safe return home of sojourners; and the successful navigation of human and natural disaster. When faced with challenges or ordeals such as these, individuals call contractually on a specific saint, Marian devotion, or cult of Christ, vowing that if a favor or divine help is granted, they will travel to that patron’s shrine, at whatever pain or cost, with votive offerings. (Giffords, p.33)

The slavery that existed in Mexico contributed to the embrace of the retablo and ex-voto genre. “Social identity in colonial Mexico was embedded in the belief that New Spain consisted of two distinct republics: republica de los indios and republica de los espanoles.” (Carrera, p. 38) The Spanish conquerors had a divided view of New Spain, as the indian population was so great and well established while the Spanish population so small and new. While skin color and cultural distinctions were convenient distinguishing characteristics, the need to retain power over the indigenous population was the main goal of the Spanish and the Church. The psychology of making a slave the enemy helps justify the injustice. No matter the social categorizations of the Spanish, the reality was they were practicing slavery, which manifested as indentured servitude.

“The pace of the global economy accelerated…and countries like Mexico, which depended heavily on the export of raw materials to the industrialized nations, experienced a frenzied pace of change which proved, in general, to be bad news for the laborers of the country. As the demand for Mexico’s exports grew, so too did the demands on labor. Working conditions in many areas – such as the tobacco plantations of the Valle Nacional in Oaxaca, the lumber camps of Chiapas, and the henequen fields of Yucatan – gained great notoriety as regions where the most barbaric forms of “slavery” were practiced. While many travelers to Mexico may certainly be accused of using the term slavery imprecisely, the conditions they described – debt servitude, extreme exploitation, corporal and even capital punishment – were harsh by any standard.” (Joseph, p.273)

In theory, the Catholic Church had outlawed slavery of Christians. Those indians that converted were granted “freedom” while the others who kept to their native religious practices could be made slaves. But in reality, religious belief did not prevent one from being made a slave. The criteria for slavery were as random and chaotic as the economy dictated.

Along with slavery, racism and conscious social identity evolved in New Spain. A whole genre of painting was dedicated to clarifying the social identity of the Mexican. Casta paintings depicted the diverse Mexican people of different racial, economic and social classes in “accurate” illustrations. The Africans brought to Mexico and the indigenous peoples were thought lesser of by the white Spanish and the white Mexican born and were exploited by many despite the laws. Yet there was a huge amount of intercultural marriage that eventually led to a common Mexican identity. In regards to the retablo and ex-voto, it should be noted that underlying these racial, economic and social differences there was a shared commitment to Catholicism. The Catholic Church preached a dogma that was embraced by all Mexicans unlike the diverse religious doctrines of North America. All peoples of Mexico used retablos and ex-votos but because the Catholic Church was a haven for the poor and indigenous, providing education, religious rites and loans to aid them, they were found more often in the homes of the poor. The indigenous peoples implemented the retablo and ex-voto more frequently as their needs for assistance and their sense of superstition, stemming from their cultural roots, were great. These paintings were most often created in farming communities and particularly in mining towns, such as in the Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, and Jalisco regions, where workers were toiling in tragic conditions.

The shadow of racism fell over North America as well but much more dramatically. Millions of African people were uprooted from their native environments and shipped like cargo to America to labor for whites in various capacities. In America, the African’s introduction to religion was complex and lengthy. Early on, plantation owners felt religious conversion was a threat to social order so they prevented missionaries from entering the plantation. “Although missionaries attempted to convert slaves to Christianity from the 1830’s to the 1870’s, they experienced many geographic, linguistic, financial, and cultural obstacles. They often had travel long distances between widely scattered plantations to attend to slaves’ spiritual needs.” (Ntloedibe, p. 96) Not only would missionaries experience difficulties in converting the African-Americans but the African-Americans saw Christianity as a “white” religion that they did not care to embrace. They were unable to reconcile the duplicity. “Yet another significant intractable challenge to slave conversion was the hypocrisy… which preached love and forgiveness while at the same time promoting slavery.” (Ntloedibe, p. 96) In addition, the physicality of African spiritual worship was unacceptable to the white Christians. The exceptions were the Methodist and Baptist faiths that allowed the African-American people to continue their methods of worship while they incorporated the Christian doctrine. Yet, it wasn’t until the Emancipation that a large percentage of the African-American population accepted Christianity when the possibilities of freedom reaffirmed the freedom spoken of in the Bible.

“Profound preoccupation with the Christian gospel is a distinctive feature of Afro-American culture. This near obsession with the “good news” proclaimed by Jesus of Nazareth is rooted in the unique Afro-American encounter with the modern world. And like every understanding of the gospel, the black Christian perspective is shaped by a particular history and culture….With the slow but sure “death of the African gods,” many blacks creatively appropriated the Christian gospel peddled by religious dissenters in American life, that is, by Methodists and Baptists. The evangelical outlook of these denominations stressed the conversion experience, equality of all people before God and intuitional autonomy…This experience equalized the status of all before God, thereby giving the slaves a special self-identity and self-esteem in stark contrast with the inferior roles imposed upon them in American society.” (West, p. 435)

The passion and suffering of Jesus spoke directly to the slave as they identified with that suffering personally and racially. “Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (Dixie, p.30) According to the gospel, victory over evil was imminent and those who believed in the gospel would experience sadness giving way to joy, despair turning to hope and life defeating death. In the face of such horrifying circumstances as slavery it was only natural for one to desperately seek resolution and spiritual justice.

“The story of Exodus inculcated in the slaves (and in their descendants) a sense of being a specially chosen people, whose election and destiny were of historic importance in the providence of God. For black Americans the Exodus story took on the force of a prophecy that directly contradicted the dominant image of America as the Promised Land. From the earliest period of their migration to America, British colonists had spoken of their journey across the Atlantic as the exodus of a New Israel from bondage in Egypt to the Promised Land of milk and honey. For African-American’s the journey was reversed: whites might claim that America was the new Israel, but blacks knew that it was Egypt, since they, like the children of Israel of old, still toiled in bondage. Unless America freed God’s African children, this nation would suffer the plagues that had afflicted Egypt.”(Dixie, p.32)

The mythology of Christianity was deeply embraced by the African American community. Their belief took on a mythic tone because, the church community notwithstanding, the black community struggled in every aspect of American society to gain respect even after the Emancipation. Fair employment practices and education were intermittent, if that. The only constant that provided reassurance in an unjust world was their belief in Jesus Christ as their Savior and the possibility of redemption. Therefore, their art is imbued with religious overtones. Created by artists who are unaware of an “art world”, their inspiration to create came from their personal and cultural desire that God bestow grace upon them. There was no knowledge of style or trends. “Unlike most early black American art, in which blacks struggled to maintain ‘a slight sense of cultural identity…and…to alleviate the oppressive condition of their lives,’ the new art, responding to ‘the sudden maturation of a (black) material culture,’ is grounded in ‘the assertion of cultural richness and racial pride.” (Metcalf, p.272) The artworks emanated authenticity and personal style.

Because America was founded on the strength and success of the “individual” the African-American artist naturally developed a bold personality and unique painting style. Names like Mose Toliver, Sister Gertrude Morgan, Elijah Pierce and William Edmonson are synonymous with African-American visionary folk art. Personalities and biographies are promoted, as their lives cannot be separated from their art. We notice that these artists live and produce art as a by-product of their devotion. We see that rather than being ‘artists’ who paint devotional imagery, these are devout people whose creations simply mirror their uninterrupted belief in the divine.

African-Americans were part of the general Protestant community, and as such are part of a tradition that favored a more direct relationship with divinity gained through both the word of God (scripture) and through the Holy Spirit (song, prayer, etc.). The Protestant community retains a stronger tie to Old Testament, which favors a personal covenant, and results in the belief that personal faith is all that is needed to achieve an encounter with the Holy Spirit. The Protestant church did not mediate one’s relationship with divinity. One’s belief alone could lead to a union with God.

The implication of this Protestant outlook is that the individual is responsible for his or her own salvation creating a desire for total immersion in the work of the Lord. The Experience of being “called”, or hearing or seeing Spirit, is often a natural outcome of a strong personal faith. This type of episode is as varied as the personal stories of these artists but what is common to the African-American artists is that moment of divine intervention.

“Sitting in my Kitchen one night I heard a great strong Voice speak to me said I’ll make thee a signet for I have chosen thee I got this calling on the 30th day of Dec in 1934 I had to answere to my calling and one day give up and Pack up and go. Are you a chosen vessel of God’s its wonderful to Be. God called me a chosed me and turned me into the hands of his son and JESUS said take up your cross and follow me.’16 Three years later, again while in the kitchen, she heard a voice say ‘Go-o-o-o-o, Preacher, tell it to the World.’ The command was repeated, she said, and after the third utterance, she ‘ran into the night’ to tell her neighbors the miracle had occurred.17”(Fagaly, p.7)

Sister Gertrude Morgan was just one of many African-American artists who claimed to receive visions and direction from God. Minnie Evans, a North Carolinian, maintained she made art because “something spoke to me like this, ‘Why don’t you draw or die? Something had my hand.”(Adele, p. 67) Many times visionary artists actually speak of a physical force that moves them. There is a matter-of-factness to the way these artists declare these visions that stems from this experience of direct relationship with divinity that Protestantism promotes. Their faith is indelible.

THEME & STYLE – AFRICAN-AMERICAN

Devotional folk art is created from the heart, and as these artists did not receive formal artistic training, the paintings exude originality. Text and imagery encourages the viewer’s belief in the divine reminding the viewer of his religious path in life. As mentioned earlier, the word of God is a means to salvation. Text on the canvas brings the Scriptures to life. It reminds the viewer of Christ’s virtues and reinvigorates the viewer’s belief in him as the Savior either by recalling the artist’s exaltation or by reminding the viewer of his feelings towards the divine or both. Therefore medium and method are secondary to their primary concern: communicating with or about God. Anything and everything is used in crafting pieces. Stone is carved, wood is carved and painted, found objects assembled, quilts sewn and any flat surface scratched, muddied or painted.

The style and the theme of African-American devotional art are closely tied together and cannot be addressed independently. The style is wide-ranging: often surreal and always psychological. The diversity of manipulated materials in this genre results in the inability to pinpoint a direct style, in the classical sense. But that diversity also suggests that this is art created by an impulse and that impulse is what binds these artists. Collectively it appeared a phenomenon that there were random, disenfranchised peoples of the American south impetuously making art but they were grouped through their prevailing Biblical themes. The eruption of impulse resulted in visual interpretation of the Bible, which can be categorized into further facets: Jesus, Mary, the Garden of Eden, the act of witnessing and various interpretations of the story of Revelations. For the purpose of this essay I will only discuss witnessing, Jesus and Mary. The concepts of Sin, guilt, shame, community and redemption are at the forefront of most of this devotional work. We can see how the experience of being an outsider in mainstream American infused their religious interpretations and influenced their choice of theme and style in their works of art.

WITNESSING

Since folk art is created and understood within it’s community, one must recognize the roots of these devotional pieces by understanding the religiosity of the American South. “Evangelical Christianity in the South, according to Samuel S. Hill, Jr., is an archetypal ‘culture-religion’ characterized by reliance on the Bible as the ‘sole reference point of belief and practice,’ a stress on ‘direct and dynamic access to the Lord,’ an individualistic sense of morality, and informal ‘low-church’ worship styles. Southern orthodoxy, according to Hill, had been characterized by an inward-looking conservatism that sees individual conversion (rather than social reform or any larger purpose) as the central role of religious institutions.” (Crown, p. 35)

One might construe that this anti-social/inward-looking attitude developed because of the public circumstances of the African-American people. Years of being denied a “voice” in a public setting fueled the experience of bearing witness. This act of “witnessing” was a necessary communal endeavor where the collective soul was restored by being acknowledged in his community.

“All of these dimensioned of bearing witness have in common a willingness to relate an intimate and compelling personal experience in a communal setting. The governing assumption is that the confession or declaration will receive a favorable reception, that is, other present will identify with its contents and recognize its sincerity. The will offer their joy or commiseration, whichever is appropriate. Restoration will be possible because their peers, through a “call and response” engagement, expressly acknowledge the truthfulness of the account proffered. They embrace the witness who tells his story in his own emotion-infused words. Emotional directness and sincerity are markers of the truthfulness of witnessing” (p.65-66, Conwill)

The concern African-American artists show to their peers is a cultural occurrence with deep historical roots. The text found on many devotional works as part of this “call and response” process. The text annihilates the possibility of the viewer deriving his own meaning. The text, at once, liberates the artist by transposing his belief to message and clearly directs the viewer to that message. “Because art performs representational, communicative, and aesthetic function in African religion and rituals, the traditional African artists sometimes doubles as a priest or spirit medium.” (Crown, p. 62) The viewer accepts the power of the artist as divine channeler while the artist reminds the viewer of the power of the Lord.

We can observe this mutual exchange in the painting of the Sister Gertrude Morgan, “There is An Eye Watching You”, 1965-1975 which she interpreted from a hymn. A rather large pink eye is painted in the middle of the white canvas surrounded by black text. The edges of the paper are painted red on three sides. She has written lyrics to a folk song surrounding the eye covering all of the canvas. She seems to have added the word “sing” at the top of the page as an afterthought as it sits on top of the beginning of the lyrics. It is a directional to the viewer. She is consciously telling the viewer how to “see” her painting. The piece is suggestive of that omniscient God watching one’s every move. It serves as a reminder to be aware and conscious that your actions matter if you desire to meet your Savior.

VERSE 1
All along on the road to the soul true aboard
There's an eye watchin' you
Ever step that you take, this great eye is awake
There's an eye watchin' you
VERSE 5
Watchin' you, watchin' you
Ever day, the course you persue
Watchin' you, watchin' you
There's an ole seein' eye watchin' you

Sister Gertrude is interpreting a known hymn, which reminds the devout to stay on their righteous path so that they may get to heaven. It is a visual intersection between the devout and the divine. The text is integral to the image as a whole adding significance to the object, the eye. The text makes the painting chaotic and the disorder of the text indicates extreme zealousness and religious fervor. Any formal elements, such as balance and brush technique, are irrelevant. The viewer cannot examine the works from a formal vantage point. It has to be seen in the context of which it was created, a black community in rural southern America.

There is a sense of the community connected to this painting although not as a result of where it was displayed. More than likely this painting remained in the personal environment of Sister Gertrude Morgan. Yet the whole foundation of its creation is rooted in her community, as it is a familiar hymn. The viewer would feel and affinity for the work because of their familiarity with that hymn. So she connects her community to the work while reminding the viewer of its message and at the same time mimicking the evangelical pattern of sermonizing.

The same can be said for her painting “CANTY”. It is a self-portrait. She is wearing a black dress with a white collar characteristic of the outfits worn by female missionaries at the time; a fact understood by a viewer from her community. It is a small piece only 4 x 6 inches showing her prior to her “marriage” to Jesus Christ. There is green color near her feet but no discernable setting and because of that, there is something surreal about the piece. She is proportionate suggesting the artist was concerned with the subject matter yet there is a great deal of text indicating that, again, her words are important. She is expressing her exalted feeling about devoting herself entirely to Jesus Christ.

CANTY/ ISA.54/ 5/
REV. 19:7/ REV./ 22.17/ SISTER/
GERTRUDE/ MORGAN/ I am/
very/ happy/ for who/ I am/ the
Bride/ of Jesus/ Christ. I/ cant
hardly/ Realize this/ is me. little/
Gertrude Williams./ Be Big dada
turned/ me over to a earthly/ man
to live a/ married life and/ then
Preserved/ me for him/ self and/
Jesus Christ./ I never did meet so
great/ a friend to/ love me as/
those two great/ men. They work/
in the spirit But/ they are Real O/
that love they/ uster have for me/
Keeps my/ heart thrilled

Although the placement of the text is not as organized as in an ex-voto, this little piece is quite similar to the ex-voto in its intention: gratitude toward and adoration of the divine. A rapturous feeling is expressed to the viewer through the text while the image is rather plain, yet one would not make sense without the other. Unlike an ex-voto with a particular saint looming on the canvas, Sister Gertrude directs her viewers to God specifically through language. She expresses herself through the written word.

THEME & STYLE – MEXICAN

A requisite of an ex-voto is text. Although it lacks the personal religious sermonizing of the African-American paintings, it shares the witnessing experience. Somewhere on the canvas there must be a statement even if it is just a few words. This text, although charming and helpful, is not essential for the viewer to derive meaning because the viewer understands the power of the dedicated saint. Being an account of an incident, the text does not actually reveal the commissioner’s personal relationship to the divine; it merely reveals that he has faith that the divine exists. It was understood that the Church was the liaison between the devout and the divine. There appears to be no “calling” by the artists like with the African-American artists because the subject matter is dictated to the artist rather than it being his personal expression. Yet there is a kind of “call and response” process in the journey of these paintings for they are not complete until they have arrived in the dedicated saint’s church to be “witnessed”.

Retablo and ex-voto paintings were produced on tin, although earlier retablos were done on canvas or copper. "Almost all of it (the tin) came from England where, at Pontypool, they had been producing machine-rolled tin plate since 1730. They shipped it in barrels, which would suggest the material came in rolls. In Mexico they cut the stock into standard sizes, the largest laminas being fourteen by twenty inches or half that, fourteen by ten inches, but the vast majority are half of that again: seven by ten inches.” (Bach, p.18) It was an inexpensive, readily available surface. The craft eventually died out as the printing industry flourished and the icons could be mass-produced from popular traditional iconography.

Like the African-American works, the ex-voto painting’s theme and style remain connected. The paintings exude personal style as do the African-American works but they remain unclaimed. These works are literally anonymous and dominated by their Baroque style with only shades of the artist’s personality. Still the style and materials are secondary to the meaning. Although sometimes skilled, the intention of the crafts persons was not to create fine art but rather to capture the essence of religious intent.

“Retablo [and ex-voto]artists concentrated on the shape of the thing and were more concerned with the contour and decorative effect than with any serious illusionistic attempts at chiaroscuro or modeling. Their art often is pervaded by a naïve view of nature that reduces details to the barest essentials.
The artists producing Retablos tended to be non-realistic, choosing to deal with what they felt and knew rather than with the life around them. The subjects were copied from other works, not painted from models, and thus tend to be abstract and conventionalized. The element holding this type of painting together is not realism but an instinctive feeling for design. Moreover, even when the intention was to produce a realistic piece, through technical limitations the results are apt to be conventionalized or unconsciously expressionistic…. Generally speaking, the drawing on Retablos is naïve, and rules of anatomy and perspective are unknown or misunderstood. All elements of the person or articles portrayed are reduced to the simplest shapes.”(Giffords, p.27-28)

The anonymity of the pieces resulted in works that at once seem impersonal and personal; anecdotes created by the unknown. The crucial concern of the ex-voto artist is expressing the miraculous experience of the patron. The artist remains a humble servant of a higher cause. This outlook parallels the religious experience of the Mexican people who were taught religious hierarchy and formality. Despite slight personal flair, the ex-voto adheres to a specific format.

Unlike the churches in North America, the Catholic Church of Mexico had established rigid rules of conduct regarding their rituals and iconography. “Mexican retablo and ex-voto painters had to ‘strictly follow the church’s official, predetermined iconography, or conventional imagery, explains Gloria Giffords.” (Zarur and Lovell, p. 32). This stringency harks back to the creed established at Nicea. It was thought that the Church officials were the spokesmen for God and therefore one must follow their dictates. Because this art was purposeful it must adhere to the church’s rules. The pieces are as personal as the African-American art yet the method and medium of each are consistent because of the Church’s dictates.

The spectator of the ex-voto paintings understands their meaning of because of their familiarity with the interpretation of the dedicated saint regardless of the description of the events that led to the dedication of the ex-voto. The Mexican people merely reflect the more authoritarian relationship with the divine that had been presented to them by the Catholic Church. The incident was unique but the saint’s image could not be tampered with.

Here we have tale of a man on a runaway mule headed for a cliff. He most assuredly thought he was going over the edge and prayed to Senor del Sacromonte to save him. The mule stopped and the gentleman commissioned this ex-voto as a “thank you” to the Senor del Sacromonte. The top two-thirds of the work shows us a man on mule-back about to be taken over a cliff. The perspective is a bit skewed although the colors are true to life: a blue sky, a brown mule, a yellow grassy mesa. Yet hovering in the sky is a sleeping figure in a canopied bed. Considering that most of the image is relatively realistic, the figure floating in the sky adds a sense of the surreal. If the text were not there the viewer could take the liberty to conjure many a different story. But, as this ex-voto was viewed in the church of the Senor del Sacromonte, the observer understood that he was the figure lying in the canopied bed and understood that the gentleman in the picture was facing a life-threatening situation and enlisted his help. Placed in the church alongside many other devotional paintings, this little image strengthens the power of the saint. Its placement becomes a part in a ritual of reverence and a confirmation of the saint’s power.
The miraculous experiences of the patron of the ex-voto and Sister Gertrude Morgan, among other African-American artists who have been “called”, say that these populations believe in an unseen spirit world. The imagery confirms their conformist behavior. They live for a future reward because the world in which they live is dangerous, unfair and unpredictable. They celebrate those moments that they perceive as magical.

JESUS

The interpretations of Christ were powerful to both the African-American and the Mexican. His suffering was palpable to both populations. The paintings of Him serve as ways to pay homage, ask for favors, find inspiration and/or derive a sense of the way the world works. In the African-American examples below, we get a glimpse of the reverence the community felt for Him.

The Mary Proctor work, “The Blood of Christ” is painted on a door making this depiction of Christ life size. She establishes Jesus, the man and allows the viewer to come face to face with Him. The reference to His blood in the text reminds the viewer of the power of the ceremonial wine and sacrament. She paints a somewhat traditional idealization of Christ, a white man with a beard and long hair. Although he is proportionate, her brushstrokes are rather loose and unrefined. The power of the work, not only comes from the subject being front and center but from the halo she’s stroked around the entire figure. As the text is white and large across the entire body, the statement seems loud. Like Sister Gertrude Morgan, Mary Proctor states, unmistakably, to the viewer, that Jesus is important to your life, that his death was meaningful to you.

The Herbert Singleton Junior work, “The Miracle of Jesus” is another painted door. Singleton cleverly uses the door panels to show six different vignettes of Jesus; in the manger, being anointed, calming the waters, preaching humbly, healing the sick, and being crucified. All of the figures are African-American set against a black background with each vignette separated by text and a figure of Jesus with open arms and a colorful fish. The text, “I promise Everybody Is Gonna EAT”, seems to address community concerns. The text combined with the miracles imagery leaves the viewer with the assumption that, of course, their suffering (hunger) will be addressed for Jesus is powerful.

Anderson Johnson, “Jesus: Behold the Man”, is a portrait of Jesus. Presented with bold colors an informal technique, Johnson paints a peaceful expression on this white, bearded rendering of Jesus. With little background, little shading and big value difference in the color, the portrait pops forward off of the canvas in a kind of a confrontational way. The halo is made up of short sharp strokes reminding the viewer of the crown of thorns. There is a kind of ambiguity and a tempering of contradictory issues going on in this piece that makes it potent. Additionally, as seen in earlier works, the text adds a punch. It is stated in a reverential tone.

Another work powered by text is “The Power of Praying” by Elijah Pierce. It is a painted wood carving of several figures. We would most likely guess the meaning without the text but the text reveals Pierce’s religious perspective. The text defines the piece. Had not the word “prayers” been painted we would not specifically know the meaning of the rays were. They may appear as Jesus’ love emanating down to the people but the way Pierce adds the words, it seems that they are invocations emanating from the people below.

We also see evidence here of the Christian notion of God as the “father”. Pierce has literally written the Father and the Son defining his Christian views. The few symbols placed in the center of the work are a star, a cross and a heart. God too has a heart place quite dramatically in the middle of his chest with a line to Jesus emphasizing the importance of love in Christianity and also remind the viewer of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The variety of Jesus’ images call to mind the Mexican ex-voto and retablo paintings that portray Jesus as a Holy Child, in the Crucifixion, with a Sacred Heart, as a Divine Face, as part of the Holy Trinity and the Holy Family. In the ex-votos we see again, the paintings of Him serving as a way to pay homage, ask for favors, find inspiration and/or derive a sense of the way the world works. Just in the category of Crucifixion alone there are several variations: The Lord of Anguishes, Lord of Mercy, Lord of Llanito, Lord of the Mount and the Lord of Wonders. They each oversee different afflictions. In retablo works Jesus’ image was idealized in terms of the Catholic idea of His perfection.

Below are examples of the Crucifixion in various forms and with various implications. All tell the viewer that Jesus image holds a powerful meaning.

Estanislado Diaz being gravely ill of an incurable leprosy; his parents Geronimo Diaz and Juana Ochoa could not find a remedy in human things, they applied the Lord of Mercy who granted his health. And in gratitude of this marvel dedicate this present [Retablo] on the 12th of….

In the year 1897 Pedro Martines came with his family in a boat from Port Veracruz and it happened that around 11 at night on the tenth day of March of the same year, the ship was going to sink, so that Martines and his family seeing themselves in this difficulty called for help to the miraculous Image of the Lord of Llanito and it having some to nothing, he shows his gratitude with this.

On the 9th of December 1888 I, Severo Gonzalez, was captured in Aguas Calientes and they held me prisoner. The took me out of jail the 11th and on the 12th they took me to this city and held me prisoner. I invoked the Lord of Wonders to save me from this danger and in return for this miracle that he did for me I dedicate this Retablo to him. Teocaltiche May 3, 1889.

The zeal of the African-American artist is not evident in the Mexican works. Although individualistic these images adhere to a common format and the artists strives for realism and an inclusion of Catholic notions of iconography. Brushstroke is not evident. Despite the text guiding the viewer’s interpretation of the vignette, it does not relay an exalted feeling. Instead of the intimacy felt in the African-American works, the ex-votos reveal a distance between the divine and the devout regardless of the common goal they share of appealing to Him.

As man is made in God’s image and Jesus is the Son of God we can conclude that man, too, is the servant of life, while woman is life. The figure of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, is somewhat scarce in the African-American community. “The Black Madonna” by Leroy Almon shows us a Virgin Mary figure holding the baby Jesus and gazing at him with loving eyes. She is dark skinned yet classically dressed in the traditional blue robe and a yellow halo surrounds her. Perhaps because of the possibility that the iconography could be mistaken, Almon has written, “The Black Madonna” across the top of the painting. Again, text works as a directive; this text instructs the viewer to pay attention. The absence of the Virgin Mary in African-American devotional folk art is, most likely, a result of the annihilation of the African culture after arrival in America. The earth mother motif was common in African art yet with the destruction of the family unit and the many other tyrannies afflicted upon the African-American people, it became dormant. The patriarchic principles of Christianity were more in line with life in the American south as it was a more patriarchal society. The selling of humans in mass, the physical violence and terror plus the obliteration of the African culture almost ‘sealed’ the stance of the African-American that it was their destiny to be compensated. The idea of justice held more interested than that of benevolent saints, for if God and the Saints were watching over the well being of man, how could they stand by and let all these atrocities happen? They must have a plan and there must be a Heaven. The compassion and beauty that the Virgin Mary represented was not of this life.

A resurgent interest in the Virgin Mary occurred during the 13th and 14th centuries in Europe. Mary was a prominent figure in the Catholic Church that carried over into New Spain’s ideology. The Virgin of Guadalupe was understood to embrace the superstition of the Aztecs with the new teaching of Christianity. The Virgin Mary appeared to an Indian just north of Mexico City in 1531 where she identified herself as the Mother of the True God. The Indian told a local bishop but the bishop did not believe the Indian. The lady enacted miracles in order to be heard. The apparition became known as the Virgin of Guadalupe and is the Patron Saint of Mexico. She is venerated and portrayed with regard. Always wearing a blue frock with stars representing the cosmos and surrounded by a halo of light to represent her purity. The female divinity in primitive cultures was important and the incorporation of the Mary figure seems a natural progression for a culture that was so close to the earth. She is depicted standing on a crescent moon being held up but an angel. The moon, of course, is associated with the feminine in nature. Her expression is peaceful and her hands are in the prayer position. Her mythology represents the ascension of the human spirit from animal to human.

The people of Mexico embraced the Virgin Mary in various forms: as part of the Omnipotent Powerful Hand, the Holy Family, the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Light, Our Lady of Refuge, Our Lady of the Incarnation, and Pieta. The motif of the feminine is transposed into many instances were Divine female energy is needed. Mexicans see the Virgin Mary as a daughter, wife, mother and inspiration displaying their esteem for women. The benevolent woman, the Virgin of Guadalupe looks down upon man with the ultimate compassion. Our Lady of Refuge of Sinners aids all who fail. Our Lady of the Incarnation represents an attitude of humility and acceptance.

We see Mary in many different forms quite the opposite of the African-America community.
The retablos painted in the images of Jesus, Mary, the angels and the saints were done with the church teachings in mind. Beauty and esteem were central to expressing the idealism of the devotee. Although there is no text on the retablo, it perfected the “people’s” idea of these figures. They became accessible, devoted, serene, exemplary concepts embedded in the mind of the devout. The retablo confirmed and sustained the holiness of the character. It was an outward expression of a personal belief and the social acceptance of these immortal beings validated their existence.

The extended infiltration of the Catholic Church into Mexico determined its political, economic and social course. Although, patriarchal in nature, the Catholic Church in Mexico extended many matriarchal systems. Providing education, hospital care, city planning along with performing rituals marking essential human passages are the caring ways in which the Church offered itself to the people of Mexico. Its role in Mexican society is intrinsic to its existence. And as with the Church in the United States, the parables perpetuated by the religious institutions were the only constant in a sweepingly unstable society. The Catholic Mexicans devoted themselves to the Christian narrative. Unified with the “mother earth,” archetypes found in the Aztec society yielded the love of the Virgin Mary.

The success of the Church in converting the Mexican Indians to Christianity is reflected in the folk imagery of the Retablo and the Ex-Voto. Presenting one’s devotional paintings conveys the fervor of religious feeling becoming a testament to the divine. What may appear to be an insignificant rendering becomes vital to the culture when viewed as a genre. The characteristics and ethos of a culture are revealed through the folk art world.

In Mexico, the influence of the Catholic Church is undeniable. The extensive range of illustrations rendering Jesus, Mary and the saints tell the viewer of the intricacies known to the people of Mexico about the Catholic canon. Their desire to present these illuminations so ideally suggests their deep devotion. The display of the imagery, perhaps after a pilgrimage, suggests the profound regard for the Holy personage. Yet, aside from their religious commitment, we witness a deeply communal group. The Mexican people share a rich cultural history that these storytellers recorded in their unassuming depictions. Faith, magic, hope, gratitude, resourcefulness, pride and splendor are common attributes of the Mexicans. Although their struggle has been great and grueling, they have remained buoyant. The desire to find truth amidst chaos and continue their religious commitment despite difficulties suggests the brilliance of their spirit.

Reconciling one’s struggles has been an age-old quest. Identifying the clues of the spiritual potentialities of human life defy time, space and culture. The artists who painted the African-American outsider visionary folk art synthesized their personalities, the relationship they had to their culture and their merciless history while expressing joy and humor. Freedom, expression, identity, dignity, devotion and gratitude radiate through these works. They are inspirational in their zealousness.

Although the African-Americans and the Mexicans embraced the Bible very differently, they both took up Christianity with passion. Both genres of painting express a great desire to connect with God. The African-Americans paint religious themes dynamically reflecting their personal enthusiasm for the divine. They present a potent view that radiates to the viewer contagiously. Their Christian religious convictions are expressed in this fervor where the Mexican’s religious fervor is expressed in their attempt for purity and adherence to the Catholic canon. They present highly iconic imagery that strives for the standards of beauty prescribed by a long Catholic tradition. Their religious convictions are revealed, not by a religious fervor, but an extensive knowledge of the Catholic history and it’s extensive saint system. Yet both genres blend their native worldviews with Christianity in cultures who whole heartedly accepted the teachings of Christianity. Throughout trying histories, these artists and their patrons as well as their ancestors kept a spark of hope that overshadowed the violence inflicted upon them. The paintings reflect the institutional power of the church in the collective unconsciousness of these converted populations. These reverent paintings illustrate the power of the notion of redemption and the flame of hope that is unable to be extinguished from the human heart no matter the terrible circumstances endured.

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