Studies retabloes--Mexican paintings on tin created in the latter half of the nineteenth century--from art, religious, and historical perspectives, and discusses efforts made to restore and conserve the artwork.

More than 350 beautiful color photographs depict 18th to mid-20th century Mexican devotional art, including danced masks, devils and angels, santos, milagritos, retablos, and ex-votos. They were used in religious ceremonies at home and church, and include wood carvings and items of clay, stone, metal and paper. Seven essays cover the history and meaning of the works.

In the Mexican Catholic tradition, retablos are ornamental structures made of carved wood framing an oil painting of a devotional image, usually a patron saint. Acclaimed author and essayist Rigoberto González commemorates the passion and the pain of these carvings in his new volume Red-Inked Retablos, a moving memoir of human experience and thought. The collection offers an in-depth meditation on the development of gay Chicano literature and the responsibilities of the Chicana/o writer.

Seminal moments, rites of passage, crystalline vignettes--a memoir about growing up brown at the U.S./Mexico border. The tradition of retablo painting dates back to the Spanish Conquest in both Mexico and the U.S. Southwest. Humble ex-votos, retablos are usually painted on repurposed metal, and in one small tableau they tell the story of a crisis, and offer thanks for its successful resolution. In this uniquely framed memoir, playwright Octavio Solis channels his youth in El Paso, Texas. Like traditional retablos, the rituals of childhood and rites of passage are remembered as singular, dramatic events, self-contained episodes with life-changing reverberations. Living in a home just a mile from the Rio Grande, Octavio is a skinny brown kid on the border, growing up among those who live there, and those passing through on their way North. From the first terrible self-awareness of racism to inspired afternoons playing air trumpet with Herb Alpert, from an innocent game of hide-and-seek to the discovery of a Mexican girl hiding in the cotton fields, Solis reflects on the moments of trauma and transformation that shaped him into a man.

In recent years, tremendous attention has been focused on the Arts of 18th and 19th century New Mexico. This colonial period benefited from a creative and religious community that populated the region. Retablos, painted panels depicting saints worshiped in churches and private homes, were an important part of the rich culture. The Lyon Collection beautifully illustrates the breadth of Retablo painting by exmaining specific Santo's stylistic development as well as the iconography and social history of each painting. This landmarl publication will be of great use to the ongoing study of colonial southwestern art and history. 107 colour illustrations

This vivid study, richly illustrated with forty color photographs, offers a multilayered analysis of retablos—folk images painted on tin that are offered as votives of thanks for a miracle granted or a favor bestowed—created by Mexican migrants to the United States. Durand and Massey analyze 124 contemporary retablo texts, scrutinizing the shifting subjects and themes that constitute a running record of the migrant's unique experience. The result is a vivid work of synthesis that connects the history of an art form and a people, links two very different cultures, and allows a deeper understanding of a major twentieth-century theme—the drama of transnational migration.