Folk artists of New Mexico in the 18th and 19th centuries based the religious images of their art on the small-scale prints found in missals and prayer books imported from Europe. They discarded the rococo detail and invented their own colour schemes for the objects they created for personal devotion. This elegant book presents 42 of the most beloved saints in elegantly rendered pen and ink drawings with accompanying text.

The mystery. The rich heritage. The haunting sorrow and mesmerizing beauty captured in the solemn eyes of the saints. Explore the world of the Northern New Mexican Santo in this coloring book unlike any other. "Santos of Spanish New Mexico" is a perfect introduction for both young and old into the art of carving and painting images of saints that represent the care and love of the community that the Santero (maker of saint images) comes from. The Santero is a self-taught craftsman who utilizes handmade tools, pine, aspen, cedar or cottonwood root to fashion representations, figurines, and objects in honor of the patron deities brought to the New World by their ancestors during the late 16th century. Learn a little about the saints and the various depictions you can recognize anywhere throughout Northern New Mexico. A tradition handed down from generation to generation, the art of making Santos is still very much alive and thriving in this special region of the world. Care has been taken to be faithful to the artistic details of the original works. Like the folk art he has endeavored to reproduce, Al Chapman's drawings in this book are simple and sincere. This book is a good companion to "What is a New Mexico Santo?" by Eluid Levi Martinez and "Santos, A Coloring Book of New Mexico Saints" by Marie Romero Cash, both from Sunstone Press.

Santos and Saints is a new book, though the title has been around for over twenty years. This new edition provides greater detail and newly available information to illustrate the santero's art and to describe the tradition roles of santos in both religious and secular life. Santos and Saints has served for two decades as the best available guide to the religious folk art of New Mexico. In its new edition, it has become even more valuable to scholars and general readers alike.

This first serious study of contemporary santeros working in northern New Mexico is amply illustrated throughout with beautiful color photographs. Laurie Beth Kalb examines the role and meaning of tradition in the work of a number of artists, both living and deceased, including Luis Tapia, Patrocinio Barela, Marco and Patricia Oviedo, Enrique Rendon, and many others. For each of these artists, the meaning of tradition varies, and the issues of self-representation, cultural expression, preservation, innovation, and market demands are all complex, powerful, and delicate. It is both troublesome and rewarding to be able to support a family on the sales of religious images to Anglo buyers. The mainstream fine art world, tourism, religion, and ethnic politics all play roles in the creation of traditional works in a contemporary world. For all the santeros, the tangle of religious, commercial, political, and aesthetic forces requires complicated choices far beyond the basic relationships between themselves and their saints. Laurie Beth Kalb tells a fascinating and revealing story about a unique art form and its significance.

The essays collected here explore the Catholic instruments of religious devotion produced in New Mexico from around 1760 until the radical transformation of the tradition in the twentieth century. The writers in this volume make three key arguments. First, they make a case for bringing new theoretical perspectives and research strategies to bear on the New Mexican materials and other colonial contexts. Second, they demonstrate that the New Mexican materials provide an excellent case study for rethinking many of the most fundamental questions in art-historical and anthropological study. Third, the authors collectively argue that the New Mexican images had, and still have, importance to diverse audiences and makers.

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