Saints & Sinners: Mexican Devotional Art

The Rex May Collection of Mexican Folk Art

By California Heritage Museum

More than 350 beautiful color photographs and a descriptive text depict 18th to mid-20th century Mexican devotional art including danced masks, devils and angels, santos, milagritos, retablos, and ex-votos. These religious items were used in ceremonies both at home and church, and include wood carvings, as well as clay, stone, metal, and paper items.

Seven essays include a major new work by historian and scholar Gloria Fraser Giffords, who, along with Tom Pirazzini, edited the essays. Other essays are by Philip Wrench, Roberto G. Cruz Floriano, Janet Brady Esser, Martha J. Egan, and Joanna Stuhr cover ing the history, symbolism, and uses of Mexican devotional art, as well as the methods of manufacture. For historians, folk art connoiseurs, and those who have an interest in Mexican culture, this is an essential and welcome new volume.