Bowdoin College Museum of Art | - Votos (Votive Offering)

Preview image of work. gelatin silver print, Votos (Votive Offering) 9098

1979.81.3

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Votos (Votive Offering)

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Artist

Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Mexico City, Mexico, 2/4/1902 - 10/19/2002, Mexico City, Mexico)

Title

Votos (Votive Offering)

Creation Date

1969

Century

20th century

Dimensions

7 11/16 in. x 9 5/8 in. (19.5 cm. x 24.5 cm.)

Classification

Photographs

Creation Place

North America, Mexico

Medium and Support

gelatin silver print

Credit Line

Gift of Michael G. Frieze, Class of 1960

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

1979.81.3

Elaborately embroidered strips of fabric form a votive offering likely created during a religious festival. Employing a tight crop that focuses our attention on the detailed imagery, Bravo reveals the fusion of religious traditions that took place with the colonization of Mexico. The animals and flowers on the forefront derive from indigenous culture, which places a strong emphasis on nature. However, the dominance of Catholicism prevails in the panel: the Sacrament of Communion, during which a wafer of bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ through transubstantiation, is evoked at the top center of the votive. The miraculous moment is witnessed by a heraldic angel and native creatures, all turned towards the transformation. María Perez Mendoza ’21 “Lo único que la hace a una mover los pies es la esperanza de que al morir la lleven de un lugar a otro; pero cuando a una le cierran una puerta y la que queda abierta es nomás la del Infierno, más vale no haber nacido . . . . El Cielo para mí, Juan Preciado, está aquí donde estoy ahora.” “The only thing that keeps us going is the hope that when we die we get taken from one place to the other; but when one door is closed and the only remaining open one is that of Hell, it is better to not have been born at all . . . . Heaven to me, Juan Preciado, is right where I am now” Juan Rulfo Pedro Páramo (1955)