[Fotoescultura]

1950s

Not on view

Fotoescultura is a Mexican folk art form that flourished from the late 1920s through the early 1980s. Often commissioned by traveling salesmen to honor individuals, commemorate important events, or memorialize the dead, fotoesculturas typically consist of a hand-tinted portrait photograph, trimmed and adhered to a carved mount of the same shape and surrounded by an elaborate wooden frame. Sold primarily in Mexico as well as in Mexican-American communities in Houston and Chicago, fotoesculturas were particularly popular during and after World War II, when families were anxious to memorialize absent sons, brothers, and fathers. The vivid presence of this well-preserved portrait of a young man beautifully exemplifies the personal and devotional nature of the form.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Provenance

Notes

Exhibition History

Title: [Fotoescultura]
Artist: Unknown (Mexican)
Date: 1950s
Medium: Gelatin silver print adhered to carved, polychrome wooden mount with two sheets of glass
Dimensions: Approx. 20 × 15 × 4 in. (50.8 × 38.1 × 10.2 cm)
Classifications: Sculpture, Photographs
Credit Line: Twentieth-Century Photography Fund, 2014
Object Number: 2014.239
Curatorial Department: Photographs

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