Product Description
This is one of those pieces you can look at over and over and continue to discover something new.
Created by Oaxacan folk artist José Juan García Aguilar, son of renowned ceramic artist Josefina Aguilar, this large, one-of-a-kind devotional sculpture brings together generations of Mexican folk-art tradition with an incredible amount of religious symbolism and storytelling.
At the center is Our Lady of Soledad, crowned and watching over an elaborate world of saints, angels and biblical figures. In her hands are two additional Marian devotions—Our Lady of Regla on the left and Our Lady of Guadalupeon the right.
From there, the sculpture unfolds almost like a three-dimensional retablo.
Angels with enormous textured wings surround the central scenes. Below are figures representing biblical stories of sin, suffering, protection and redemption. Adam and Eve appear beside the serpent, immediately recognizable as the story of the Fall. Elsewhere, angels and other figures move through a landscape filled with water, trees, flowers and richly modeled details.
What I especially love about this piece is how much movement José Juan has managed to create in clay. Nothing feels static. The angels lean, gesture and interact with the scenes around them, while the figures seem to emerge from the landscape itself.
Even the smallest areas have been considered—the flowers surrounding the Marian images, the individual feathers of the angels' wings, the serpent winding through the tree, the water and landscape at the base, and the wonderfully expressive faces that are such a recognizable part of the Aguilar family's Oaxacan folk-art tradition.
Measuring approximately 23" tall × 16" wide, this is a substantial work and completely one of a kind. It is much more than a religious sculpture; it is an entire narrative told in clay.
A remarkable piece for a serious collector of Mexican folk art, Oaxacan ceramics, Aguilar family pottery, devotional art, Marian art or Latin American religious art.
Artist: José Juan García Aguilar
Family: Son of Josefina Aguilar
Origin: Oaxaca, Mexico
Subject: Our Lady of Soledad with Marian and Biblical imagery
Dimensions: Approx. 23" H × 16" W
Medium: Hand-sculpted and hand-painted clay/ceramic
Style: Oaxacan Folk Art / Mexican Devotional Art
Edition: One of a Kind
Condition: Vintage handmade folk art; please review photographs carefully for condition and the natural irregularities inherent in individually handmade work.
