Casta Paintings and Ex Voto Art

Commissioned by Spanish functionaries as souvenirs.
Meant for export to Europe.
Typically depict three individuals: man, woman, and child in an urban setting, though some are in the countryside.
Represent local objects, food, flora, reflecting European concepts of the "exotic."
Show abundant fruit, landscape, and food to promote the New World.

Complete sets often included 16 images describing different racial mixtures.
The child symbolizes the sexual union of the parents.
Examples:
- Spaniard + Indigenous woman = Mestizo.
- Mestizo + Indigenous person = Coyote.
- Coyote + India = Chamizo.
Terms like "chamizo" and "coyote" were not commonly used in everyday speech, reflecting a European need to categorize.
A light-skinned mulatto mixed with a Spaniard results in a return to a previous racial category.

Images of black men with Spanish women were uncommon.
Black women were often masculinized and associated with strength. For example, rolled-up sleeves to show muscle.
Illustrations sometimes conveyed incompatibility and domestic violence.
Blacks were associated with slaves and considered infidels (Muslims, not Christians).
Blackness was considered impure and could not make a lineage claim.

Prolific Casta painter in the 1700s, influential Mexican artist.
Classically trained in European styles.
Figures often engaged in physical contact and hand gesturing.
Rich textures, detailed representation of lace, embroidery, velvet, leather, felt, and hair.
Showcased elite French fashion (tricorn hat).

Elites represented as merchants, middlemen.
Lower classes engaged in trade (e.g., weaving).
Fruits like chayotes and tejocotes (hot fruit) are shown, representing the abundance of the New World.

Contemporary of Cabrera, well-known artist.
Focused on depicting the natural world (e.g., parrots, avocados with strange shapes).
Crazy terminology for the racial mix, not commonly used.

Also known as "out of a vow".
Devotional folk art commissioned by the poor after experiencing trauma (illness, accidents).
Vows made to God, saints, or the Virgin of Guadalupe, promising devotional acts upon recovery.
Often involved pilgrimages or commissioning an ex voto.
Contain the date and text explaining the circumstances.
Thousands of works displayed in churches, such as the cathedral of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
Still practiced today.
Vows are commonly referred to as "manda”.
Example: An ex voto describing a woman's recovery from a blood illness (possibly tuberculosis) after making a vow.