Retablo 1937

Ranka S. Woods painted this retablo sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century on a small wooden panel, and it feels like she really worked that surface. Look at the expressive way the cracks in the ground peek through the image, like the painting’s got a secret history embedded in its skin. I imagine Woods carefully layering paint, maybe even scraping some away, letting the wood grain and those cracks play a starring role. There’s a kind of vulnerability here, the Virgin Mary with that sword to her heart—like she’s offering up her pain to us. The way Woods uses color, that deep red robe contrasting with the green, it's not just decoration, it’s raw emotion, rendered materially. This piece reminds me of other folk art, but it's also in conversation with contemporary painters exploring vulnerability, like Louise Bourgeois. We’re all just trying to make sense of this world, one brushstroke at a time, echoing each other across time.