Plate 31: Our Lady of Guadalupe": From Portfolio "Spanish Colonial Designs of New Mexico" 1935 - 1942

This rendering of Our Lady of Guadalupe is from a portfolio of Spanish Colonial designs of New Mexico. You can almost feel the artist figuring it out as they go, especially in the angular forms and limited palette of pink, blue, and orange. I wonder about the hand that made it and how it felt to translate the original icon into this simplified, graphic form. Did they struggle to capture the essence of the Virgin Mary, or did the design unfold naturally through the rhythm of their brushstrokes? I love how the colours are laid down in flat planes, which gives it a modern sensibility, while the subject matter is rooted in tradition. The design feels both reverent and rebellious, a testament to the evolving dialogue between artists across time. You see echoes of folk art and early modernist aesthetics in its bold outlines and stylized composition. Artists are always having a conversation, borrowing, stealing, and reinterpreting, each adding their own voice to the chorus.