Regarding my current research, I have found a couple of books discussing the Day of the Dead that I will be reading over the next couple of weeks. The major one I have found is entitled Death and the Idea of Mexico by Claudio Lomnitz which should give a more in depth historical analysis of the Day of the Dead. As for this week, I decided to look at another article by Stanley Brandes entitled "Iconography and in Mexico's Day of the Dead: Origins and Meaning." Stanley Brandes appeared to be one of the most important names when discussing Mexican culture relating to the Day of the Dead for quite some time. Although he field of expertise is Anthropology, Brandes' insight into the historical understanding of Mexican culture as it relates to the actual individuals past and present.
Iconography and the Day of the Dead
We have already taken a look into what practices with food have helped to shape the Mexican symbolism regarding death and dying, but Brandes brings us into another issue with understanding Mexico's identification with death and dying. This time the focus is upon how skulls and skeletons have come to be a universal symbol that represents Day of the Dead. In fact, Brandes stated, "Probably more than any other single element, it is the prevale3nce of skulls and skeletons and caskets of all types that has made the Mexican Day of the Dead famous throughout the Western world." (Brandes 182) This can be seen through decorate art, toys, and even the skull candies as seen below.
Brandes first seeks to address Mexico's association with skull and skeleton imagery by identifying the origins of this art. Brandes discussed the Mesoamerican civilizations that lived around present day Mexico by examining ruins left in particular archaeological sites. His major conclusion regarding this is that these indigenous groups did have an infatuation with death imagery, but not to any extent that is seen in contemporary Mexican culture. For example, the Mayans focused more on gruesome qualities in their representation of death which includes "...decomposing corpses, symbolized by the black spots or blotches on the cheeks of the victims..." (Brandes 190) Brandes does present examples where skulls were depicted, such as the Toltec capital of Tula and Chichen Itza where some of the skulls were depicted as having "...lanky limbs and prominent joints..." (Brandes 191) Yet, concludes that artist characteristics like these would have been wiped out during the Spanish conquest.
Since Brandes mentioned the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica, that is where he decided to focus the next discussion on. He demonstrates that the use of skulls and skeletons in art was very popular during the Baroque period in Spain, which occurred right around the time of the initial Spanish colonial era. (Brandes 195) This would include a particular style around the Dance of Death which emphasized the interaction of the living and death. This could be seen in the imagery such as the 18th Century art from New Spain that can be found on the chapel in Tlamanalco. (Brandes 196) Yet, ultimately concludes that the Dance of Death and modern Mexican skull art based on the fact that Day of the Dead art features solely skeletons and Dance of Death includes skeletons and living people.
The final discussion by Brandes involves the origin of humorous imagery involving skulls and skeletons common in contemporary Day of the Dead. He traces the origins to the Mexican people after gaining independence and seeking to voice their opinion about the newly formed Mexican government. One such way was through the first illustrated newspaper in Mexico called El Calavera, or the skull, that used political satire to express their beliefs. ( Brandes 202) He also points to the art of Jose Guadalupe Posada who also sought to incorporate satire within his art, but he emphasized the use of animated skeletons to portray his criticism. ( Brandes 202) With this and the remainder of the article, Brandes that the imagery of death through skulls and skeletons could be traced to the political unrest, as well as a reminder that death played a major role with the introduction of European diseases. I hope to find more relating to this final point that Brandes about the history of death throughout this upcoming week.
Interestingly enough I have some experience with decorating a skeleton head for a Day of the Dead art exhibit back at home, so this is all really cool to learn about. I think its interesting too that skeleton heads during medieval times were prominent in their art as well.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough I have some experience with decorating a skeleton head for a Day of the Dead art exhibit back at home, so this is all really cool to learn about. I think its interesting too that skeleton heads during medieval times were prominent in their art as well.
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