Early 1960s Amate Folk Art Painting on Mexican Nahautl Bark Cloth Paper

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Offered is a vintage Mid 20th Century Mexican folk art "Amate" painting created on hand-made bark-cloth paper, circa. the late … Read more Offered is a vintage Mid 20th Century Mexican folk art "Amate" painting created on hand-made bark-cloth paper, circa. the late 1950s, early 1960s. This painting depicts many scenes of art naif rural village life, the plants and animals in the region and a wide assortment of fruits and vegetables being harvested. This is from our mother's personal collection, the painting was acquired by our uncle when he lived and worked in Mexico. It has recently been framed and protected with conservation glass.

Framed, it measures: 13.5" tall, 29.5" wide, .625" deep
Art measures 6.5" tall, 21" wide

"Amate is a word from the Nahuatl language that means paper, and just as the Egyptians in North Africa, and the Indians, Japanese and Chinese in Asia created paper from leaves and tree barks, the Mesoamerican cultures crafted their own. It is created from the bark of the fig tree, mulberry tree, and nettle tree. Each produces a distinct tone and the paper colors range from bright whites, to yellow whites, to chestnut browns and to dark browns. Traditionally the men peeled the bark from the trees and the women began the process of making the paper by washing the bark, boiling it with lime, and pounding it with stone until it becomes a paste finally being laid out in the sun to dry. The paintings done by the Nahuatl-speaking folk artists come from Mezcala, a region located on the Rio Balsas Basin in the State of Guerrero. Amate paintings gained national recognition from the work of artists Pedro De Jesus, Christino Flores Medina, and Felipe Ehrenberg whose idea it was to start painting on Amate and selling it through Max Kerlow's art gallery in Mexico City. See less