Catrina Figurines

""La Catrina" was originally created by Jose Guadalupe Posada and later named and painted dressed up by Diego Rivera in one of his murals. It became an iconic figure in Mexican culture representing death and the way Mexicans face it.

The skeleton lady was created by lithographer and printer Jose Guadalupe Posada on zinc etching around 1910 as an illustration for a Calavera.

The leaflet was named by Posada La Calavera Garbancera, describing a person who was ashamed of his Indian origins and dressed imitating the French style while wearing lots of makeup to make his skin look whiter.

In 1948 Diego Rivera who considered Posada his artistic father, made the mural Sunday Evening's Dream in which he represented 400 years of Mexican history. In this masterpiece Rivera depicts the end of an era destroyed by the Revolution war, and the beginning of a new cycle as a modern and more equitable nation.

Rivera not only painted the Garbancera dressed up but also named her "La Catrina". Catrin(a) is slang for elegant or well dressed and it refers to rich people. Thanks to Diego Rivera the skeleton lady became an iconic image in Mexico's culture and is traditionally used in the Day of the Dead, especially in urban celebrations. Posada and Rivera captured in this figure the comfortable and intimate relationship Mexicans have with death."

- Dinah Agur

Mexican Folk Art Guide