Mary's rain and God's umbrella: religion, identity, and modernity in the visionary art of a Chicana painter
In this article I introduce a self-taught Chicana artist, Caroline Martinez, and highlight her work's religious significance. I offer a brief account of her life and a preliminary interpretation of her art. The art that adorns her Texas home and yard, I argue, is a visual testimony to the inter...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
[2010]
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| In: |
Material religion
Year: 2010, Volume: 6, Issue: 3, Pages: 274-303 |
| Further subjects: | B
Latina
B Outsider B Pentecostalism B Modernity B Texas B Mexican American woman B Religion B Catholicism B Identity B Species B Trauma B visionary |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Summary: | In this article I introduce a self-taught Chicana artist, Caroline Martinez, and highlight her work's religious significance. I offer a brief account of her life and a preliminary interpretation of her art. The art that adorns her Texas home and yard, I argue, is a visual testimony to the intercessory power of Jesus and Mary to heal the sick, feed the body, and protect the vulnerable. I then consider the implications of this case study for scholars in religious studies, Chicana studies, Catholic studies, and art history. Martinez's art evokes three important themesreligion, identity, and modernityand offers reminders about three concomitant issues that face everyone who thinks about religion and art, especially self-taught artists and Chicana art: (1) What is the function of religionand religious visual culture? (2) How do we talk about artists' religious identity, especially when there are multiple converging influences? (3) To what extent and in which sense can the work of self-taught artists like Martinez be understood as "modern" and to what extent are the artist and her work shaped by the social forces of "modernity"? |
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| ISSN: | 1751-8342 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Material religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2752/175183410X12862096296766 |