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Amalia Mesa-Bains, An Ofrenda for Dolores del Rio, 1984, revised 1991, mixed media installation including plywood, mirrors, fabric, framed photographs, found objects, dried flowers and glitter, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program, 1998.161, © 1991, Amalia Mesa-Bains
An Ofrenda for Dolores del Rio draws viewers in with its sumptuous pink fabric, rows of black-and-white pictures, and an arrangement of fanciful objects set in a niche. Mesa-Bains created this work to honor Dolores del Rio, the Mexican actress who dazzled audiences in the United States and Mexico from the 1920s until her death in 1983. The artist retooled the vernacular and domestic practice of the ofrenda (an offering to the deceased) to memorialize a cultural icon whom she and other Chicanas admired. Mesa-Bains implied this relationship through her ample use of mirrors, which reflect and incorporate the viewer into her installation.
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, 2013
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, 2013
- Title
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An Ofrenda for Dolores del Rio
- Artist
- Date
- 1984, revised 1991
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 96 x 72 x 48 in. (243.8 x 182.9 x 121.9 cm)
- Copyright
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© 1991, Amalia Mesa-Bains
- Credit Line
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Smithsonian American Art Museum
Museum purchase through the Smithsonian Institution Collections Acquisition Program
- Mediums Description
- mixed media installation including plywood, mirrors, fabric, framed photographs, found objects, dried flowers and glitter
- Classifications
- Highlights
- Keywords
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- Portrait female – Rio, Dolores del
- Architecture – religious – altar
- Monument – memorial – del Rio
- Object Number
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1998.161
- Palette
- Research Notes
- Linked Open Data
- Linked Open Data URI
