Dora De Larios, Opera singer, ca. 1960, stoneware with glaze, 18 7⁄8 x 15 7⁄8 x 8 5⁄8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Forrest L. Merrill, 2021.98.1
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Artwork Details
- Title
- Opera singer
- Artist
- Date
- ca. 1960
- Location
- Dimensions
- 18 7⁄8 x 15 7⁄8 x 8 5⁄8 in.
- Credit Line
- Gift of Forrest L. Merrill
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- stoneware with glaze
- Subjects
- Performing arts — opera
- Object Number
- 2021.98.1
Artwork Description
Through this opera singer, Dora de Larios exclaims that she, too, is a great artist. This combination of subject and style challenges boundaries between “high” art like opera and “low” art like folk art ceramics.
De Larios’s lifelong inspiration from Mesoamerican ceramics began when she was a young girl and encountered an Aztec calendar at an archaeological museum in Mexico City. She committed her artistic practice to emulating ancient Mexican motifs and stories, even as her peers in Los Angeles shattered craft’s connection to the past to define themselves in their field.
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painted, printed, beaded, pieced, appliquéd, and machine-quilted commercial fabrics with glass and metallic beads, charms, antique buttons, and semi-precious stones