Opera singer

Dora De Larios, Opera singer, ca. 1960, stoneware with glaze, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Forrest L. Merrill, 2021.98.1
Copied 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

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
Keywords
  • Performing arts — opera
Object Number
2021.98.1
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/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.


This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, 2022