Friday, December 4, 2015

Día de los Muertos: Catrinas


The imagery of skeleton faces that we see today during Día de los Muertos comes from a Mexican lithographer from the early 1900s, José Guadalupe Posada, who is known for his satirical lithographs featuring skeletons. This print entitled "La Calavera Catrina" (the elegant skull) depicting an upper-class lady in a fancy European hat, is one of his most commonly emulated images:




It can be seen everywhere from decorations:



to Catrin and Catrina figurines:


and in face painting:


This year, I painted my niece's face for her school festival, which involved a parade around town with two brass bands, some dances by the kindergarten students as well as the older students, music by the school orchestra, and lots of stunning costumes. Take a look:









I also painted our faces:


If you're interested, here is a short video of how I painted my face. I used white concealer for the base, black eyeliner and eyeshadow for the black areas, and colored eyeliners or eyeshadows for all the colors.

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