Virgin of Guadalupe exhibition coming to Bowers Museum
The Virgin of Guadalupe, for centuries one of the world’s most iconic religious images, is coming to Orange County in a new exhibition at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana that explores her religious, cultural and political influence during Mexico’s colonial period, between the 16th and 19th centuries.
The exhibition, “Virgin of Guadalupe: Images in Colonial Mexico,” which opens Oct.8, includes more than 60 pieces — paintings, sculptures, silverwork, garments and processional banners — on loan from 14 Mexican churches, historic sites and private collections, plus the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange.
“The Virgin of Guadalupe is one of the most recognizable religious symbols,” said Victoria Gerard, curator of collections and special exhibitions at the Bowers Museum. “But this exhibition is really focused on Guadalupe’s significance in a growing nation, a colonial nation. Most people don’t understand her historical usage in that way because we all assume she’s just a religious figure.”
According to religious history, the Virgin of Guadalupe — another name for the Virgin Mary — appeared to an indigenous man, Juan Diego, outside of Mexico City in 1531. Her image was then imprinted on his cloak, or tilma, in what believers say is a divine, not man-made painting.
The image, which was later enshrined in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, became an important object of religious devotion.
“It was like a certification of the holiness or special divine consideration that the Virgin Mary selected Mexico to give the precious gift of her presence through her image,” said Mayela Flores Enriquez, part of the exhibition’s curatorial team in Mexico City and also an art historian at the Franz Mayer Museum.
The Virgin of Guadalupe later played an important role in spreading Catholicism across Latin America.
“Prior to the apparition, missionaries had somewhat of a difficult time spreading the Christian message,” said Msgr. Arthur Holquin, vicar for divine worship for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange. “And miraculously after that, hundreds of thousands converted to the faith.”
One of the reasons for this, Holquin explained, is that the Virgin of Guadalupe created what scholars call an acculturation of Christianity into native culture.
“The image does not present Mary as a Western or Middle Eastern person, but rather, she is an image of an indigenous Indian,” he said. “She spoke the native language that Juan Diego spoke, and the symbols surrounding the image are those that are readily known to the indigenous people.”
Today, the Basilica hosts millions of pilgrims each year who come to visit the image, particularly on Dec.12, Our Lady of Guadalupe’s Feast Day, making the church the most-visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world.
The Virgin of Guadalupe also plays an important religious role in Orange County. According to Holquin, the 18th century priests who built the county’s first Catholic church in San Juan Capistrano brought with them devotion to the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
“That image had a prominent place in every single mission church,” he said. “So for the descendants of those early Christians, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was particularly significant.”
So in 1976, when the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange was established, the Virgin of Guadalupe was named the patroness of the diocese.
Today, the Virgin of Guadalupe continues to inspire many of the 1.2million Catholics living in Orange County, said Holquin, also pastor emeritus of Mission Basilica San Juan Capistrano, particularly on her feast day.
“When I was a pastor and had a mission in San Juan Capistrano, our Mass would be at 5 in the morning, and there would be 2,000 people,” he said, “maybe 1,500 in the church and another 500 outside. It was incredibly inspiring.”
But as Gerard pointed out, the Virgin of Guadalupe’s image is not just a religious one, but a prominent cultural and political symbol in Mexican history.
“What we can see in the art is that earlier on, she is, of course, used with more overt religious symbols,” she said. “But as you move closer to independence [in 1821], she also starts to be associated with different imageries of native people and symbols like the prickly pear cactus with an eagle on top of it, which was a symbol for a new Mexican republic.”
Gerard’s favorite piece in the exhibition is “Hail Queen of Latin America,” a 1930 painting by Gonzalo Carrasco that depicts the Virgin of Guadalupe surrounded by 22 maidens holding flags to represent each of the post-colonial American republics that had adopted her image as Empress of the Americas.
“It shows how Guadalupe became not only a political symbol, but also a very meaningful symbol for people in the entire region, not just in Mexico,” she said.
Other notable pieces in the exhibition include the 1776 painting, “Virgin of Guadalupe Touched by the Wonderful Original,” which was touched by Juan Diego’s tilma.
“It’s thought to possess some of the very sacred qualities that the image on the tilma has,” Gerard said.
Another is the 1743, two-sided painting by Jose de Ibarra, “Virgin of Guadalupe of the Pledge or of the Patronage,” that depicts the Virgin and Juan Diego and also safeguards a piece of the tilma. This reliquary was created to celebrate the naming of the Virgin as the patron of the territory of New Spain.
But as Flores Enriquez stressed, the exhibition is for everybody — not just the faithful.
“We hope that people can see that even though this is a religious object, it has so many aspects that require a non-religious view,” Flores Enriquez said. “It is an image that because of its history, its power and so many social concerns that are happening nowadays, it can make the public reflect about all these different matters — even if they aren’t Catholic or Mexican.”
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IF YOU GO
What: “Virgin of Guadalupe: Images in Colonial Mexico”
Where: Bowers Museum, 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana
When: Oct. 8 to Jan. 29; museum open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Cost: $25 for adults; $22 for students and seniors; free on Sundays to Santa Ana residents
Information: (714) 567-3600
