Bultos and Cristos

In 17th century New Mexico, Catholic devotional images were brought to the native people by the Spanish. In the following centuries, the New Mexican santeros produced distinctive images of Christ, the Virgin, and the saints. Many of these images were made for churches, but the majority of them were kept in homes where individuals incorporated them into their lives, forming relationships with them like members of the family. Consequently, these works speak not only of an ecclesiastical tradition, but of the individuals who kept these objects and lived with them every day, for whom these images wove together the sacred and the earthly, blending devotion into the fabric of everyday life.

PLEASE CONTACT THE GALLERY FOR MORE HISTORIC NEW MEXICAN BULTOS AND CRISTOS.