Ex-Voto (Retablo) vs Naïve
エクスボート（奉納画） / ナイーブ
Ex-Voto (Retablo) comes from Popular Painting and Naïve from Illustration Styles. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.
Ex-Voto (Retablo)
Mexico's votive paintings give thanks for deliverance from disaster. Painted on tin, they hold the scene of the crisis, a holy image and a handwritten testimony on one small sheet, and the urgency of the untrained brush drew Kahlo and other modern painters to them.
Naïve
Steps away from the norms of skill, making plain observation and imbalance the charm.
| Ex-Voto (Retablo) | Naïve | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | 18th century– | timeless |
| Family | Popular Painting | Illustration Styles |
| Kind | Style | Style |
| Cues | Small tin panels / Scene, image and testimony in three layers / Naive perspective / Records of accident and miracle | Uneven lines / Flattened perspective / Simple color / Hand-drawn letters |
| Best used for | Personal testimony told with the words and the picture on one surface · Recording thanks one incident at a time on small panels | Honoring a personal gaze and touch · Closeness for food, region and education |
| Type | Handwritten testimony packed along the bottom, name and date last | Handwriting, homely serifs |
| Composition | Divide into three, the holy image above, the incident between, the words below | Avoid strict perspective; lay things out flat |
| Material | Oil on small tin, drawing what matters large and ignoring perspective | Crayon, paint, paper, slightly muddied color |
| Caution | Copying the naive picture and dropping the testimony leaves no one's incident on the panel, and the votive act itself goes missing. | Not an act of deliberate badness. Draw your own line from close observation. |