Compose two styles
Rather than blending two styles into a middle, this assigns them roles: one carries the structure, the other appears as an accent. Where the two fight, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Ex-Voto (Retablo): Divide into three, the holy image above, the incident between, the words below
- Type
- Set in Ex-Voto (Retablo)'s manner (Handwritten testimony packed along the bottom, name and date last), and let Posada's Calaveras's lettering (Headlines set as broadside type, packed above and below the image) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Ex-Voto (Retablo)'s material (Oil on small tin, drawing what matters large and ignoring perspective); bring in exactly one thing from Posada's Calaveras (Rough zinc-etched line printed black on coarse paper, trimmed close).
- Colour
- Build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 and admit one accent from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615.
Where they fight
- Roughly 1862 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle.
Caution
- Ex-Voto (Retablo) Copying the naive picture and dropping the testimony leaves no one's incident on the panel, and the votive act itself goes missing.
- Posada's Calaveras Using the skeleton as a merely spooky motif blunts the satire that laughed at class, and the result becomes indistinguishable from seasonal decoration.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Ex-Voto (Retablo) (Style, 18th century–) and its accent from Posada's Calaveras (Style, 1880s–1913). Structural cues: Small tin panels; Scene, image and testimony in three layers; Naive perspective; Records of accident and miracle. Accent cues, used sparingly: Personified skeletons; Rough zinc-etched lines; Sharing the sheet with broadside type; Satire that laughs at death. Composition: Divide into three, the holy image above, the incident between, the words below. Type and lettering: Handwritten testimony packed along the bottom, name and date last. Let one material quality come from the second style: Rough zinc-etched line printed black on coarse paper, trimmed close. Mood: Intimacy, Trust, Nostalgia, Rebellion, Play. Color: build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 with a single accent drawn from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615. Constraints: do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. Produce an original composition in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Ex-Voto (Retablo) 18th century– / Style / Popular Painting
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.
- Posada's Calaveras 1880s–1913 / Style / Popular Prints
The skeleton satires Posada engraved for Mexican broadsides: dressed-up calaveras laughing at class and death alike. La Catrina became a national icon of the Day of the Dead and Mexican graphics.
Share this pairing:https://indexstyle.org/compose?ids=ex-voto+posada-calavera