In Mexico, the Death figure is not a hooded specter but a sassy, grinning skeleton lady dressed in glamorous outfits. This is her story.
Few images in Mexico are as ubiquitous or have the depth of meaning as the female grinning skeleton with a large overly-adorned hat and a gown from the late 19th century.
She is known as La Calavera Catrina (The Catrina Skull) or simply La Catrina. Her image, and those since derived from it, can not only be seen in Mexican handcrafts, but also in Mexico graphic and fine art. In fact, it is the latter two which brought this particular figure to life.
Print sheet with skeletal imagry dedicated to Oaxaca by Posada (1903)
Catrina began as one of a number of skeletal figures created by José Guadalupe Posada, a graphic artist publishing in Mexico City newspapers in the late 19th and very early 20th centuries. His importance to the development of post Mexican Revolution culture cannot be overstated, deserving of its own article.
Originally La Catrina was only a…
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