Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 9

Candelario Medrano
"El Tren" Ceramic, Glaze, Colors, Mexican Folk Art, Four Sections

1950s

About the Item

SALE ONE WEEK ONLY "El Tren" is a whimsical and playful rendition of a train. It is beautifully glazed in various colors. This particular ceramic was from the collection of Jane and Richard Knight’s Estate. Jane Knight was a famous fiber and textile artist. Richard was a photographer who worked for Eliel Saarinen and Alexander Girard. The Knights and Girard became close friends and it was Girard who gifted “Santa Cruz De Las Huertas Jalisco” to the Knights. Alexander Girard left his personal collection to the Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, NM. The Girards eventually amassed a collection of more than 106,000 objects from across the globe. Their 1978 gift of this collection to the Museum of International Folk art quintupled the size of their collection and prompted the construction of a new wing, which opened in 1982 and houses a mere 10% of the Girard Collection in the permanent exhibition Multiple Visions: A Common Bond, which was designed by Alexander Girard himself. This collection includes numerous multiples and is notable for its great breadth, including traditional arts, popular arts, and paper ephemera. “I believe we should preserve this evidence of the past, not as a pattern for sentimental imitation,” Girard once said, “but as nourishment for the creative spirit of the present.” Indeed, folk art was an important inspiration for Girard’s design work. The renowned Candelario Medrano is recognized as one of the top figural ceramists in Mexico. He lived in Santa Cruz de las Huertas in the state of Jalisco, one of the largest pottery-producing states in Mexico. He started out making hand-made sewer pipes as did many other people in the village, but as the adopted son of Julian Acero, the top ceramic toy maker in the village, Medrano soon learned to create his highly individualized pieces and eventually created many ceramic pieces. His boldly imaginative work included Noah's arks, churches, merry-go-rounds, jet planes, whimsical castles, bandstands, churches, slim apartment buildings, circus tents, arks, owls, animals, boats, trains, buses, taxis, and cars. Some of these pieces would be populated with groups of happy people, oftentimes with very expressive faces. Another unique expression was the production of his nagual who was dual in nature. He was your animal protective spirit or the boogie man. All of these were painted in wonderfully bright colors. Medrano still remains a celebrated master of folk ceramics and his work continues to be collected around the world. His sons Serapio Medrano and Benito Medrano have continued working clay; so have his grandchildren Juan Jose Ramos Medrano and Maria Medrano. Also related is Gerardo Ortega Lopez who developed his own style of folk art in clay. Individual pieces are measured at 5.82" x 6.82" x 3.50"; 4.50" x 4.5" x 3.50"; 4.50" x 4.50" x 3.50"; and 4.50" x 6 x 3.50".
  • Creator:
    Candelario Medrano (1918 - 1986)
  • Creation Year:
    1950s
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 6 in (15.24 cm)Width: 21.5 in (54.61 cm)Depth: 3.5 in (8.89 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Detroit, MI
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU128617424332

More From This Seller

View All
“Santa Cruz de las Huertas Jalisco”, Ceramic, Glaze, Colors, Mexican Folkart
Located in Detroit, MI
SALE ONE WEEK ONLY “Santa Cruz de las Huertas Jalisco” is a whimsical, charming and colorfully ceramic rendition painted blue and red of a local bus that traversed the town where the artist Candelario Medrano...
Category

Mid-20th Century Folk Art Figurative Sculptures

Materials

Ceramic, Glaze

Palissy Majolica Bowl Snake Spider Frog Caterpillar Butterfly Lizard
Located in Detroit, MI
This Jose A Cunha Portuguese Palissy Majolica plate features a snake, spider, frog, caterpillar, and butterfly on green shredded clay ground. The piece bears the maker's marks for Jose A Cunha pottery. Palissy ware is a style of ceramics that is also known as rusticware due to their earth-toned palettes and naturalistic plant and animal scenes that are cast to it. The style was coined in reference to the 16th century French potter Bernard Palissy and experienced a significant revival in the 19th century thanks to Charles-Jean Avisseau. It's strongest revival however was in Portugal where it was produced by the potteries of Mafra, Jose A. Cunha, Alves, José Francisco de Sousa...
Category

19th Century Still-life Sculptures

Materials

Earthenware, Majolica, Glaze

"Pod", Decorative Tatooed Sculptural Ceramic with Transparent Glaze
By Michele Oka Doner
Located in Detroit, MI
"Pod" is a precious sculpture with a decorated tactile surface and a warm glaze giving the piece a soft glow. The transparent glaze enhances the creamy tones of the clay. Ms. Oka Doner created unique hand-size sculptures during the 1960s of which the "Pod" is an exquisite example. Her clay technical skills cover a wide range from enormous wall pieces to small decorative pieces that demand to be touched and held. This piece, despite being a fruit, is the perfect example of her famous "Tatooed" figurative sculptures. Michele Oka Doner (born in Miami Beach, Florida, United States) is an American artist and author who works in a variety of media including sculpture, prints, drawings, functional objects and video. She has also worked in costume and set design and has created over 40 public and private permanent art installations. She is best known for her “A Walk On The Beach,” a one and a quarter mile long bronze and terrazzo concourse at Miami International Airport. It is composed of over 9000 bronzes embedded in terrazzo with mother-of-pearl. At one and quarter linear miles, it is one of the largest artworks in the world. She is granddaughter of painter, Samuel Heller. She attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Her art instructor Milton Cohen was experimenting with The Space Theater and George Manupelli began the Ann Arbor Film Festival. Their students were engaged in poetry, dance, light, music, all combined into a unitary vision, a motif that shaped Oka Doner's student years and is characteristic of her work today. She participated in a Manupelli experimental film, a "Map Read" performance with art drawing instructor Al Loving and Judsonite dancer Steve Paxton as well as several "Happenings." Another influence was art historian and Islamic scholar, Oleg Grabar, who illustrated how patterns in architecture are able to dissolve space. She received her BS and MFA from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In 2008 she was a U of M Penny Stamps Distinguished Speaker. Solo exhibitions of her work have been held at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan; Germans Van Eck Gallery, New York; Diane Brown Gallery, New York; Art & Industrie Gallery, New York; Willoughby, Marlborough Gallery, New York; Studio Stefania Miscetti in Rome; and Gloria Luria Gallery in Miami, Florida. During the 1960s Michelle Oka Doner was living and working in Detroit, Michigan, where she became acquainted with Charles McGee and his gallery located in the Fisher Building...
Category

1960s Still-life Sculptures

Materials

Ceramic, Glaze

Michael German "Leroy & Bertha's Bar and Grill" Mixed Media Sculpture Folk Art
Located in Detroit, MI
During the 1960s America’s storytelling sculptor, Michael Garman, lived a vagabond lifestyle on the cheap and in the run-down neighborhoods of Dallas, S...
Category

Mid-20th Century Folk Art Still-life Sculptures

Materials

Mixed Media

"Kryptonite Wares", Found Objects 2015/2019, Chartreuse & Red, House Paint
Located in Detroit, MI
"Kryptonite Wares" is a clever and humorous collection of both superfluous and everyday objects purchased from the Dollar Store. It is a wry comment by the artist on the overabundanc...
Category

2010s Assemblage Still-life Sculptures

Materials

Plastic, Wood, Found Objects, Lights, Mixed Media, House Paint

Jerome Ferretti "Record Player" Symphonic Record Player Speakers
Located in Detroit, MI
"Record Player" by Jerome Ferretti, Detroit muralist, painter and sculptor, is a genuine Symphonic Record Player with built-in speakers that Je...
Category

1990s American Modern Still-life Sculptures

Materials

Acrylic, Wood

You May Also Like

Cream w Spots Horse Vase (Yellowstone Ceramics) White Stoneware, glossy glaze
Located in Cody, WY
JESSE FALES, Spotted Cream & White Horse Vase, white stoneware and glaze, 2024. This handcrafted vase or candleholder pot channels the simplicity, strength, and purity of the white h...
Category

2010s Folk Art Still-life Sculptures

Materials

Stoneware, Glaze

Paint Horse Vase (Yellowstone Ceramics) White Stoneware, glossy glaze
Located in Cody, WY
JESSE FALES, Paint Horse Vase, brown and white, white stoneware and glaze, 2024. This handcrafted vase or candleholder pot channels the simplicity, strength, and purity of the white ...
Category

2010s Folk Art Still-life Sculptures

Materials

Stoneware, Glaze

White Horse Vase (Yellowstone Wild Life Ceramics) White Stoneware, glossy glaze
Located in Cody, WY
JESSE FALES, White Horse Vase, white stoneware and glaze, 2024. This handcrafted vase or candleholder pot channels the simplicity, strength, and purity of t...
Category

2010s Folk Art Still-life Sculptures

Materials

Stoneware, Glaze

WOOF WOOF. ceramic totem sculpture
By Marc Zimmerman
Located in Carmel, CA
Ceramic sculpture totem for the outdoors or interior spaces. This totem has a folksy or outsider art style with a cat and dog as the main images.
Category

2010s Folk Art Still-life Sculptures

Materials

Ceramic

"Flow" Chrome metallic glazed ceramic sculpture
Located in East Quogue, NY
Hand-pitched chrome metallic glazed ceramic sculpture vessel by Jessamyn Go. Jessamyn Go's work is deeply rooted in the visceral, meditative experience of working with clay. Drawn t...
Category

2010s Abstract Abstract Sculptures

Materials

Ceramic, Stoneware, Glaze

Untitled, Glazed Stoneware, 2022
By David Klamen
Located in Orange, CA
Untitled, Glazed Stoneware, 2022 Additional information: Medium: Glazed stoneware Condition: Excellent Dimensions: 26 x 17 x 19 in About artist: David Klamen (American, b.1961) is ...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Still-life Sculptures

Materials

Stoneware, Glaze

Recently Viewed

View All