Luis Gonzalez Palma: Signed 1st Edtion, Poems of Sorrow, Signed Limited Edition Print, 21 of 25

Photographer

Luis Gonzalez Palma

Title

La Coraza (Armor)

Medium and Size

Hand Pulled Photogravure

Image Size – 6.5” x 6.5”     Paper Size – 15” x 13.5”

Signature/Limitation

Signed and numbered by Luis Gonzalez Palma on the verso. 21 of 25 

Image Date/Print Date

1994/1994

Condition

The image and paper are in FINE condition with no flaws. The photograph is protected by a removable mylar cover and board which can be removed for matting and framing.

References

Luis Gonzalez Palma: Poems of Sorrow, Arena Editions, Santa Fe, 1999. “La Caraza” is the first photograph to appear in the book.

Seattle Times art critic Robin Updike in her article on Palma wrote, “Guatemalan photographer Luis Gonzalez Palma makes beautiful, haunting images that linger in the mind like certain Edward Curtis photographs of turn-of-the-century Native Americans.

Like Curtis' respectful portraiture, Palma's images of Guatemalan Mayans show them staring impassively, soberly at the camera. There is dignity in Palma's work, but also sadness. While Curtis documented a North American Native American culture that soon would be gone, Palma's contemporary images are about what happens to an indigenous culture when it is swallowed by another. In Palma's photographs, his models, mostly Mayans, wear theatrical outfits or are photographed with props that mix their heritage with Catholicism and European high culture.

In "La Coraza," ("The Armour"), a young Mayan man poses in a pair of angel wings, his hands on his chest in a gesture of devotion. The image suggests the particularly Latin American melding of Catholicism with mystical, indigenous beliefs. Like the would-be ballerina, he is stone-faced. Perhaps the angel trappings will protect him like armor, though his face suggests that he is not at all certain that it will.”

Additional Images

A stock photograph of “La Coraza” was used in the listing photograph because the mylar sheet protecting the image was casting too much of a reflection.

Below is the stock photograph, the actual signed photograph with the paper cropped to remove the reflection, and the cover of “Poems of Sorrow” referenced above. Please note that although the photographs appear digitized as thumbnails, they are viewable by clicking on the thumbnail to view them in the photo viewer.