Doble eclipse de luna
Artist name
Artist year born
1961
Artwork make date
1998
Artwork title translation
Double Eclipse of the Moon
Artwork material
oil
canvas
canvas
Artwork dimensions
height: 220cm
width: 240cm
width: 240cm
Artwork type (categories)
Painting
Accession method
Donated by Raúl Piña 1998
Accession number
15-1998
Label text
The jaguar, which dominates this painting, is central to Toltec beliefs and iconography and is transformed by Piña into the 'Jaguar Man', a character the artist has invented to symbolise the heart and the connectedness between the people of Mexico and their environment. The 'Jaguar Man' lies in contrast to another recurrent figure: the 'Rabbit Man'. Representing the head, he stands for materialism, born of modern Western Europe and of the USA. In this painting the 'Rabbit Man' appears in the jaguar's moon-like eyes. This may be a reference to the indigenous Mexican belief that one can see the shape of a rabbit in the full moon. This in turn derives from the Aztec creation myth, which tells how the gods at Teotihuacán, the sacred site worshipped by the Toltecs and the Aztecs, dulled the overwhelming light of the sun by throwing a rabbit at it, thereby creating the moon.
(Display caption from the exhibition Mexican Migrations, 2013)
Joanne Harwood
(Display caption from the exhibition Mexican Migrations, 2013)
Joanne Harwood
Last updated date
2008