Retablos
"In my attempt to rescue some of the forgotten crafts of the past I became especially interested in the art-form called "retablo". It is a combination of Ancient Incan and Colonial Spanish art traditions in which a series of pictorial scenes are arranged in a single work to relate a mythical or historical drama. The scenes consist primarily of handmade figurines, modeled and painted to convey the appropriate sense of action, drama, or humor. The retablo has long been loved by the common people of Peru, as it reflects their customs, beliefs, and personalities in a concise visual narrative. I have made it my specialty and have created retablos in such diverse formats as handmade wooden chests, gourds, matchboxes, sea shells, reeds, tree trunks, etc. These serve as the box or container in which the various scenes are displayed; they may be decorated in a variety of ways, and are usually hinged to open and close."
The original purpose of the retablo was to instruct, so I have continued this tradition to include scenes of the Peruvian peoples struggle for independence and current political events. During my years of study I also learned the traditional dances of my country and frequently depict them in my retablos."
By the 1960s there were only two remaining old time retablo makers in Huamanga, Peru - Don Joaquin López Antay and Gerard Nuñez. López Antay was considered by many as the first to adapt the portable altar boxes to include non-religious scenes. Nuñez experimented with two‑dimensional retablo with figures attached on a curved sheet.
While attending art school at the University of Ayacucho, Jeronimo was encouraged to learn indigenous folk arts of Peru. He displayed some of his work in the late 1970s and when Joaquín López Antay saw it, he sought out Jeronimo and taught him his techniques and told him, "you will go further than I have!"
Continuing the Tradition
Unlike most South American retablo makers, Jeronimo sculpts figures individually rather than mass-producing them in molds. His brightly painted and decorated pieces mix the images and symbols of his Peruvian-Catholic heritage with those from his new home in Utah.
Jeronimo is known for the variety of shape and size retablo he creates. The smallest fit inside a shell or matchbox and depict a simple scene such as the Christian nativity or snapshopt of a Peruvian business. The largest retablos depict complicated stories like the Tragedy of the Uchuraccay.
The Tragedy of the Uchuraccay
This retablo is a product of Jeronimo’s study into the deaths of eight journalists in January 1983. One of the journalists was his friend and fellow student at the school of Fine Arts in Huamanga, Ayacucho, Peru. Jeronimo made this as a faithful version of the events as told to him by the mountain people of Uchuraccay in the original language of the native Inca Empire, Quechua. As told by Jeronimo Lozano, this retablo has twelve interior compartments with numbers and titles, each telling a distinct part of the story. This retablo is read from left to right, top to bottom. To see detailed images and explanations of The Tragedy of the Uchuraccay, visit our website.
