Products
Introducing Lupita Figurines
December 14, 2017
La Fuente Imports is excited to share our new line of Lupita Figurines. Born in the 1800s, Lupita dolls were originally made of paper mache as a substitute for far more expensive porcelain dolls, and are a traditional Mexican handicraft still created today by a handful of artists.
Historically, a Lupita doll is a kind of papier-mâché doll which was made primarily by the poor along with those from straw, wood and rags. The papier-mâché technique is properly called cartonería, making a very hard surface when dry. This technique has been used to make a number of crafts up to this day, most notably to make alebrijes and skeletal and other figures for Day of the Dead. The dolls are usually created with the help of molds, one for the head and torso and others for the arms and legs, with the strips of paper and paste layered on thickly. When the five pieces are dry, holes are bored into them in order to connect the arms and legs. The two arms are connected to the body with a single cord that extends from one upper arm, through the torso, to the other upper arm, with knots visible on the upper arms. The legs are attached similarly. This allows the arms and legs to be moved from the shoulders and hips respectively. Traditional Lupitas are painted in various flesh tones and with other colors to simulate clothing or underwear. On traditional dolls, flower designs of Otomi origin are also painted. Those painted with underwear are then dressed in some kind of costume.
These dolls were often played with along with toy chairs and tables along with play dishes. They are still often displayed sitting on a miniature chair. The name Lupita is derived from the diminutive for the popular girls' name of Guadalupe. Presumably the name was assigned for its ubiquity, as the dolls were toys for the poor and thus manipulated by children to imitate the mundane chores and tasks required of all impoverished Mexican women of the time. Every Lupita doll was unique, a result of hundreds of artisan families, and hand-crafted Lupita dolls were sold in Mexico City and other large marketplaces for over a hundred years. Here they remained popular until the era of plastic toys began.
Today, Lupita dolls have become more often decorative. Typically ceramic and painted in festive colors, they're commonly displayed for good luck. Lupita figures represent the day-to-day routine of Mexico itself, from its tiny pueblos to bustling cities, and thus have a significance well beyond a simple child's toy. All the ceramic Lupita figures offered here are handmade, literally from head to toe. The hair styles and painted dress scenes are of Otomi (indigenous) origin.
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