DepartmentTextiles-United States & Canada
Los Penitentes
Namecolcha embroidery with pictorial narrative
Artist
Josephine Lobato
(born 1936)
Date1991
Place madeSan Luis, COLORADO, United States, North America
Mediumwool yarn on plain-woven cotton foundation
Dimensions34” x 24”
Credit LineGift of Josephine Lobato
Object numberA.2025.23.3
Collections
ProvenanceGift of the artist
DescriptionDescription from artist as recorded by Suzanne MacAulay: Los Penitentes is the popular name for La Hermandad de Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno or Society of the Brotherhood. These lay brothers are known for their penitential practices associated with communal religious activities performed during Lent, particularly Semana Santa, Holy Week. Lobato represents the scene of El Encuentro, staged on Good Friday, which re-enacts the Fourth Station of the Cross – the spot where Christ meets his mother as he struggles on his way to Calvary (El Calvario). The setting is Chama, not far from San Luis, where the artist was living when she made this piece after an inspiration from her husband Eugene “Buddy” Lobato, who could give names to all of the figures. Josie felt particularly challenged when working on Los Penitentes because the subject was not really hers, but Gene’s memories. She combined these with her own reminiscences of accompanying her father to some of the Lenten prayer services at a local morada in San Luis when she was very young.
Geography depicted: A morada in the hills surrounding Chama, Colorado, near San Luis, Colorado in south central Colorado
Artist not recorded, possibly a member of the Graves family
after 1919
