Transforming Images

“This manuscript is quite unlike anything yet published on New Mexican colonial-period material. Long overdue, it not only brings together a wealth of new material, but it also addresses the region with an academic sophistication and respect that has been lacking, problematizing religious artworks with a strong theoretical underpinning and an interdisciplinary approach. Overall, the anthology chides and corrects conventional Eurocentric scholarship that devotes most attention to categorizing and identifying iconographic and stylistic patterns and continues to be inattentive to the reception, function, and bicultural production of artifacts. Particularly noteworthy is the effort to underscore the strong indigenous influence in colonial arts through both authorship and artistic/cultural influences during the campaign to evangelize and Hispanize the Amerindian population. By and large, the artworks are situated in a well researched social, political, historical context with the primary focus on how Santos are made, or seen, to operate.” —Jeanette Favrot Peterson, University of California, Santa Barbara

“This heady book will serve as a basis for scholarly inquiry on the subject of New Mexican santos and santeros for years to come, and is a solid contribution to the field.” —Charles Bennett, New Mexico Magazine

“Together with the other contributors, these authors investigate anthropological, historical, demographic, and ethical questions bearing on this art. They have produced a book to be reckoned with by all serious students of the subject.” —C.W. Talbot, Choice

“Overall, the volume and its authors display an impressive breadth and thoroughness of research. The book itself contains a remarkable quality of images, many of which are color. Furthermore, anyone searching for more details on santos will be delighted to find the exhaustive endnotes and twenty-four page consolidated bibliography.



With this intellectually rigorous volume in hand, readers will gain a sound understanding of the complexities and challenges accompanying the study of these devotional objects. Moreover, they will acquire a broad, detailed introduction to important issues in contemporary art-historical scholarship: theoretical, methodological, and ethical. Transforming Images will no doubt be a catalyst for a new and exciting era of Santos scholarship.” —Lauren Grace Kilroy, CAA Reviews

“Transforming Images is an oversize volume that combines the aesthetic values of a coffee table book with deeply theoretical and well-researched academic articles. Especially notable are the 91 color and 114 black and white images that beautifully supplement and illustrate the textual arguments. It is in the specifics of simultaneous, multiple, and unresolved meanings that this text is most provocative and it is in this way it serves as a model for other works.” —Michael L. Trujillo, Museum Anthropology

“This heady book will serve as a basis for scholarly inquiry on the subject of New Mexican santos and santeros for years to come, and is a solid contribution to the field.” —Charles Bennett, New Mexico Magazine

“Transforming Images is an oversize volume that combines the aesthetic values of a coffee table book with deeply theoretical and well-researched academic articles. Especially notable are the 91 color and 114 black and white images that beautifully supplement and illustrate the textual arguments. It is in the specifics of simultaneous, multiple, and unresolved meanings that this text is most provocative and it is in this way it serves as a model for other works.” —Michael L. Trujillo, Museum Anthropology

“Together with the other contributors, [Claire Farago and Donna Pierce] investigate anthropological, historical, demographic, and ethical questions bearing on [New Mexican santos]. They have produced a book to be reckoned with by all serious students of the subject.” —C. W. Talbot, Choice