Celebrating the Day of the Dead

She is tall, always elegantly dressed in sophisticated French couture from the turn of the century. She is sexy, confident and the object of desire.

Nevermind that she’s dead.

Nevermind that she’s actually, literally, a skeleton.

Catrina was the name given to this skeleton figure now popularized in Mexican Day of the Dead folkloric art. She has become such an integrated part of Mexican culture that she has nearly eclipsed her creator.

Jose Guadalupe Posada, whose work is on display at the Los Angeles Central Library, is one of Mexico’s greatest artists who popularized Catrina in his many wild Day of the Dead illustrations. Here skeletons, known as calaveras in Spanish, mingle with each other. In his illustrations, generals and Revolutionary-era figures like Emiliano Zapata and Victoriano Huerta socialize with vendors, clerics and bandits.

Posada’s Catrina was even included by Diego Rivera in the painter’s famous mural at the Hotel del Prado in Mexico City.

“She is elegant as a concept and a drawing, with a grand hat adorned with flowers and feathers,” said art historian Justino Fernandez. “But the drawing is also a critique of vanity and a reminder that all living things end in ashes.”

Such was the world Posada illustrated to Mexicans during his 40-year career as an artist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

But Posada’s Catrina is also a tribute to the Mexican holiday, Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Fifty Posada illustrations are on view at the library through Dec. 10. The Posada exhibit is only one of several Day of the Dead events happening this week throughout Los Angeles, ranging from panel discussions by various Los Angeles artists to altar making and sugar skull workshops in museums and parks.

In Mexico, Dia de los Muertos is a celebration, not a somber occasion, to remember those who have passed away. Traditionally, Nov. 1 is the day children are remembered, called the Dia de los Angelitos (Day of the Angels). Nov. 2 is reserved for adults. The festivities include making colorful papier-ma^che cutouts called papel picado, constructing altars with photographs and mementos of loved ones, creating elaborate wreaths and crosses decorated with flowers, lighting candles and votives in processions, and baking edible goodies, such as sugar skulls and sweet bread called pan de muertos (bread of the dead).

The tradition is not particular to Mexico either. In Guatemala, for example, the celebration is called Dia de los Santos (Day of the Saints). Mexican Americans celebrate the Day of the Dead, sometimes with more aplomb than Halloween. It is a cultural custom that has transcended geographical borders.

But in Mexico, Posada’s calaveras were a popular form of entertainment for the working masses. His illustrations were sold in Mexico City penny broadsides, newspapers and books. Often called the Mexican Honore Daumier, Posada used humor and satire to poke fun at the Porfirio Diaz regime, which lasted from 1876 to 1910, when the Mexican Revolution began.

Posada, who was working class and died poor, elevated Mexico’s indigenous culture in his art. This was in direct contrast to Diaz’s lauding of everything European, including cuisine, fashion and architecture. The calaveras gave Posada the freedom to express a subtle criticism of daily life, said Fernandez.

“His characters are ridiculous, but they are symbolic,” said Fernandez. “That is how Posada, through the use of irony, the ridiculous and the fantastic, criticizes unmerciful and industrially driven modern times.”

The prints are part of a collection by filmmaker Elias Nahmias and artist Ann Chamberlin. Nahmias said he started collecting the original prints from Mexico City vendors over the last five years. Nahmias said Posada’s art encompasses much more than the Day of the Dead celebrations. However, that occasion serves as an introduction to a master illustrator who became a chronicler of his time.

“I think he is the first important Mexican artist of the 20th century,” he said. “He is an artist who captured Mexican sensibilities in his work without it being just folk art. He brought this idea of dressing the skeletons to new heights. He was an illustrator of an entire era.”

* “Skeletons at the Feast,” an exhibit of Jose Guadalupe Posada illustrations, Los Angeles Central Library, 630 W. 5th St.; (213) 228-7507; through Dec. 10. Free

* “La Muerte Vive!” Day of the Dead events: 4530 Cesar Chavez Ave.; (323) 261-3121 or (323) 261-3202; tonight, 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.; buffet dinner, performance by the Blazers, papier-ma^che calaveras exhibit, $20 per person.

* The Ramirez Mortuary, 4545 Cesar Chavez Ave., Saturday, 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.; buffet dinner, tour of the gallery, more live performances; $20 per person. Also Sunday, 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., community event, offering food, entertainment. Free.

* Self Help Graphics, 3802 Cesar Chavez Ave.; (323) 881-6444; Nov. 1, 8 p.m. Performing artist Consuelo Flores will recite poetry exploring the themes of life, death and Aztlan. Also “Chicanos en Mictlan Sur II” Day of the Dead exhibit, Nov. 2-Nov. 19. Free.

* Social and Public Art Resource Center, 685 Venice Blvd.; (310) 822-9560; Nov. 5, 2 p.m.-8 p.m.; Artist Linda Vallejo’s exhibition, “Los Cielos/The Heavens.” Events include a community altar, panel discussion of distinguished collectors, artists and historians, performance art and dance presentations, and a ceremony ending with a candlelight vigil. Free.

* Mexican Consulate, 2401 West 6th St.; (213) 351-6800, Ext. 266. Nov. 2, 6:30 p.m.: Creation of the altar and ofrenda (offering) begins. Folkloric dance group from the state of Michoacan will perform. Nov. 3: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Nov. 4, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.: an exhibit with 28 paintings by various Mexican artists on the subject of death. Free.

* Long Beach Museum of Latin American Art, 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach; (562) 437-1689. Saturday: calaveras workshop: noon to 2 p.m.; lecture on the Day of Dead by Gregorio Luke at 2 p.m.; ofrenda workshop at 4 p.m. Lecture and workshop: $10 for museum members and $12 for nonmembers.

* Art in the Park, Day of the Dead altar, Highland Park, Nov. 1, (323) 259-0861. Free.

* Cafe con Libros, 281 South Thomas Ave., Suite 103, Pomona; (909) 623-4492; Saturday at 2 p.m., sugar skull workshop. Free.