Alebrijes () are brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical (fantasy/mythical) creatures, traditionally made from papier-mâché or wood. The art form originated in Mexico City in 1936, when Pedro Linares López, a papier-mâché artist, began creating surreal, dreamlike creatures after experiencing vivid hallucinations during an illness. His designs, which combined elements of various animals, became widely recognized as alebrijes and were later adopted by artisans in Oaxaca, who began carving them from copal wood, a local softwood.
Alebrijes are now a significant part of Mexican folk art, blending the tradition of cartonería with modern artistic expression. They are often associated with Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), though they are not traditionally part of the holiday's customs. Today, alebrijes are crafted in various regions of Mexico and have gained international recognition, appearing in exhibitions, festivals, and even contemporary media.
Description The first alebrijes originated in Mexico City, originally created by 'cartonero' artist Pedro Linares. Linares often said that in 1936, he fell very ill. While he was in bed unconscious, he dreamt of a strange place resembling a forest. There, he saw trees, rocks, and clouds that suddenly transformed into strange, unknown animals. He saw "a donkey with butterfly wings, a rooster with bull horns, and a lion with an eagle head," and all of them were shouting one word "Alebrijes! Alebrijes! Alebrijes!" Upon recovery, he began recreating the creatures that he had seen in cartonería, the making of three-dimensional sculptures with different types of papers, strips of papers, and "engrudo" (glue made out of wheat flour and water).
His work caught the attention of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo because they used to purchase Judas figures from Pedro Linares. In the 1980s, British filmmaker Judith Bronowski arranged an itinerant Mexican art craft demonstration workshop in the United States featuring Pedro Linares, Manuel Jiménez, and Maria Sabina, a textile artisan from Oaxaca. Although the Oaxaca Valley area already had a history of carving animals and other types of figures from wood, artisans from Oaxaca learned of the alebrijes paper-mâché sculptures when Bronowski's workshop took place. Linares demonstrated his designs on family visits. These were adapted to the carving of a local wood called copal; this type of wood is said to be magical, made from united magic. In the 1990s, the artisans of Oaxaca began to use the word Alebrije to designate their figures carved in wood.
The papier-mâché-to-wood carving adaptation was pioneered by Arrazola native Manuel Jiménez. This version of the craft has since spread to several other towns, most notably San Martín Tilcajete and La Unión Tejalapan, and has become a significant source of income for the area, especially for Tilcajete. The success of the craft, however, has led to the depletion of the native copal trees. Attempts to remedy this with reforestation efforts and management of wild copal trees have had limited success. The three towns most closely associated with alebrije production in Oaxaca have produced a number of notable artisans such as Manuel Jiménez, Jacobo Angeles, Julia Fuentes, and Miguel Sandiego.
Original papercraft alebrijes
Alebrijes originated in Mexico City in the 20th century, in 1936. The first alebrijes, as well as the name itself, are attributed to Pedro Linares, an artisan from México City (Distrito Federal), who specialized in making piñatas, carnival masks and "Judas" figures from cartonería, an ancient and widespread papercraft often confused with papier-mâché. He sold his work in markets such as the one in La Merced.
In 1936, when he was 30 years old, Linares fell ill with a high fever, which caused him to hallucinate. In his fever dreams, he was in a forest with rocks and clouds, many of which turned into wild, unnaturally colored creatures, frequently featuring wings, horns, tails, fierce teeth and bulging eyes. He heard a crowd of voices repeating the nonsense word "Alebrije". After he recovered, he began to re-create the creatures he'd seen, using papier-mâché and cardboard. Eventually, a Cuernavaca gallery owner discovered his work. This brought him to the attention of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, who began commissioning more alebrijes. The tradition grew considerably after British filmmaker Judith Bronowski's 1975 documentary on Linares.
Linares received Mexico's National Arts and Sciences Award in the Popular Arts and Traditions category in 1990, two years before he died. This inspired other alebrije artists, and Linares' work became prized both in Mexico and abroad. Rivera said that no one else could have fashioned the strange figures he requested; work done by Linares for Rivera is now displayed at the Anahuacalli Museum in Mexico City.
The descendants of Pedro Linares, such as his son Miguel Linares, his granddaughters Blanca y Elsa Linares, and his grandson Ricardo Linares, live in Mexico City near the Sonora Market and carry on the tradition of making alebrijes and other figures from cardboard and papier-mâché. Their customers have included the Rolling Stones, David Copperfield, and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. The Stones gave the family tickets to their show. Various branches of the family occupy a row of houses on the same street. Each family works in its own workshops in their own houses, but they will lend each other a hand with big orders. Demand rises and falls; sometimes there is no work, and sometimes families work 18 hours a day.
The original designs for Pedro Linares' alebrijes have fallen into the public domain. However, according to Chapter Three of the 1996 Mexican federal copyright law, it is illegal to sell crafts made in Mexico without acknowledging the community and region they are from, or to alter the crafts in a way that could be interpreted as damaging to the culture's reputation or image. The law applied to the commercialization of the crafts as well as to their public exhibition and the use of their images. This law is rarely enforced; most crafts sellers in Mexico rarely disclose the origin of their products. The name "alebrijes" is used for a wide variety of crafts, even though the Linares family has sought to gain control over the name. The family says that pieces which are not made by them and do not come from Mexico City should state so. The Linares family continues to export their work to the most important galleries showing Mexican art worldwide. For example, "Beasts and Bones: The Cartonería of the Linares Family" in Carlsbad, California, featured about seventy alebrijes and was so popular that it was extended by several weeks.
Because a variety of artists and artisans have been creating alebrijes in their own styles, the craft has become part of Mexico's folk art repertoire. No two alebrijes are exactly alike. Outside of the Linares family, one of the most noted alebrije artists is Susana Buyo, who learned to work with cardboard and papier-mâché at one of the Linares family workshops. Known as the "Señora de los Monstruos" by the local children in Condesa, an upscale neighborhood of Mexico City, she is a native Argentine and naturalized Mexican citizen. Her work can be found across Mexico City and elsewhere, such as those found in Europe. Her work differs from that of the Linares in that many of her designs include human contours, and many have expressions more tender than terrifying. She also uses nontraditional materials such as feathers, fantasy stones, and modern resins, both for novelty and for durability.
While Pedro Linares dreamed up the creatures, they did not surface in a vacuum. Similarities and parallels can be drawn between alebrijes and various supernatural creatures from Mexico's indigenous and European past. In pre-Hispanic art, the brightly colored images were often fantastic and macabre. Influences from Mexico City's Chinatown, especially in the dragons, and Gothic art such as gargoyles can be seen. Red cardboard demons called judas, which Linares made, are still made to be burned in Mexico during Holy Week in purification rituals. More recent examples in Mexican culture, artist Julio Ruelas and graphics artist/commentator José Guadalupe Posada, have created fantastic and sometimes terrifying images. Alebrijes, especially the monsters, have gained a reputation for "scaring away bad spirits" and protecting the home. Some, like master craftsman Christian David Mendez, claim that there is a certain mysticism involved in the making and owning of alebrijes, with parts of certain animals representing human characteristics.
The annual Mexico City Alebrije Parade
A more recent phenomenon, the annual Mexico City Alebrije Parade, has been sponsored by the Museo de Arte Popular in Mexico City since 2007. The 2009 parade featured more than 130 giant alebrijes made of wood, cardboard, paper, wire, and other materials, and marched from the Zocalo in the historic center of the city to the Angel of Independence monument on Paseo de la Reforma. Entries by artisans, artists, families and groups each year have gotten bigger, more creative and more numerous, with names like:
"Devora Stein" by Uriel López Baltazar "Alebrhijos" by Santiago Goncen "Totolina", by Arte Lado C "AH1N1" by Taller Don Guajo "Volador", by Taller de Plástica El Volador "La mula del 6" by Daniel Martínez Bartelt "La gárgola de la Atlántida" by Juan Carlos Islas "Alebrije luchador" by Ricardo Rosales
They are accompanied by bands playing popular Mexican music. At the end of the parade, the pieces are lined up on Paseo de la Reforma for judging and displayed for two weeks. The 2010 alebrije parade had themes related to the Bicentennial of the Independence of Mexico and the Centennial of the Mexican Revolution, although Walter Boelsterly, head of the Museo de Artes Populares, concedes that such may require a bit of tolerance because it can lead to revered figures such as Miguel Hidalgo and Ignacio Allende with animal parts. He states that the aim is to celebrate and not to mock. In addition to the annual parade, the Museum has sponsored alebrije shows such as the three-meter tall alebrije which captured attention at the Feria International del Libro in Bogotá. The word "alebrije" was not known in Colombia, so the locals dubbed it a "dragoncito" (little dragon). Along with "dragoncito" 150 other, smaller pieces of Mexican crafts were shown.
Carved wood alebrijes
Development of the craft in Oaxaca
Many rural households in the Mexican state of Oaxaca have prospered over the past three decades through the sale of brightly painted, whimsical wood carvings they call alebrijes to international tourists and the owners of ethnic arts shops in the United States, Canada, and Europe. What are called "alebrijes" in Oaxaca is a marriage of native woodcarving traditions and influence from Pedro Linares' work in Mexico City.
Pedro Linares was originally from México City (Distrito Federal). In the 1980s, British filmmaker, Judith Bronowski, arranged an itinerant demonstration workshop in the United States participating Pedro Linares, Manuel Jiménez and a textile artisan Maria Sabina from Oaxaca. Although the Oaxaca valley area already had a history of carving animal and other types of figures from wood, it was at this time, when Bronowski's workshop took place when artisans from Oaxaca knew the alebrijes papier-mâché sculptures.