Crafting Tradition: The Making and Marketing of Oaxacan Wood Carvings

CHAPTER TWO: History of Oaxacan Wood Carving (1940-1985)

19 h i s t o r y o f o a x a c a n w o o d c a r v i n g ( 1 9 4 0 – 1 9 8 5 ) HISTORY OF OAXACAN WOOD CARVING (1940–1985) CHAPTER TWO Mine is a sacred history . . . I am not just anybody. I am a real tiger. I was born intelligent. Everyone here is living off my initiative. If I hadn’t started carving, no one would be doing anything. I invented the whole tradition. They should make a statue for me in the plaza, with an arrow pointing to the house, and rename this street Jiménez Street. (manuel jiménez, quoted in barbash 1993:19) I had heard a lot about Manuel Jiménez before I first met him in August 1994. Jiménez was famous among buyers and sellers of Mexican crafts as the oldest and most successful Oaxacan wood-carver. The proud, opinionated maestro held court for visitors most days at his home in Arrazola, where he and two sons sold their colorful frogs, dogs, bears, deer, and rabbits for hundreds of U.S. dollars apiece. Jiménez, born in 1919, had been interviewed many times during his long career (e.g., Barbash 1993: 15–19; Peden 1991:67–69) and obviously was good copy for the journalists he talked to. Their reports told of the c r a f t i n g t r a d i t i o n 20 wood-carver’s impoverished childhood, artistic inspiration, deep religious faith, and practice as a medical curer. The interviewers described a man who thought his talent was a gift from God and who dismissed most of the other carvers in the region as unoriginal copiers. Most of the articles were brief and focused on Jiménez’s genius, pride, and religion. Only an M.A. thesis written three decades ago (Serrie 1964:11–35) had much to say about his business activities. My initial visit to the house of Manuel Jiménez took place during a twoweek trip in which I was exploring fieldwork possibilities. I was staying at the Casa Colonial, a comfortable guest house in Oaxaca that caters to tourists interested in local arts and crafts. The owners of the Casa Colonial, Jane and Thornton Robison, help their guests arrange guided trips to nearby weaving, pottery, and wood-carving villages. I was pleased when Andy and Jeannette, a young couple from California, asked if I wanted to go with them on such a trip to Arrazola. This visit would allow me to unobtrusively observe interactions between Jiménez and potential customers. Andy, Jeannette, and I would be accompanied by Sheila and Joyce, about forty, who were teachers at an elementary school in Massachusetts. Sheila had been awarded a grant by their school district to buy crafts for use in a multimedia project about Mexico. Manuel Jiménez in his workshop. Fidel Ugarte. 21 h i s t o r y o f o a x a c a n w o o d c a r v i n g ( 1 9 4 0 – 1 9 8 5 ) Our taxi driver and guide was David Sánchez, an enterprising man who works as an intermediary for several galleries and ethnic arts stores in the United States. David speaks English well and translated for those members of our group (Andy, Jeannette, and Joyce) who could not understand Spanish. As we drove the short distance to Arrazola, David told us a bit about the scene at Jiménez’s. All prices were in U.S. dollars and no carving cost less than $100. There was no point in trying to bargain since prices were fixed. Although the pieces were signed by Manuel, they were mostly made by his sons Angélico and Isaías. Because I knew that many fine Oaxacan wood carvings could be purchased for $30 or less, I wondered if anyone in our group would be willing to buy an expensive Jiménez piece. Sheila, in particular, had only a limited amount of money from her grant to spend on crafts. David took a left at the newly built Arrazola plaza, drove past a school, and pulled up in front of the largest house in town. We were met at the door by Manuel’s wife, Viviana, who left us after telling her husband of...