La Catrina

Our La Catrina papier-mâché figurine comes from a small family business in Mexico City, where it is handmade to the highest standard using the combined experience of three generations. Working with papier-mâché has a long tradition in Mexico. Paper fibers, water and paste are processed into a viscous paste that can be sculpted with great verve. In the case of this La Catrina figure, this culminates in pure grandeur - the plush red stole nestles gently around the upper body, the hat has been decorated with finely curved braid, the skull is adorned with shiny silver earrings and both La Catrina's dress and handbag have been covered with abrasion-resistant silver glitter. 

The figure of La Catrina Calavera was drawn by the Mexican caricaturist José Guadalupe Posada at the beginning of the 19th century. The illustration of the skeleton of the elegant high society lady with the sweeping hat was a sarcastic dig at the Mexican upper class and has become an omnipresent icon of Dia de los Muertos over the course of the century. Posada's original La Catrina design consisted only of the skull and hat. The full-body figure of La Catrina, as we know it today, was later brought to life by Diego Riviera in his famous mural Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central.