Maintaining a tradition in its essence for more than 400 years, such as the Puebla talavera, is a challenge. The new techniques and the modernity of the times have marked changes in its production process, in its design and in its projection.
Many factories have modernized this ancient tradition, however there are others whose production of white ware and tiles is still carried out with the original techniques of the 16th century. Among them, the Talavera de la Reyna house stands out, an innovative and high-quality workshop. Its enthusiastic founder and promoter Angélica Moreno had as its main objective from the beginning: “To make the best ceramics in the state of Puebla. To achieve this - he told us - we use the traditional system: from the selection of the clay, the kneading with the feet (shelf), the work on the wheel, the enameling or glazing and the manufacture of the brushes by the potters themselves for decoration of the pieces. We are one of the few workshops that follow the same steps as our ancestors in the production of talavera ”.
Appellation of origin
For the protection of this traditional handicraft, the government issued the Denomination of Origin Talavera D04 and the Official Mexican Standard. Based on trial and error, Angélica learned the secrets of this art, gradually achieving quality production that was initially spread by word of mouth. On September 8, 1990, the Talavera de la Reyna workshop was formally inaugurated, by the way, one of the youngest established in the state.
They were not satisfied with producing excellent quality talavera, they invited contemporary artists to work with the technique. "We needed to revalue the ancestral tradition, involving contemporary artists: painters, sculptors, potters and designers." Maestro José Lazcarro participated and shortly after, a group of 20 artists worked there for three years; at the end, they presented the exhibition "Talavera, Vanguard Tradition", inaugurated at the Amparo Museum on May 8, 1997 with great success.
This sample was also exhibited at the Maison Hamel-Bruneau in Québec, and part of it at the American Society, USA (1998). Years later, it occupied a predominant place in the Gallery of Contemporary Art and Design in the city of Puebla (2005) with the name of "Alarca 54 Contemporary Artists", and the most recent exhibitions took place in the National Museum of Fine Arts (Namoc ), in the city of Beijing (China); and in the Gallery of the Palace of the Municipal Institute of Art and Culture of Puebla, in 2006.
Forging a heritage
The success of these exhibitions have allowed the workshop to become one of the favorite spaces for more than 50 artists, of recognized national and international prestige, to experiment with traditional materials, textures and colors. Proof of this are the approximately 300 artistic works that make up its collection. Combining tradition and innovation is not an easy task. In this case, the artisans, as heirs to the traditional process, contributed their knowledge and experience, while the artists contributed their concepts and creativity. The combination was extraordinary, as new works were created breaking with tradition, but at the same time rescuing it. It should be noted that some of the artists did get totally involved in the elaboration of their pieces, others decided that the artisans should take part to a large extent in their making, thus achieving full communion.
If you live in Mexico City, in July you will have the opportunity to appreciate these unique works when exhibited at the Franz Mayer Museum: “Alarca. Talavera de la Reyna ”, where it will be proven that tradition and contemporary can go hand in hand, with sublime results. This exhibition includes works by Fernando González Gortazar, Takenobu Igarashi, Alberto Castro Leñero, Fernando Albisúa, Franco Aceves, Gerardo Zarr, Luca Bray, Magali Lara, Javier Marín, Keizo Matsui, Carmen Parra, Mario Marín del Campo, Vicente Rojo, Jorge Salcido , Robert Smith, Juan Soriano, Francisco Toledo, Roberto Turnbull, Bill Vincent and Adrián White, among others. With this, Puebla talavera is placed at a level of global relevance, through the participation of contemporary creators whose contribution gives it a new path or projection, in addition to collaborating in the preservation of this craft, undoubtedly converted into a full manifestation of art .
History
It had its origin in the second half of the 16th century, when some alfares (potters' workshops) were established in the majestic city of Puebla. The master Gaspar de Encinas installed a china shop around 1580-1585 in the old Calle de los Herreros, where he made white earthenware and tile, which long after would be known as talavera earthenware, as it imitated that produced in the town of Talavera de la Reyna, Toledo province, Spain.
Throughout the viceroyalty, vases, vases, basins, plates, bowls, pots, trays, jugs, religious figures were manufactured in this technique ... all these objects were in great demand not only for their artistic but also utilitarian aspect, and reached three levels of quality: fine earthenware (brought up to five glazed shades in addition to the white enamel), ordinary earthenware and yellow earthenware. The decoration was based on floral motifs, feathers, characters, animals and landscapes, of Moorish, Italian, Chinese or Gothic influence.
For its part, the tile began as a simple element of protection and ended as a key decorative factor, which today we can see in numerous religious and civil architectural works, the facades of the temple of San Francisco Acatepec (Puebla) and the House of Azulejos (Mexico City) are just two spectacular examples worthy of admiration.
In the 19th century, a large part of the pottery factories in Puebla suspended their work, and some potters with some training had difficulty maintaining their workshops. In the first decades of the last century, an attempt was made to create new styles based on the interpretation of ancient elements, such as the drawing of codices and copies of various prints, modernist elements that were unsuccessful.
