GEORGE T. LOPEZ (1900-1993), NEW MEXICO

George T. López (1900-1993) was born in the village of Córdova, New Mexico, the sixth generation of sculptors of santos figures, religious wood carvings in the tradition brought to the area by sixteenth-century Spanish settlers. He left Córdova at age nineteen and worked odd jobs throughout the Midwest before returning in 1952 to take up woodcarving full-time. With tools that consisted mostly of a penknife, handsaw, and sandpaper, López produced hundreds of figures of saints and other religious figures. His most complex and accomplished pieces, such as the present example, were the 'Tree of Life' groups, which depict Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden at the moment of their temptation. Other versions of the 'Tree of Life' are in the collections of the Dallas Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.