Icons & Retablos Opening Friday March 10th

Icons & Retablos: A collaborative exhibition with the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, MA compares Orthodox Icons and Mexican retablos on the campus of NMSU. 

Opening March 10th at 5:30 PM

Las Cruces, NM -- The NMSU University Art Museum (UAM) is excited to announce the opening of Icons & Retablos: The Blessings of Christ on Home Altars in the Margie and Bobby Rankin Retablo Gallery at the UAM on the campus of NMSU. Guest curated by Dr. Elizabeth Zarur, this exhibition, created in collaboration with the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton, Massachusetts, invites visitors to see devotional works iconic to both Catholic and Orthodox Christianity. 

In these joint exhibitions, both the UAM and the Museum of Russian Icons will display portions of each other’s significant collections. Concurrent running exhibitions at the UAM and the Museum of Russian Icons were curated by Dr. Zarur to explore these two styles of devotion through diverse materials, themes, and artistic expressions. 

The Museum of Russian Icons and the UAM are both caretakers of two important collections, portraying religious subjects which conform to theological guidelines and traditional iconography. The NMSU Art Museum houses the largest collection of Mexican retablos in the U.S. Meanwhile, the Museum of Russian Icons is the only museum in the U.S. dedicated to Russian icons, and houses the largest collection of icons outside of Russia. The UAM’s Icons & Retablos: The Blessings of Christ on Home Altars and the Museum of Russian Icons’ Icons & Retablos: Images of Devotion encourage visitors to compare these sacred paintings, not only within each altar space but also “across the aisle.” 

Dr. Elizabeth Zarur holds a BFA in Printmaking and Drawing, an MFA in Fiber Arts, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Art. During her 30-year career teaching art history at New Mexico State University and Wheaton College in Massachusetts, she published extensively and curated several exhibitions. Her research focuses on the arts and culture of Latin America and Portugal with the publication of books and articles on the nineteenth-century Mexican retablo, the colonial architecture and religious rituals of Brazil, women artists in baroque Portugal, and the feather art of the Indians of Central Brazil. She has curated several national and international exhibitions accompanied by comprehensive catalogs; and attended conferences and delivered lectures in Brazil, Portugal, Mexico, and the United States. 

Please join us Friday, March 10, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. for the opening reception of Icons & Retablos: The Blessings of Christ on Home Altars. The exhibition will be on view March 10 through August 26, 2023 in the UAM’s Margie and Bobby Rankin Retablo Gallery. More information about associated programming will be available on the UAM’s website. https://uam.nmsu.edu/ 

The NMSU Art Museum is located at 1308 E. University Avenue in Las Cruces, in Devasthali Hall at the intersection of E. University Ave. and S. Solano Drive. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Designated gallery parking is available, and general parking on the NMSU campus is free on weekends and after 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. 

For more information, please visit the website at: uam.nmsu.edu or contact Art Museum Coordinator Jasmine Herrera directly (575)-646-2545 or artmuseum@nmsu.edu.