Deborah Du Flon: The Magical Power of Legends
Greens Farms Academy, Greens Farms, CT
March – April 1995
Guatemala has a rich oral tradition. Maya and Spanish stories are heard from cuenteros throughout the countryside. These storytellers are the guardians of an ancient craft. They are committed to sharing and conserving a common cultural heritage. Folklore is the heart and soul of popular culture, and it functions as a collective conscience. Legends entertain and amuse the listeners, and they reinforce cultural values and beliefs.
Leyendas have been a very effective tool for the Catholic church to keep the faithful in Guatemala on the path to salvation. A story like La Siguanaba has taught generations of men about the virtues of fidelity.
Legends have also provided Guatemalan artists with a constant source of subjects. La Llorona, El Sombrerón, and La Tatuana are familiar characters to the painters who have enriched storytelling with the visual element.
Ms. Du Flon grew up in La Antigua hearing many of these stories on rainy nights. She remembers them all, and she believes in them. Leyendas and costumbres excite her as an artist, and she paints her feelings about them.
Five years ago she exhibited 20 paintings in Guatemala City as part of an on-going effort to interpret folktales from her childhood. The works represent a variety of details from her memory, and they are rich in their cultural content.
The ten paintings in The Magical Power of Legends are part of this series. They share many themes with the original versions of leyendas, and they serve as an introduction to Guatemalan folklore for an international audience. Ms. Du Flon reveals in these paintings an imaginary and dream-like vision of a world inhabited by El caballo de siete colores and El Cadejo.
Ms. Du Flon is a well-known artist in Guatemala, where her paintings are exhibited regularly in all of the major galleries. She is considered one of the leading women artists in the country. Her narrative paintings document the inventions and fantasies of a very magical world. Many of her works are in private collections in Central America, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. Her most recent show in this country was on Long Island last summer.
Ms. Du Flon comes from a long line of artists. She has lived and studied in France and the United States, but she is most at home in the highlands of Guatemala with her children and grandchild.