Founded in 1953, the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) holds more than 160,000 objects. Legendary 20th century designer Alexander Girard and his wife Susan gifted over 106,000 of these to the institution. This makes it the largest collection of international folk art in the world.

Ancient Sumerians may have birthed the first angels approximately 3,000 years ago with their sculptures of otherworldly winged guardians. Nearly as old are Zoroastrian visions of a great battle between good and evil fought by angels and demons, which may have influenced subsequent Biblical accounts. According to Yale University scholar Dale B. Martin, only in the 2nd century C.E. does the Old Testament story of Lucifer, the most beautiful (and errant) of the angels, morph into the idea that angels and demons occupy branches of the same family tree.

Conservation Through Curators

MOIFA’s generations of curators carefully keep these depictions of cousins from cultures around the world in vaults. These art-whisperers care for works in the permanent collection, organize exhibitions, and through their scholarship bring to light their origin stories from communities around the world. They also help us perceive the meanings and lessons by these works and the context in which they were created.

In the varied countenances of Michaels and Mephistopheleses we most certainly find signs of kinship in the curve of a smile, the tinkle of an eye, the flourish of a gesture. How could we not? These artifacts of humanity reflect back to us facets of ourselves. There is wisdom to gain and comfort to take here in our polarizing times. If angels and demons, thought to express opposing extremes of human nature, are kin, how can we not pause and try to understand each other better? MOIFA’s website declares that part of the organization’s mission is “to illuminate human creativity and shape a humane world,” and awakening such ideas within us means that curators past and present are very much on the job.

From Prague, Czech Republic. Artist, Hana Králová, 1966.

Into Temptation

The devil can sweep the most angelic of us off our feet! This licentious spirit rendered in linen lace has taken innocence by surprise. As with the very ancient tale of Persephone, who set the cycle of seasons in motion by eating a few pomegranate seeds during her first visit to the underworld, who knows what surprises might arise from the aftermath of this encounter.

From San Gabriel, Suchitepéquez, Guatemala. Artist unknown.

Lucifer

MOIFA’s notes on this devilish figure link him to pre-Christian imagery. “The development of the Christian devil was influenced by the pagan god Pan, who was half goat and half man. Pan’s carnal appetite made it easy for early Christian worshipers in the Roman world to associate this god with all things forbidden. He soon became synonymous with sin. Pan’s association with the wildness of life outside the confines of customs and norms is reinforced by the cloven hoof of his left foot, his crab claw hands, his serpentine tail, his horns, and, of course, his (ahem) unconcealable lust for life.

Candlesticks made by a Poqomam artisan in Chinautla, Guatemala in the 1960s.

A Glory of Angels

Far more circumspect than Lucifer, these ceramic angels conceal their nether regions under round skirts stone-burnished to a beautiful sheen. Emblems of heavenly elegance and propriety, the dove-bearing beauties still show signs of devilish cousinship. A history of heat and passion is written in the flame-kissed markings left behind by their time in the fire.

From Tabay Mérida Venezuela. Artist unknown.

Guardian Angel

Judging from the hooks on its back, this carved bas-relief wooden angel was probably hanging on a wall. Under its wideset blue eyes, could anything bad possibly happen? Probably not. But, is the definition of “good” accommodatingly broad when your gorgeous guardian angel’s robe is a provocative red and his/her neck is as sturdy as a bull’s? This winged watcher might well have accepted an invitation to split a bottle of wine over a discussion of the complexities of personal morality.

From Calderón Pichincha, Ecuador. Artist unknown.

Bread Dough Devils

Neither Valentino nor Versace could rival the feast day finery of these hand-rolled and  sculpted bread dough devils. After sculpting, they dry for a few days, and are then painted and varnished. Rising in the 1940s out of an All Souls’-Day tradition of bread babies in Calderón Pichincha, Ecuador, their exuberance is enviable. They may be right at home with the angel in red just above. They might, however, hog the wine and hijack the conversation towards the virtues of parties, raves, and other earthly pleasures.

Story by Keith Recker / Photography by Tira Howard / Special Thanks to Kate Macuen, Director of Collections, Museum of International Folk Art

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