1951.100 Jean Charlot, Children Playing, 1946

This painting references La Malinche, the indigenous woman who actively cooperated in the Spanish conquest of Mexico’s territory and Christianization of its population. The children in this scene wield swords and rattles, objects instrumental in the reenactment of Matachines dances performed in Mexico and the American Southwest. The central figure—a young indigenous girl dressed in a white communion dress and raising a sword above her head—is the body on which two traditions collapse and serves as symbols of the Catholic Church and its power. Children Playing bridges two important moments in Jean Charlot’s career as an artist: a composition and color palette he developed while living in Hawaii in the 1940s and iconography he first explored two decades earlier while living in Mexico.

Tower Gallery: Latin American Art, Label text, 2017.

Charlot_Jean: ULAN: 500027773

France (nation): TGN: 1000070

Paris (France): TGN: 7008038

Honolulu (inhabited place / Hawaii): TGN: 7013718

Hawaii (state/United States): TGN: 7007249

Colorado (state/United States): TGN: 7007158

New York (New York/United States): TGN: 7007567

United States (nation): TGN: 7012149

Mexico (nation): TGN: 7005560

oil paint: AAT: 300015050

Masonite (TM): AAT: 300014205

painting (visual works): AAT: 300033618

figures (representations): AAT: 300189808

human figures: AAT: 300404114

female: AAT: 300189557

youth (life stages): AAT: 300305226

children (people by age group): AAT: 300025945

girls: AAT: 300247581

games (activities): AAT: 300069657

socializing (social function): AAT: 300379719

play (recreation): AAT: 300263267

events (activities): AAT: 300069084

dresses (garments): AAT: 300046159

hats (headgear): AAT: 300046106

hairstyles: AAT: 300262903

braids (hairstyle): AAT: 300404709

La Malinche (Malinalli / Malintzin / Doña Marina): DMA

Spanish conquest (events): DMA

conquests (events): AAT: 300410367

Christianity: AAT: 300073711

Pre-Columbian (American): AAT: 300016619

population (demographics): AAT: 300055417

human (culture): AAT: 300393250

humans (homo sapiens species): AAT: 300265711

culture: AAT: 300055768

sword: AAT: 300037048

rattles: AAT: 300041933

Matachines (inhabited place / Chihuahua / Mexico): TGN: 7426425

dancing: AAT: 300389779

dance (discipline): AAT: 300054144

performances (entertainment events): AAT: 300069200

Southwest (general region/United States): TGN: 4010660

communions (Christian ceremonies): AAT: 300391329

churches (institutions): AAT: 300312247

power: AAT: 300374809

symbol: AAT: 300055878

composition (artistic arrangement): AAT: 300056255

palette (color range): AAT: 300056166

trees (plants): AAT: 300132410

sky: AAT: 300263064

buildings (structures): AAT: 300004792

Until 1951: Galleria de Arte Mexicana, Mexico City [Ines Amor, dealer] [1], [2]

From 1951: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas Art Association Purchase [1], [2], [3]

[1] The main source for this provenance was existing information in TMS (in Dallas Museum of Art Digital Collections Records Object Files). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.  

[2] The main source for this provenance is letter from Ines Amor, Galleria de Arte Mexicana, Mexico City, to Jerry Bywaters, Director of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (dated September 14, 1951, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[3] The Dallas Art Association is the predecessor to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name was abandoned in 1970. Works from this collection were transferred to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

Apply to objects where number equals 1951.100