Painting(?) Odilon Mauticio Ocampo ?

Welcome to a2k, duzig.


This kind of search is hard to do, in that the internet just started fairly recently, relative to the history of art, and much information is missing even now, when there seem to be millions of art sites.


It might help if you could post a photo here. We might not answer right away - in fact, in the art forum, sometimes we get responses, some of them helpful, years later.


To post a photo on a2k, look at our Help Forum.

I'm sleepy now and any help I might contrive for you might go awry -

read the Forum Help (Help Forum) on how to post photos, and ask questions if you are confused.

Hello,
Thank you for your reply Ossobuco, I will do as you say and then see if I can post a picture. It is indeed late and I also am tired,that's why I probably couldn't figure out how to post a picture, Again I thank you for your help and reply.
Duzig

Well, maybe we'll both be smarter tomorrow, and I or others could help.
(don't give up).

Hello again,
Well I believe I have the url for the picture, will post it here in my new reply. Again thanks for your help:

Duzig

Duz, that looks interesting, but I'm not the person to help.

With luck , someone smarter on this art will check in....

Hello,
Again Ossobuco I thank you for your reply. I know next to nothing about art but it is indeed an interesting picture. I hope it is clear enough to be seen well,if not I have other pictures I can also post. Again thanks for your reply.
Duzig

Sorry, I can't help either, Duzig. But I suggest that the second name is Maurizio. However a quick google search netted nothing on that.

Hello Tico,
Thanks for your reply. I double checked the picture and if you look at the bottom of the picture you will see it is definately mauticio with a t. I don't know whether this is the painters name or the name of the painting or what but it is definately spelled with a t. In any case I thank you for your reply.
Duzig

Hey Duzig ~ you may be right, but I did look at the signature and think that it's probably an "r" ... just a little bit fancy. This is my thinking: All the other tall letters are definitely tall, so a lower case "t" would also be taller, with an ascending stroke. An upper case T wouldn't have an ascender above the crossbar, but other than the upper case capitals of first initial of each name, all other letters are lower case. My grandmother made her lower case "r" just like that.

Good luck with your detective work. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

Hello again,
Tico, I guess you could be right but to me it looks like a t. In any event whether it's a t or an r up to this point I am unable to get any info on the painting. It certainly is a strange looking item in any case. To me I think it's probably something maybe someone bought on vacation on some island(where I couldn't say) but out of curiosity I would like to find out more about it. Any ideas as to age, or anything else regarding it? As I say the paper reminds me of paper that one would make at home but I really have no idea. Any other places you know of that I could join and get information on it at? I know next to nothing about art etc so I just took a stab joining this group on hopes of getting some info. Hopefully at some point someone will have an idea what it is. Again thanks for your reply.
Duzig

Ocampo may be a place name. There are several in Mexico, and at least one in the US and one in the Philippines.

I suspect the painting is Mexican, or Central American. I say that because of the central cactus and what appears to be two people harvesting cochineal beatles which only live on a cactus that's indigenous to Mexico, particularly around Oaxaca. At one time, between the 1500's and the late 1800's, cochineal was a major industry in Mexico. It produced the truest red for artists and dyers of fabric, and was in great demand in Europe. (Think of Titian.) The cultivation and trade nearly died out when inexpensive synthetic red dyes were invented in the latter half of the 19th century.

If I'm right on that, it may be that your painting is antique -- or it may be more modern and describing a former way of life. And cochineal is still farmed in a limited way for artisan dyers. To get some accuracy on its age, you'd probably need to take it to an art museum for examination. They'd look at the construction of the paper (or maybe it's parchment -- stretched animal skin?), the media used, and other clues.

The colours are very vibrant, so keep it away from direct sunlight. And enjoy it -- it's a wonderful example of primitive, or naive, art.

Hello Tico,
Thanks much again for your reply and information. The wording seemed to me to be spanish or something along those lines so I am thankfull for the good information you supplied. I had no idea about the cactus or the cochineal beetles you mention so you definately have given me further info on what and where to search for further information regarding this pic. I do keep it out of the sun,it actually has been in the closet for a number of years. LOL,it's not particularly a picture that to me is pretty but I picked it up because it is interesting and definately somewhat odd to my way of thinking. Again I thank you for your help and info.
Duzig

From the picture and the style it looks like an amatl paper painting from Mexico. The paper is made from the bark of the amatl tree. The pre-Columbian civilizations of Mexico used amatl for their picture codices. A lot of them today come from the state of Puebla in Mexico. Go to the library and look at a book of Mexican crafts and you can probably find more information.

A lot of the ones you find in the Mexican crafts and artisan stores and markets are of animals, birds, and plants, and some are really gorgeous. Pictures of village life are rarer--I don't remember seeing any.

Pretty sure the writing is the painter's name, not a title for the picture.

Yeah, Odilon Mauricio Ocampo (Mauricio is the Spanish form of Maurice)--definitely a name.

google "amatl" or "amate" (Hispanicized form) for information and some pix. Might be Oaxacan, as Tico suggests. I have vague memories of seeing some somewhat like it somewhere when I've been in Mexico, but most of what you see is Pueblan--and the style is a bit different from them.