It doesn't get more surreal than this: tomorrow and Wednesday, Christie's is having a María Felix auction.
The larger-than-life movie star from the 1940s and 50s Mexican Golden Age is known to people all over Latin America. She was BIG, only the pictures got small, ha ha. She was in so many good and crazy bad movies, but one of my personal favorites is one of her Indio Fernandez collaborations, Enamorada.
She had lots of stuff, as you might imagine, and a lot of it is tacky riche. Lots of porceilain, lots of gilt, rococo to the max. 1800s French gilt furniture big enough for a couple of families to live in, a couple of scary porcelain toothpick holders. But also some amazing Latin American art, by the likes of Mexican surrealist Leonora Carrington and such, and of course, portraits of herself.
The best of the lots is the movie memorabilia and her amazing outfits, including elaborate huipilies for Rio Escondido (1948), matador jackets for Camelia (1954) and scores of scripts with personal annotations, including Doña Barbara, Maclovia and Doña Diabla.
You can page through the auction catalog here.
[portrait of Maria Felix on porcelain via Christie's website]
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