Established in the 16th century, San Miguel de Allende is a historical silver mining city located in the mountains about 160 miles northwest of Mexico City. It was discovered by U.S. and Canadian artists in the 1940s and is a rich locale for local as well as international art. San Miguel has preserved its colonial charm with the Spanish-style buildings in the center of the town reflecting the city’s architectural heritage. Modifications to the historical buildings may only be done with the strict review by a committee.
The doors pictured here are probably at least a century old and are among the most beautiful of any I’ve seen throughout my travels. I photographed them during four pre-pandemic visits starting in 2013. The images below are of a set of triptyches that I printed on Hahnemuhle Museum Etching paper, a thick and highly absorbent paper that works well with the floating mounts that I used and that results in the saturated colors that I think show the doors’ beauty well.
With the exception of the two large, single-image ones, these pieces are entirely “hand made”: I constructed the frames, printed and mounted the photos, and finished the framing. Measuring 18-1/2" X 10-1/2", they are for sale and you may inquire about them by contacting me at mcleatherbury@live.com. The exceptions are the two pieces in antique frames, which have 16" X 20" photos mounted in the wide borders of the once-gilded frames. I thought that the subject matter (the antique doors) matched the age and color of the frames.
Doors no 1
Doors no 3
Doors no 4
Doors no 2
Doors no 5
Doors no 6
