Carmen Carrillo de Antúnez - Woman Carrying Child Mexican Wax Figure with Glass Dome

Carmen Carrillo de Antúnez (1900-1981) was a Mexican sculptor that specialized in the art of wax sculpting. More specifically, she dedicated her creations to showcase the diverse activites of Mexican indigenous groups. Carmen has had a fascination with indigenous people since childhood and would make sketches at the age of 9. After her father passed away, her family would move to Mexico City, where she would become a teacher and marry Diódoro Antúnez Echagaray. She would also open a pottery workshop, doll factory and a mannequin factory. She devoted herself to modeling small wax sculptures, which were sold in department stores. After that, she would start sculpting the indigenous world. She would travel throughout Mexico and capture the lives of the indigenous peoples. She created la Danza de El Venado, which depicted the Yacqui musicians and dancers. The National Institute of Anthropology would build a small building to house her creations, which included life-size wax figures of the Otomi, Tarascan, Tarahumara and Tehuana people. She would also create bronze figures, including one of a life-sized feathered dancer. She would exhibit her work at the National Polytechnic Institute and the Mexican-North American Institute of Cultural Relations in Monterrey, and then internationally in Washington at the Pan American Union and at the Museum of Man in Paris. Carmen also headed the Department of Regional Museums at the National Institute of Anthropology and History, and would oversee 32 museums. Her team would produce and display dioramas like the Mammoth Hunt in Tepexpan, The Rain Invocation Ceremony, and the Tlatelolco Market.