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Felipe Linares Mendoza Master cartonero · Mexico City
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Exhibitions and archive

Documentary record of the public presence of Felipe Linares Mendoza and the Linares family, from Pedro Linares López to his grandchildren: exhibitions, collections, press, publications and recognitions. Each entry states how well it is supported (institutional record, press, bibliography, family testimony or pending verification), links to its sources and says whether it refers to the master, the family or the tradition.

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41 records

  1. 2026 Linares family Recognition Press 2026 Artisanal Career Award to Leonardo Linares Vargas Gran Premio Nacional de Arte Popular 2026 · Mexico City At the 2026 Gran Premio Nacional de Arte Popular ceremony, held at the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Leonardo Linares Vargas received the Artisanal Career Award.
  2. 2026–2028 Linares family Exhibition Institutional record Ongoing “Alebrijes: A Linares Family Tradition”, traveling exhibition Museum of International Folk Art · Albuquerque / Santa Fe, New Mexico Bilingual traveling exhibition with works by three generations of the Linares family, opened at the Consulate of Mexico in Albuquerque. Includes a rooster alebrije by Felipe Linares Vargas.
  3. 2026 Linares family Press KUNM covers the Albuquerque exhibition KUNM (New Mexico public radio) · Albuquerque, New Mexico Report on “Alebrijes: A Linares Family Tradition” that photographs and credits a rooster alebrije by Felipe Linares Vargas and a cat alebrije by Leonardo Linares Vargas.
  4. 2026 Linares family Press Leonardo Linares, heir to the cartonería tradition of the burning of the Judas La Jornada · Mexico City Report on the burning of the Judas figures in Merced Balbuena; Leonardo Linares describes the contribution of his father, Felipe Linares Mendoza, and the family’s organization into independent workshops.
  5. 2025 Linares family Event Institutional record Tribute to Pedro Linares on his 119th anniversary, Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares · Mexico City Exhibition of ten original Linares family works from the museum’s collection, a panel with David Linares Vargas and Gerardo Linares Gómez, and a cartonería workshop.
  6. 2025–2026 Linares family Exhibition Institutional record “Alebrijes y Nahuales” / “Fantastic Animals from México”, monumental reproductions on tour Arte Américas · Public Art, City of Albuquerque · Discovery Green Twenty-foot sculptures based on original alebrijes by Leonardo Linares (“Lionbull”, “Catbird”) and other artists, touring the United States: Arte Américas (October 2025 – May 2026), public space in Albuquerque (June 1 – July 22, 2026) and Discovery Green (September 15 – October 18, 2026).
  7. 2023 Linares family Documentary Press “Recordando el trabajo y alebrijes de Pedro Linares”, Capital 21 Capital 21 · Mexico City A 56-minute program from Mexico City’s public channel with a long interview with Leonardo Linares Vargas in the workshop and excerpts from the 1975 documentary. It is the source of several family recollections used on this site, among them the workshop’s rule on materials.
  8. 2023 Linares family Event Institutional record Leonardo Linares’s demonstrations and talk at the Museum of International Folk Art Museum of International Folk Art · Santa Fe, New Mexico Leonardo Linares painted alebrijes in public in the museum atrium for four days and spoke with curator Marta Turok about his grandfather’s history.
  9. 2022–2025 Linares family Exhibition Institutional record “La Cartonería Mexicana / The Mexican Art of Paper and Paste”, Museum of International Folk Art Museum of International Folk Art · Santa Fe, New Mexico More than a hundred pieces of Mexican cartonería, with a central gallery devoted to the Linares family: photographs and video of the workshop and several of their alebrijes.
  10. 2021 Linares family Recognition Press Google Doodle for Pedro Linares’s 115th birthday Google Google devoted its home page to Pedro Linares López with an illustration by Emily Barrera; the note summarizes his biography and dates the National Prize to 1990.
  11. 2020 Linares family Press “Magia en papel y cartón”, interview with Leonardo Linares Vargas Siempre! magazine · Mexico City Interview by Javier Vieyra Galán at Leonardo Linares Vargas’s workshop, where he describes the family as the fifth generation devoted to paper and cardboard.
  12. 2019 The tradition Recognition Press Alebrijes declared cultural heritage of Mexico City Mexico City Government · Mexico City The city’s Ministry of Culture declares the alebrijes cultural heritage of Mexico City. Leonardo Linares Vargas announced the declaration at the start of that year’s parade.
  13. 2016 Felipe Linares Mendoza Documentary Press “Itinerario: Felipe Linares. Alebrijes”, Canal Once Canal Once, series “Itinerario” · Mexico City A four-minute segment with Felipe Linares Mendoza in his workshop, identified on screen as “Felipe Linares, Artesano Cartonero”. It is one of the few video records in which the master speaks about his own work.
  14. 2014 Linares family Exhibition Institutional record “Sinful Saints and Saintly Sinners at the Margins of the Americas”, Fowler Museum Fowler Museum at UCLA · Los Angeles, California Group exhibition on religious and popular imagery of the Americas; the official artist list includes Leonardo Linares.
  15. 2013 Felipe Linares Mendoza Documentary Press “El brillo de los años”, episode 4: “Felipe Linares Mendoza”, MXPlus MXPlus · Mexico City A seven-minute episode devoted to Felipe Linares Mendoza. According to the platform’s listing, he tells how, from childhood and after watching his father, he entered the craft of making paper figures, masks and toys, and how the alebrijes came later. It is the longest video portrait of the master speaking in the first person.
  16. 2011–2012 Linares family Exhibition To be verified “Folk Treasures of Mexico: The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection”, Tacoma Tacoma Art Museum · Tacoma, Washington Some eighty pieces of Mexican folk art from the Rockefeller collection of the San Antonio Museum of Art, which according to earlier research records Linares family alebrijes from around 1968–1970.
  17. 2010 Linares family Collection Institutional record “Tzompantli” in the collection of the Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares · Mexico City Work by Felipe Linares Vargas (molded, modeled and polychromed cardboard with vinyl paints, 122 × 104 × 20 cm) with a public record in the museum’s collection.
  18. 2007 The tradition Event Bibliography First Monumental Alebrije Parade of the Museo de Arte Popular Museo de Arte Popular · Mexico City The Museo de Arte Popular launches the annual parade of monumental alebrijes along Paseo de la Reforma, establishing the alebrije as an emblem of Mexico City.
  19. 2005 Linares family Exhibition Institutional record “UCLA Collects! Bodies of Knowledge”, Fowler Museum Fowler Museum at UCLA · Los Angeles, California Group show of the university’s collections that included “a lively 1980s papier-mâché calavera skeleton by the Linares family”.
  20. 2003 Felipe Linares Mendoza Recognition Institutional record Grandes Maestros del Arte Popular, Fomento Cultural Banamex Fomento Cultural Banamex · Mexico City Felipe Linares Mendoza and his son Leonardo are among the Grandes Maestros del Arte Popular of Fomento Cultural Banamex, the program and publication that gathers Mexico’s most distinguished artisans.
  21. 2000 Linares family Event Press Residency at “Heaven and Hell”, Royal Museum of Scotland Royal Museum of Scotland (now National Museum of Scotland) · Edinburgh The Observer announced “the Linares Family” as artists in residence at the “Heaven and Hell” exhibition, making full-size skeletons in the Day of the Dead tradition.
  22. 1994–1995 Linares family Exhibition Bibliography “En Calavera: The Papier-Mâché Art of the Linares Family”, Fowler Museum (UCLA) Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA · Los Angeles, California Exhibition and catalogue (Susan N. Masuoka) devoted to three generations of Linares family cartoneros, with emphasis on skeletons and alebrijes.
  23. 1993 Felipe Linares Mendoza Collection Institutional record A 1993 alebrije in the Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares · Mexico City Record MX-SC-MNCP-001501_A lists an alebrije by “Felipe Linares Mendoza (56 años)”, made in 1993 with kraft paper, paste, wire and vinyl paints. It is the most complete institutional record of his work.
  24. 1992 Linares family Exhibition Institutional record “Living Traditions: Mexican Popular Arts”, University at Albany University Art Museum, University at Albany · Albany, New York Exhibition of Annie O’Neill’s collection (works from 1966 to 1981). Her curatorial essay of September 1992 names “the Pedro Linares family” among the featured artisans and recalls the 1973 alebrije exhibition.
  25. 1991 Linares family Exhibition Press “Linares: Three Generations of Master Folk Artists from Mexico”, Santa Monica New Gallery, Third Street Promenade · Santa Monica, California The Los Angeles Times described it as “the artists’ first commercial gallery show”: life-size calaveras and alebrijes by Pedro Linares, then 85, three of his sons and several grandsons.
  26. 1991–1992 Linares family Exhibition Press “Day of the Dead: A Consequence of Life”, Fullerton Museum Center Fullerton Museum Center · Fullerton, California Fifteen works by Pedro Linares, his son Miguel (42) and his grandson Ricardo (23), including a life-size mariachi band; Miguel and Ricardo gave cartonería demonstrations in December 1991.
  27. 1990 Linares family Recognition Institutional record National Prize for Arts and Sciences awarded to Pedro Linares López Government of Mexico · Mexico City Pedro Linares López receives the National Prize for Arts and Sciences in the Popular Arts and Traditions category, the Mexican state’s highest honor for an artist.
  28. 1989 Felipe Linares Mendoza Exhibition Institutional record “Magiciens de la Terre”, Centre Pompidou Centre Georges Pompidou and Grande Halle de la Villette · Paris Jean-Hubert Martin’s exhibition bringing together artists from around the world included three cartoneros of the Linares family: Felipe Linares and his sons Leonardo and David. It is the weightiest documented international participation for Felipe Linares Mendoza.
  29. 1989 Linares family Exhibition Institutional record “The Art of Mexican Papier-Mâché”, Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum (now National Museum of Mexican Art) · Chicago, Illinois Group exhibition of Mexican cartonería with the Linares family and José “Pepe” Hernández. The museum’s record identifies a piece by Miguel Linares, “Dragon” (1979), from the May Weber Museum of Cultural Arts.
  30. 1989 Felipe Linares Mendoza Documentary Institutional record “El mundo de papel de la familia Linares”, Radio Educación Radio Educación, series “Bellas Artes en radio” · Mexico City A 26-minute program on the origins of popular cartonería and the Linares family’s path, from Juan Bautista Linares to the alebrije. Pedro Linares speaks; Felipe Linares, “son of Don Pedro”, explains the role of color, and Leonardo describes alebrijes as personal expression.
  31. 1986 Linares family Recognition Bibliography National Youth Prize for folk art to Leonardo Linares At about eighteen, Leonardo Linares received a national youth award for folk art; according to Masuoka, even then he saw teaching cartonería as his responsibility.
  32. 1986 Felipe Linares Mendoza Event Bibliography The “Earthquake Scene”, Day of the Dead 1986 Mexico City For the Day of the Dead in 1986, Felipe Linares was commissioned to commemorate the 1985 earthquake with a large-scale scene of skeletons trapped in rubble, rescuers and looters. It was a controversial work that, according to the sources, also helped raise funds in Europe for the victims.
  33. 1985 Felipe Linares Mendoza Exhibition Bibliography Posada’s calaveras in cartonería, Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art · New York An exhibition similar to the 1984 one, with Felipe Linares and his sons’ cartonería versions of Posada, was presented the following year in New York.
  34. 1984 Felipe Linares Mendoza Exhibition Bibliography Posada’s calaveras in cartonería, Museo Nacional de Artes e Industrias Populares Museo Nacional de Artes e Industrias Populares · Mexico City The museum showed the cartonería interpretations of José Guadalupe Posada’s prints made by Felipe Linares and his sons. It is the first documented exhibition with Felipe Linares Mendoza as its central figure.
  35. 1978 The tradition Event Press Pedro Linares and Manuel Jiménez meet in Los Angeles Los Angeles, California During a working trip to the United States, the Oaxacan carver Manuel Jiménez met Pedro Linares. It is the episode both the Linares and the Jiménez families cite when explaining how the name “alebrije” reached Oaxaca’s wood carvings.
  36. 1975 Linares family Documentary Bibliography “Pedro Linares: Artesano Cartonero”, documentary by Judith Bronowski Filmmaker Judith Bronowski’s documentary (about 23 minutes) records Pedro Linares López’s workshop with his sons: the reed armature of a Judas, the burning of the Judas figures and the painting of alebrijes. It brought the family’s work to international attention.
  37. 1973 Linares family Exhibition Institutional record First documented exhibition of Pedro Linares’s alebrijes Annie O’Neill recalls that in 1973 Carlos Espejel, then director of the Museo de Artes e Industrias Populares, helped her organize an exhibition of Pedro Linares’s paper alebrijes.
  38. 1972 Felipe Linares Mendoza Collection To be verified A 1972 skull in the National Museum of the American Indian Smithsonian, National Museum of the American Indian · Washington, D.C. A cartonería skull for the Day of the Dead, dated 1972, is recorded in the museum’s collection under Felipe Linares Mendoza. It is the earliest catalogued piece attributed to him.
  39. 1968 Linares family Event Bibliography Skeletal athletes for the Mexico City 1968 Olympic Games Mexico City For the Olympic Games, Dolores Olmedo contracted Pedro Linares and his sons to create life-size skeletal figures of athletes; the 1968 cultural program also promoted the workshop’s work.
  40. 1952 The tradition Exhibition Family testimony “Exposición de arte mexicano antiguo y moderno”, Paris Paris According to Leonardo Linares, the great exhibition of Mexican art that Fernando Gamboa took to Paris in 1952 included alebrijes by his grandfather. The show existed and included popular art, but the Linares family’s presence is undocumented.
  41. 1936 The tradition Event Family testimony Pedro Linares’s dream and the birth of the alebrijes Mexico City Convalescing from a serious illness, Pedro Linares López dreams of colorful creatures repeating the word “alebrijes” and begins to model them in cartonería.