Manuel Jiménez Ramírez

Jiménez Ramírez is credited with creating the Oaxacan version of “alebrijes.” The original craft was created and promoted by the Linares family in Mexico City, making fantastic creatures of “cartonería” (a hard paper mache) and painting them in bright colors. However, the Oaxaca version is made of wood, with figures closer to nahuals than the creatures of various animal parts of Mexico City. However both kinds are painting in strong contrasting colours and with detailed designs. Jiménez Ramírez also often added hair and beards made of ixtle, another indication of their nahual origins. The artisan never taught his techniques outside his own family but in the early 1980s others began to imitate these figures. This eventually attracted a tourism trade to the area.

His sons Angélico (born 1954) and Isaías (born 1961) continue in their father’s footsteps, working to guard a tradition of designs they consider their own. Angélico has been working as a carver, sculptor and painter for over fifty years and Isaías for over forty five. Both have their own workshops and are assisted by their wives and children.

Manuel Jiménez Ramírez (9 June 1919 – 4 March 2005) was a Mexican carver, sculptor and painter credited as the originator of the Oaxacan version of “alebrijes,” animal creatures carved in wood and painted in strong contrasting colours with intricate designs. He was a charismatic and philosophical person, who believed he was the reincarnation of an artist. He began making animal figures of clay when he was a child but changed to wood carving later, creating human figures, nativity scenes, masks and more as well as the alebrijes. His work can be found in public and private collections in various parts of the world, especially in the United States.