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Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) Review

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Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA)

Fodor's Review:

At this museum, the premier institution of its kind in the world, you can find amazingly inventive handmade objects—a tin Madonna, a devil made from bread dough, and all kinds of rag dolls. Florence Dibell Bartlett, who founded the museum in 1953, donated its first 4,000 works. In the late 1970s Alexander and Susan Girard, major folk-art collectors, gave the museum 106,000 items. The Hispanic Heritage Wing contains art dating from the Spanish-colonial period (in New Mexico, 1598-1821) to the present. The 5,000-piece exhibit includes religious works—particularly bultos (carved wooden statues of saints) and retablos (holy images painted on wood or tin). The objects in the Neutrogena Wing are exhibited by theme rather than by date or country of origin—you might, for instance, find a sheer Eskimo parka alongside a Chinese undergarment made of bamboo and cotton webbing. Lloyd's Treasure Chest, the wing's innovative basement section, provides a behind-the-scenes look at more of this collection. You can rummage about storage drawers, peer into microscopes, and, on occasion, speak with conservators and other museum personnel.

  • Cost: $8, 4-day pass $18, good at all 4 state museums and the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in Santa Fe
  • Open: Tues.-Sun. 10-5
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