During the 1930s, Dr. Isaac Udell (1903-1985) created a series of large oil paintings (on wood panels approximately 4’ x 4’) that depicted in bloody detail the secret penitential rites or practices performed during Lent and Holy Week by members of the Penitente Brotherhood (La Fraternidad Piadosa de Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno), a lay religious cofradía or confraternity first officially documented in New Mexico in 1833.
The Penitente paintings were exhibited at the Cosmopolitan Art Gallery in Denver in 1950 and again at Arizona State University in 1971-72 along with other of his works. Udell provided a commonplace history of the sect in the exhibit catalogs and described the ritual practices or “stages” illustrated in each of the thirteen paintings, including simulated crucifixion (done with cloth binding rather than nails). In the Cosmopolitan catalog Udell recounted how he gained the trust of his Penitente neighbors—and by implication permission to observe and portray their practices—by ministering to them as a doctor. He also describes a period of intense nostalgia after he moved away from Taos for several years, when he created the paintings and wrote a memoir about Taos. The catalog also featured a commentary by well-known artist Ben Shahn, who became Udell’s art instructor in Colorado after the paintings had been completed. Shahn noted that despite (or perhaps because of) the paintings’ “technical weakness,” their powerful emotional impact constituted “a great and moving epic.”
Udell approached Helene Wurlitzer sometime in the 1950s during a period of personal and financial difficulty, and secured a loan from her for which the thirteen paintings served as collateral. Years went by, and upon Wurlitzer’s death in 1963, the paintings passed into the HWF collection. Udell ultimately retired to Phoenix, where he died in 1985.
The paintings were among a number of works in the HWF collection being considered for deaccession in 2022. In their deliberations, the board of directors consulted a local anthropologist who, aware of the culturally sensitive and potentially volatile nature of the images, advised them to contact and seek guidance from local members of the Hermandad about the proper disposition of the paintings. A board member then contacted key members of the Brotherhood in New Mexico and Colorado. They all expressed interest in the paintings as well as appreciation for the HWF’s careful approach. The board member reported that “the consensus of those contacted was that the Udell paintings are accurate and verifiable depictions of Penitente practices and rituals. They were adamant that they be kept private, and preferably under the care and safekeeping of the Brotherhood.” Accordingly, and in light of Udell’s sympathy for his subjects, the HWF board decided to gift the Udell paintings to the Hermandad.
The paintings were discussed briefly at the annual meeting of the governing Mesa Directiva of the Hermandad, held in Santa Cruz in June 2022. Afterwards, the Hermano Mayor and another Brother arrived at the Wurlitzer, loaded the paintings onto a truck, drove them to Santa Fe, and proceeded to burn them. Not long thereafter the anthropologist heard what had happened and conveyed this to the board. A letter expressing shock and dismay was sent to the Hermano Mayor, who did not respond. His unilateral decision settled a matter about which there had evidently been little discussion and no consensus among the Hermanos.
The controversial history of the fraternity plus the ambiguous circumstances under which Udell observed the rites and created the paintings help to shed light on their destruction.
Although its precise origin in New Mexico remains obscure, the Hermandad emerged historically as a mutual aid and burial society that functioned year round in the absence of regular clergy. Ritual activity during Lent and Holy Week involved retreat, fasting, intensive prayer, procession, and re-enactment of the Passion. Penitential practices were performed in both private and public communal spaces.
From the first official mention of the fraternity in 1833, the Catholic hierarchy disapproved of its penitential practices and sought to condemn and suppress them. Church officials were vexed by the persistence of Penitente ritual activity and tried to constrain it under American as well as Mexican rule, gradually forcing the Hermandad underground. It was not until 1947 that the archbishop of Santa Fe granted official recognition to the Brotherhood and brought some, but not all, of its local chapters under the oversight of the diocese.
The advent of photography, tourism, and the Taos art colony in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries brought a new kind of attention to the rituals and devotional iconography of the Brotherhood, forcing its traditions ever further into protective secrecy. Voyeuristic fascination with flagellation and rumors of crucifixion drove art colonists and other Anglos to spy on Holy Week processions, “chasing whippers,” a pastime that, by his own account, Udell enthusiastically pursued. His 105-page memoir (“In the Dust of the Valley”), written in the 1930s but not published until 1969 (South Dakota Review), raises the possibility that the works were neither seen nor approved by the Brothers, despite the well-known fact that Udell did minister to the medical needs of his Hispano neighbors and delivered their babies free of charge.
Due to the sensitive nature of the Isaac Udell Penitente paintings, images of the works and related archival materials are available upon request for educational and scholarly research purposes. Those interested in accessing these resources are invited to submit a request through the form below.