As a young man, Lorenzo González Chavajay was able to get a job with the San Pedro city government because he could read and write Spanish, something that men of his father's Tz'utuhil-speaking generation could seldom do. After retiring from that career at the age of 60, Lorenzo began drawing with pencil the events that he recalled from his lifetime, many of which involved customs that were no longer being practiced. A friend suggested that he start painting in oil, which he first resisted doing because of the expense; but once he finally began working in oils, his art came alive.

Despite his naive drawing style, Lorenzo's attention to color and textile makes him perhaps the most deeply Guatemalan of all the region's painters. As so often happens, his art went unappreciated in his own town, especially among better-trained artists. When the Arte Maya Tz'utuhil curator first visited him, his studio was full of unsold paintings, but Arte Maya acquired most of them and brought him long overdue artistic validation. Thus encouraged, Lorenzo undertook larger canvases, revealing a power in his work that had been less apparent in the smaller paintings. Unfortunately, soon after starting an ambitious series of large works, he contracted a liver disease that proved to be chronic. He died in March of 1996. He was 68 years old, and had been painting for only seven years.

Palm Sunday

Musicians from Nahualá

Cofradía de Sololá

Day of Conception Procession

Alms