Llavilla Crucifix

This crucifix is located in Room 201 of DeBartolo Hall.

Sabino Tupa Llavilla, a Peruvian artist from the district of San Sebastián in Cusco, designed and built this distinctive clay crucifix.

Llavilla’s visual art is inspired by Andean expressionism or grotesque ceramics, which vividly depicts the subjects’ suffering in the face (particularly in illustrations of the Passion) while relaxing the bodily features.

The artist was born in 1951 and was introduced to both music and art at a young age, as his father was a musician and taught his son to play the pampapiano (a wind instrument with a keyboard) at the Santiago temple.

Llavilla learned the foundations of drawing and painting in elementary school and moved to ceramics when he was 13, attending the Juan Tomas Tuyro Tupac Inka Vocational Education Center in Cusco. During this time, he honed his skills with clay and constructed functional pieces and works inspired by Inca pottery. As his career progressed, he practiced in his own workshop and studied at the Diego Quispe Tito School of Fine Arts in Cusco while also pursuing his musical interests, which particularly focused on the traditions of the region.

His works demonstrate the profound faith inculcated by his parents, a faith which also plays a large role in the culture of Cusco. These religious themes are manifest in both his 3D art and music, such as his work El taytacha de los temblores (“The Lord of the Earthquakes”), which portrays the traditional Holy Week procession of musicians with the image of the Crucified Christ, Patron of the City of Cusco.

Llavilla models his works with a mixture of red clay and ground brick because it is ductile and conducive to molding. He often explores new materials and techniques, including forming a fibrous paste with rabbit hair to reinforce larger, heavier pieces. He is a highly acclaimed artist, winning many awards and exhibiting his work around the world.

Return to the stairs and head up to the third floor. Turn right at the top of the stairs and go down the hallway. The next crucifix will be in Room 334 on your left.