George T. López learned the art of woodcarving at the knee of his father, José Dolores López, whose work had spurred a revival of Hispanic carving in Córdova, New Mexico, in the early decades of the twentieth century. George López carved only part-time until 1952, when he opened a workshop with his wife, Silvianita, also a carver. A devout Catholic and a member of the Brotherhood of Our Father Jesus Christ Nazarene, commonly known as the Penitentes, López devoted himself to the carving of santos and taught his nieces and nephews to carve the traditional religious images of Hispanic New Mexico.

Death carts, with their terrifying figures of La Muerte, are a peculiarly New Mexican art form, appearing in the Holy Week processions of the Brotherhood. In their secret rites, Penitentes dragged the heavy, cumbersome death carts to calvarios, where they commemorated the Crucifixion. The carts represent the power of Death during the period between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, and the ritual foretells the miracle of Christ’s ultimate triumph over death. Such carts had their origin in Spanish religious drama.

Carved from aspen with simple tools and held together by rawhide straps and mortise-and-tenon joints, this death cart is modeled on the celebrated Penitente carts made by Nasario López, George’s grandfather. Typical of La Muerte figures from the Sangre de Christo region, sometimes also known as Doña Sebastiana, this form has grotesquely enlarged feet and hands, wispy hair that forms a braid, an abstracted rib cage, gouged-out eyes, and a cruel mouth. The figure threatens the viewer with a bow and arrow and carries in her cart a scythe, an ax, and a hammer. Although not intended for ceremonial use, this work is nevertheless a powerful memento mori.

Cheryl Rivers, "Death Cart," in Stacy C. Hollander, American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 380.