Revered by Aztecs, Mexican hairless dog in style again in hipster era

10 DEC 2019



AFP / Omar TORRES
Xoloitzcuintles (ancient Mexican hairless dogs) play next to a Xoloitzcuintle statue in the garden of the Dolores
Olmedo Museum in Mexico City

At a stately museum in Mexico City, priceless paintings by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera share pride of place with an unruly pack of hairless black dogs: Mexico's prized xoloitzcuintle.

The 13 dogs who reside on the leafy grounds of the Museo Dolores Olmedo are the direct descendants of ones that belonged to Kahlo and Rivera, whose searingly intimate portraits (her) and sprawling murals (him) made them the towering power couple of 20th-century Mexican art.

Kahlo and Rivera were proud of their Mexican heritage, which made the xoloitzcuintle -- a tongue-twister pronounced something like show-low-eats-QUEEN-t-lay -- an obvious choice for the family dog.

They even put their dogs in their paintings -- some of them now on display at the museum where their great-great-grandpuppies reside.

More:
https://www.afp.com/en/news/3954/revered-aztecs-mexican-hairless-dog-style-again-hipster-era-doc-1mv21s2