SPANISH COLONIAL ART:
THE BEAUTY OF TWO TRADITIONS
Cover: Figure 1: Unknown, Cuzco School, Virgin of Sorrows, 18th century, Oil on canvas, 58 1/2 x 38 3/4 inches, Frost Art Museum, MMAC Collection, MET 77.49.2 Published for the exhibition Spanish Colonial Art: The Beauty of Two Traditions April 20, 2013 - August 25, 2013 Organized by: The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum Florida International University, Miami Curator: Dr. Carol Damian Catalog design: Gabriella Portela Text editor: Emmett Young Text translation by: JosÊ E. Alvarez and Miriam M. Alvarez Carlos Harrison (Imaginet Productions) Printer: Color Express Printing Š 2013 The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced in any form without prior written consent. ISBN 978-0-9859416-2-8
SPANISH COLONIAL ART:
THE BEAUTY OF TWO TRADITIONS
The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum Florida International University, Miami
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SPANISH COLONIAL ART: THE BEAUTY OF TWO TRADITIONS
“Two worlds God has placed in the hands of our Catholic Monarch, and the New does not resemble the Old, not in its climate, its customs, nor its inhabitants; it has another legislative body; another council for governing, yet always with the end of making them alike: In the Old Spain only a single caste of men is recognized, in the New many and different.” Francisco Antonio Lorenzana, 1770 1
The Art of Spain reached the Americas on board the ships of the explorers, on the banners of the Conquistadors, in illustrated Bibles brought by the friars, and in the form of small devotional images and portraits. The voyages of Columbus and the navigators marked the beginning of an era of global trade and remarkable encounters. The Spanish Colonial period that followed (1520s-1830s) created a culture and art that is a combination of European and indigenous traditions of unique sensibilities based on ritual, status, and the creation of luxury goods. It was a “New” world, built upon an “Old” world, transformed by the arrival of the Spanish, and complicated by the diverse communities upon and within which they settled. By the end of the sixteenth century, Spanish artists arrived to organize guilds and workshops and instruct the native people in the production of painting, sculpture, and architectural ornamentation in order to serve the colonial administrators, set-
tlers and priests. They soon discovered that the native people were easily taught, due to their strong artistic heritage and their ability to work with wood, stone, silver and gold, paint and other unique materials, such as feathers, papier-mâché, vellum for documents, and shell inlays. The art of Hispanic America is unique in that it embodies the blending of native traditions with those of most extraordinary series of masterpieces, the Casta paintings of Mexico, that portrayed mixed-race families in domestic and occupational settings, one of which is featured in this exhibition. Paintings and devotional statuary of biblical subjects appear with unusual iconographic details, and the affection for images of the Holy Family and Guardian Angels is especially interesting. The variety of works created in the Americas, especially Latin America, offers a unique perspective on the people and culture of the time, captured by Native, Creole, Spanish, Mestizo (half Indian, half Spanish), and Mulatto (half African, half Spanish) artists. cant to the colonizing efforts, and came to dominate artistic production of this time. The towns and cities founded by the Spanish included architectural projects with civic buildings, cathedrals (many on top of native temples), parish churches, monasteries and convents, missions and schools. The Christianization of the Indians was a priority that involved church architecture and its embellishment as a didactic process, with decoration of the façade, altars, and walls with murals and paintings, in addition to altar screens with elaborate carvings, gilding, and statuary. The transplanted Spanish population and the
1 Francisco Antonio Lorenzana, Historía de la Nueva España escrita por su esclarecido conquistador Hernán Cortés (Mexico City: Imprenta de Hogal, 1770), introduction, in New World Orders. Casta Painting and Colonial Latin America, Ilona Katzew, Curator (New York: Americas Society Art Gallery, 1996), p.8.
newly converted surrounded themselves with religious art and objects, and the demand for their production resulted in workshops and guilds organized to supply them. With so few Spanish artists present, by the seventeenth century most artists were born in the Americas and could claim Colonial Art as their own. These artists were quickly taught to satisfy their new private families, and many of the guilds the excellence of their work and enjoyed considerable success and recognition. The vast territories of the Americas, with their diverse ethnic groups and varied population centers, ranging from tribal villages to the extraordinary cities of the Aztecs and the Incas, also gave way to regional styles in the Colonial period. This exhibition focuses on the most renowned centers of production, Peru, Colombia and Mexico – especially Cuzco, Peru, and Mexico City, both capital cities of their respective empires (Inca and Aztec). Both upon which the new Spanish administrators could build and prosper, culturally and socially, while taking advantage of an already-sophisticated artist community that had been in service to the (now defeated) nobility for generations. Colombia represents the demand for luxury goods in the religious communities settled around Bogotå, Cali, and Cartagena, with their diverse populations. Although these areas may have little in common when considering artistic styles beyond the imposition of Spanish subject matter, they do provide excellent examples with which to consider the distinctiveness of Colonial Art and its difference from European models that imply a much more derivative analysis.
The Cuzco School of Painting, the attention to details, especially gold stenciling, known as broceatado (brocade) and sobredorado (gold overlay), created by applying gold leaf over small raised applications of gesso to imitate the elaborate fabrics of the period. In the highlands, the Inca had a long tradition of elegant textiles and metallurgy. The Cuzco artists’ reverence for nature, especially present in images of the Virgin Mary associated with the Earth Goddess, Pachamama, also reher many accolades and their symbols, akin to those associated with the worship of Inca goddesses and the Coya (queen). Sculptors also applied gold through a technique called estofado, similar to that of the paintings, to embellish statues of saints. Gold was put on wood frames, and the art of silver making in the Andes resulted in beautiful decorations on altarpieces, religious and domestic objects. Peru is famed for its silver jewelry and decorative items, their techniques mastered easily by native artists long familiar with metallurgical techniques. Through craftsmanship and a unique approach to translating Christian iconography, imagery in the Americas emerged in remarkable new ways throughout the viceregal territories as the artists created a new aesthetic and felt free to modify the themes of religious paintings. The Guardian Angels of Andean Colonial Art are of particular interest for their beauty and distinct iconography that depict the heavenly beings in military attire or female dress. These gallant musketeers often bear symbols of the Passion, swords, graving provided the visual information about angels, a popular subject in Spain where Counter-Reformation iconography
required heroic and warlike defenders of the Faith. As protectors of the Virgin Mary, they often contain Marion symbols. Archangels are said to be the intermediaries between God and man, and others are so revered in their complex hierarchy that they are scarcely known or understood. In the Andes, Christian missionaries presented Christian religion to their converts with images that appealed, and angels were fascinating creatures that related to the worship of birds as mediators to the spirit world, and could replace the native people’s worship of celestial phenomenon.2 In Mexico, many regional styles developed over the years. In Mexico City, the capital of the Aztec Empire and then of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, the arrival of some of the most demanding Spanish administrators and clergy resulted in secular and religious artworks that are often extremely close to those produced in Spain under the Catholic Kings and the Hapsburgs. There was an extraordinary amount of production of everything, from furniture to textiles to paintconsumption. As stated in the introductory quote, the composition of Mexico, in particular, was based on the existence of various castes, or castas. The term was used in Mexico to refer to its mixedrace society, status and economic class. Spanish administrators emphasized racial differences as a way of exerting control, and in the eighteenth century a unique pictorial genre emerged to explain such identity. These “Casta paintings” have become some of the most extraordinary examples of racial imagery in the Spanish Americas. Our example, attributed to
Mestizo”), an depicted by a Spanish gentleman, elegantly dressed Indian woman, and baby carried on the back of a servant. Among the many images of the Virgin Mary throughout the Americas, the Virgin of Guadalupe stands as the with the image miraculously impressed onto a garment of the Indian Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531, when she appeared to him on a hill in Tepayac, once the location of the worship of Tonantzin, a preColumbian mother goddess. The Virgin of Guadalupe was named the Patron of New Spain in 1754, and her distinct iconograputti, cartouches with scenes from Juan Diego’s story, and golden radiances surrounding her as she is lifted towards heaven on a crescent moon. Soon she became Patron of the Americas, and her basilica among the most visited pilgrimage sites in the world. Numerous images appeared in the colonies, all recognizable by her dark skin, the golden radiances and blue mantle with its golden stars. The Virgin of Guadalupe, like so many of the images of the Virgin Mary, represents the multiproduction throughout the Americas. For too long, Colonial Art has been neglected as too European to be original. Hopefully, these works will reveal the subtle details produced by native artists to create a style that is truly syncretic; a unique blending of the beauty of two traditions: Spanish and Indigenous. Dr. Carol Damian Curator The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum
the “Mestizo” as the mixture of Spanish and Indian (“from Spaniard and Indian, 2 Teresa Gisbert, “The Angels,” in Gloria in Excelsis: The Virgin and Angels in Viceregal Painting in Peru and Bolivia (New York: Center for Inter-American Relations, 1985), p.58.
A PAINTING BY JOSÉ DE IBARRA, FROM THE MUSEUM OF AMERICA IN MADRID This work is part of a group of seven paintings of miscegenation that belong to the Museum of America in Madrid. The painting is attributed to José de Ibarra (Mexican, 1688 – 1756). Born a Mestizo, he was one of the top painters of the Viceroyalty of New Spain (the Territory of Mexico), and a disciple of Juan Correa. As usual for his time, Ibarra created mainly religious paintings, and his works can be found in the cathedrals of Mexico City and Puebla. His entire professional life was marked by his intellectual interest in recognizing painting as a Liberal Art, as European painters did, which led him to become
Figure 3
1 Myrna Soto, El Arte Maestra. Un ratado de pintura novo hispano, UNAM, México, 2005).
part of a painting Academy along with the Rodríguez Juárez brothers and the most important painter of eighteenth-century 1 New Spain, Miguel Cabrera . His work stands in the same circle as those of Cristóbal Villalpando, Manuel de Arellano and Rodríguez Juárez, painters who are considered the founders of Casta Painting. Casta Paintings are a pictorial genre consisting of a series of works of identical size that represent the racial mixtures produced among the three groups inhabiting territorial Mexico: Spaniards (white Europeans), Indians (natives) and Africans. Most of these groups of paintings are comprised of sixteen independent works, showing a man and a woman of different races with one or two of their children. the resulting racial mix. The Spaniards or white Europeans occupied the highest level of society and the pure natives (Indians) the lowest, represented as men and women who live in the wild and have not yet become civilized. The Africans (blacks) and Mestizos were situated in an intermediate point. The referential labels for these mixes reveal information about the position that the person held in society, showing by the words used the consideration given to each race and the name of the mixture that resulted from that union; for example: “Of a Spanish Man and Indian Woman, Mestiza,” or “Of a Spanish Man and a Mestiza, Castiza,” and so on through sixteen names. The further away the person was from being pure white, the less his or her social acceptance (with some bearing names that even associate them with animals, such as wolf or coyote). The Ibarra painting in Figure 3 in this catalog represents a familiar scene: a Spaniard and a native (Indian) woman, and a child resulting from their union “(Of a
Spaniard (man) and Indian Woman, Mestizo). Recent researchers have idenpictorial genre belonging only to territorial Mexico, the Viceroyalty of New Spain. Manuel Toussaint, considered the founding historiographer of the study of colonial painting in Mexico, considers the genre something only minor, related to ethnography or the study of races.2 The person who pioneered the study of these works as something independent is the current director of the Museum of America, Concepción García Saiz, who in her work The Mexican Castes: an American Pictorial Genre, published in 1989, studied a large group of Casta series. The known number of Casta Painting series now exceeds 100, and it continues to grow as new groups of paintings continue to appear on the market. García Saiz believes that these works were painted for a European public and sent to Spain so people would be able to know the circumstances in the Spanish realm. In a pictorial way, they could be the images of Mexican society of the period, and show the Spanish authorities what their subjects were like, almost like paintingdocuments that would complement the work of the “ (a series of questionnaires sent by the Spanish crown to the Council of the Indies beginning in the sixteenth century, which required responses from the authorities in the Americas, so as to better know the government’s situation in these realms). This hypothesis is reinforced by the fact that the majority of the Casta series are found in Europe, mainly in Spain, where they have been part of the holdings for generations. Later exhibitions
studies in the
and museum United States
2 Toussaint, Manuel, Pintura Colonial en México. (UNAM, Mexico, 1965).
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and Latin America have examined these works within the totality of pictorial production in the Americas in the eighteenth century, contextualizing them within the whole of Mexican art of the era. Moreover, the Casta Paintings are viewed not as exotic works sent to Spain so that Spanish society would know how America was, but as the result of Creole pride, depicting the splendor of a rich and opulent culture with no reason to envy European society. We should note that Casta Painting is an exclusively American genre that has no equivalent in European art, and its beauty and importance reveal the place colonial painting occupies within the entirety of the art universe. Ana Zabía de la Mata Museo de América, Madrid
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CHECKLIST 1. Virgin of Sorrows Cuzco, Peru, 18th century Oil on canvas 58.5 x 38. 75 inches Frost Art Museum, MMAC Collection Gift of Dr. Narciso Anillo, MET 77.49.2 Photo by: Alex Garcia
2. Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe Mexico, late 18th to early 19th century Oil on canvas 14.25 x 13.5 inches Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Cayia, 91.0404 Photo by: Doug Garland
3. José de Ibarra (attr.) Guadalajara, New Spain, 1685-1756 “De español e india, mestizo” Mexico, ca. 1725 Oil on canvas 71.5 x 43.33 x 2.75 inches Museum of America, Madrid Photo by: Doug Garland
4. José de Ibarra (attr.) Guadalajara, New Spain, 1685-1756 “De español y negra, mulato” Mexico, ca. 1725 Oil on canvas 64.5 x 35.8 inches Museum of America, Madrid
5. Archangel Miguel Peruvian School, 17th century Oil on canvas 48.5 x 64.5 inches Jean and Jay Kislak Collection Photo by: Alex Garcia
6. Archangel Hadriel Peruvian School, 17th century Oil on canvas 48.5 x 64.5 inches Jean and Jay Kislak Collection Photo by: Alex Garcia
7. The Epiphany Possibly Colombia, 19th century Oil on canvas 57.8 x 40 inches Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami Gift of an Anonymous Donor, 62.043.002 Photo by: Doug Garland
8. St. Joseph and the Christ Child Cuzco, Peru, 18th century Oil on canvas 36.25 x 27.80 inches Frost Art Museum, MMAC Collection, MET 85.01.03 Photo by: Alex Garcia
9. Head of a Saint Mexico, 19th century Wood and paint 11 x 5.8 x 6.4 inches Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Emil Gould, 91.0251 Photo by: Doug Garland
10. Saint George Guatemala, ca. 18th century Wood, metal, paint 14.75 x 6.25 x 4.5 inches Frost Art Museum Gift of Susan Yecies, FIU 2000.010.018 Photo by: Alex Garcia
11. La Milagrosa Virgen de Nuestra Señora de Cocharcas Peru, 1757 Oil on canvas 13 x 10 inches Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Fredrick Kokaram, 85.0201 Photo by: Doug Garland
12. The Divine Shepherdess Miguel Cabrera, Mexico (1695-1768), ca. 1760 Oil on canvas 33.50 x 23.75 inches Courtesy of Ortiz-Gurdian Collection, c/o The Americas Collection Photo by: Doug Garland
13. Ex-voto: Indian Battle Buenos Aires, 1859 Oil on zinc plate 10.25 x 14 inches Courtesy of Ortiz-Gurdian Collection, c/o The Americas Collection
14. San Ysidro the Laborer Peru, ca. 1850 Oil on board 30 x 19 inches Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami Museum Purchase through funds from Beaux Arts, 2007.8 Photo by: JeanCarlos Fernandez
15. Mercedarian Virgin with Donors Lima, Peru, 18th century Oil on copper in silver frame 12 x 9.50 inches Courtesy of Ortiz-Gurdian Collection, c/o The Americas Collection Photo by: Doug Garland
16. lmmaculate Conception José de Paez, Mexico (1720-1790) Oil on copper 27 x 20.75 inches Courtesy of Ortiz-Gurdian Collection, c/o The Americas Collection Photo by: Doug Garland
17. The Holy Trinity José de Paez, Mexico (1720-1790) Oil on copper 33 x 25 inches Courtesy of Ortiz-Gurdian Collection, c/o The Americas Collection Photo by: Doug Garland
18. Angel with Silver Wings Peru, 18th century Polychrome wood with gold leaf and silver wings 40 x 23 x 18 inches Courtesy of Ortiz-Gurdian Collection, c/o The Americas Collection
19. Angel with Silver Wings Peru, 18th century Polychrome wood with gold leaf and silver wings 40 x 23 x 18 inches Courtesy of Ortiz-Gurdian Collection, c/o The Americas Collection
Acknowledgements
Board of Trustees
I have long wished to do an exhibit of Spanish Colonial Art, not only because it is my own area of research, but because I have realized how neglected these beautiful works are in the history of art, and how misunderstood. This small selection, from our collection and that of others, is meant to reveal their beauty, and their complexities. It will also give me an opportunity, after many years, to explain their meanings, and why I feel these works are especially important for this year, commemorating the arrival of Ponce de León on the shores of La Florida. I am grateful for my friendship with Don Ramiro Ortiz who has long shared my passion for these works and has graciously allowed me to borrow from his extraordinary collection. I am also happy to exhibit the Cuzco angels that I saw so long ago in the Kislak Collection, and for Jean Kislak’s permission to bring them to the Frost. When I mentioned this exhibition to the Hon. Cristina Barrios Almazor, our Consul General of Spain, and her assistant and curator, Ana Zabía de la Mata, newly arrived from Spain and the renowned Museum of America, they immediately offered to assist me in bringing one of Spain’s, and the Americas,’ great masterpieces, the Casta painting of José de Ibarra. To include this work, with the other paintings and sculpture on exhibition, makes for a truly remarkable selection that will help us all picture the people and their beliefs in the Colonial Americas. I am very appreciative of all their assistance. Dr. Carol Damian
Albert Maury, Chairperson Michael M. Adler, Vice Chairperson Sukrit Agrawal Cesar L. Alvarez Jose J. Armas Jorge L. Arrizurieta
Robert T. Barlick, Jr. Marcelo Claure Laura Farinas, Student Trustee Gerald C. Grant, Jr. C. Delano Gray Mayi de la Vega Claudia Puig
University Administration Mark B. Rosenberg, President Douglas Wartzok, Provost , Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Irma Becerra-Fernandez, Vice President for Engagement Pete Garcia, Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Andres G. Gil ‘86, Vice President, Sponsored Research Sandra B. Gonzalez-Levy, Senior Vice President, External Relations Robert Grillo, Vice President, Information Technology and Chief Jaffus Hardrick, Vice President, Human Resources Administration Howard R. Lipman, Senior Vice President, University Advancement; President & CEO, FIU Foundation Inc. Larry Lunsford, Vice President of Student Affairs M. Kristina Raattama, General Counsel John A. Rock, MD, Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs Stephen A. Sauls, Vice President, Governmental Relations Terry Witherell, Vice President of External Relations Frost Art Museum
The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum Florida International University 10975 SW 17th St., Miami, FL 33199 t: 305.348.2890 f: 305.348.2762 Museum hours: Tues-Sat: 10am - 5pm | Sun: 12pm to 5pm | Mon: Closed The Frost Art Museum receives ongoing support from the Steven and Dorothea Green Endowment; the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor and the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners; The Miami Herald; Target; and the Members & Friends of The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum.
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