Partners’ Statements

Rishel, Joseph J.; Stratton-Pruitt, Suzanne

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Partners’ Statements

Joseph J. Rishel (Editor), Suzanne Stratton-Pruitt (Editor)

The Arts in Latin America, 1492–1820

~Every so often, Latin American nations pause to examine their views on the essence, on the identity, that characterizes each of them individually as well as their perceptions of the unity that unquestionably emerges from their diverse cultures. A privileged instrument in that reflection has been history: the history of their ideas, the history of their...

Author

Joseph J. Rishel (Editor), Suzanne Stratton-Pruitt (Editor)

PublisherPhiladelphia Museum of Art

PublisherYale University Press

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-21346

Partners’ Statements

Every so often, Latin American nations pause to examine their views on the essence, on the identity, that characterizes each of them individually as well as their perceptions of the unity that unquestionably emerges from their diverse cultures. A privileged instrument in that reflection has been history: the history of their ideas, the history of their economy and their politics, the history of their artistic expression.

The Arts in Latin America, 1492–1820—one of the most ambitious exhibitions on this subject in many years—is slated to become a cornerstone in this search for our common identity. It is characterized by an amazing breadth of study through time and geography. That the organizers have undertaken this enormous task speaks to their intellectual boldness.

The conceptual and logistical challenge of organizing such an exhibition is enormous: it embraces more than three hundred years, a long, fecund period in styles and their variations, and it includes works from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela, each with its own aesthetic expression. The level of complexity of this project is raised still higher because the works collected here range from sacred art to utilitarian objects such as textiles and cabinetry.

The meticulously controlled scope of The Arts in Latin America allows us to appreciate what the vital interchange that occurred following 1492 meant for both Europe and America. The Europeans, who arrived spurred by a mixture of desire for wealth and thirst for the mystic, found before them evidence that there were other civilizations and that the world, brimming with diversity, extended far beyond what they had imagined. For the native Americans, who for thousands of years had developed in isolation from other cultural influences, the encounter was cataclysmic. Soon, showing vigorous creativity, they assimilated the principles and techniques arriving from the Old World, and thus in America there were, immediately after contact, European masters and Indian artists in every range of endeavor. Both groups imprinted their particular sensibility upon the aesthetic currents flowing from the other side of the ocean.

Those dual manners of looking at the world forged a tension, a mutually enriching dynamic, that was to determine the splendor of colonial art and give it a specific character, for Latin America was never a simple reflection of what was happening in Europe. As the visitor to this exhibition will see, to the multiple influences already present in the art from Spain and Portugal, America added specific perceptions, a delicate mastery of materials, and an indigenous expression that make its arts unique.

This splendid exhibition invites us to experience personally the exhilarating adventure that signified the formation of a regional aesthetic and outlook, filled with the dark and light of chiaroscuro, that lends individuality to national traits and, at the same time, allows recognition of a shared voice from our America.

Sari Bermúdez

President

National Council for Culture and the Arts (CONACULTA), Mexico

The National Autonomous University of Mexico is proud to receive The Arts in Latin America, 1492–1820, at the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso. On this occasion we have the unrivaled opportunity of reviewing and examining our past through an abundant selection of more than two hundred works from some twelve Latin American countries and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

This exhibition is the result of an unprecedented international effort that has allowed us to gather together an ample and splendid sample of the creative talent that flourished in the various territories of Spanish and Portuguese America between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. Without a doubt, through its grand scope and singularity, the collection united here will capture the attention of the public and become a point of reference for the understanding of our history.

As an institution committed to the promotion of projects and programs that look toward all of Latin America, our university has a long history of cooperation and exchange based on solidarity, and related to multiple areas of knowledge and research, including the arts and humanities. Over the years, in consideration of the ties of identity that unite the different countries of the region, we have organized various academic encounters so as to reinforce the historical and cultural integration of our continent. In the past two decades, there fortunately has been considerable growth in the contacts among Latin American educational institutions and museums, which has made it possible to more fully share, deepen, and disseminate the knowledge and renewed visions of specialists.

This exhibition and the book that accompanies it are, in many ways, important contributions that result from the renewed interest in our colonial artistic legacy. Here we find projected the contemporary reflections that will permit reinterpretations of this transcendent period of our history. It was during those centuries that a network of commercial routes uniting Asia, Europe, Africa, and America was developed. The resulting interactions promoted the exchanges of ideas and the mixing of cultural traditions that are manifest in the astonishing diversity of the arts.

As members of a university community, we celebrate the realization of this ambitious project. Aware, on the other hand, of the complexities of art and of history, and of the heterogeneous realities of Latin America, we are conscious of the difficulties inherent in attempting to encase within a handful of concepts so many and such varied manifestations of the abilities of human beings to express and transfigure their experiences. We are confident, however, that the titanic effort that has resulted in this exhibition will lead to a greater appreciation of our arts and enhance and deepen our mutual understanding.

Juan Ramón de la Fuente

Rector

National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)

When Napoleon’s troops occupied Spain in 1808, a process was set in motion in her American colonies that would culminate in their independence and in the emergence of the countries that today constitute the map of our Latin America. On the eve of celebrating the bicentennial of the formation of the free and sovereign nations of Latin America, Mexico City—capital of the historic Viceroyalty of New Spain—takes great pride in offering a setting for the exhibition The Arts in Latin America, 1492–1820, in one of her most splendid venues, the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso.

This exhibition affords us a closer look at the very crucible in which our identities were forged: the colonial period, without which none of our peoples could comprehend their present reality. Beyond the polemic concerning the destruction of ancient indigenous cultures, it cannot be questioned that, beginning with the era of discoveries, the encounter that led to establishing colonial systems favored the amalgamation of a variety of cultural expressions that resulted in the creation of new societies, those that over the years produced the mestizo Latin American peoples we are today.

The extraordinary selection of works of art and items of everyday use that comprise this exhibition encompasses over a dozen nations, one commonwealth, and a period of more than three centuries. In it we discover individuals and societies nurtured by an authentic creative genius that presented us with objects of exquisite utility and worth. In it, too, we discover that we are possessors of an unequaled legacy that, in addition to the aesthetic pleasure it offers, fills us with a sense of belonging. It thus acquires a more relevant and profound significance: that of the cultural heritage that binds us together, identifies us, gives us coherence, and most of all, allows us to glimpse a bright and hopeful future, that of the just and equitable society for which we all yearn.

We celebrate the opportunity to explore this exhibition that allows us to recapture a vital part of our past, just at the moment we are preparing to commemorate the bicentenary of our nations.

Alejandro Encinas

Mayor

Government of the Federal District, Mexico

In 1492, Isabela of Castile and Fernando of Aragon, the Reyes Católicos, achieved the unification of Spain. That same year, the sailor-explorer Christopher Columbus stumbled upon “very many islands peopled with countless inhabitants,” as he himself described the new territories that altered the geography and the history of the epoch, and stirred the mentalities of the Old as well as the New Worlds. That discovery encompassed an amazing group of civilizations, which were to be subjected to a long process of adaptation to ideologic, religious, social, economic, political, and military precepts from across the sea that would favor European expansion in America.

Once the period of military conquest was over, the Spanish crown established the visible figure of the viceroy to assure the supremacy of its political authority, to sustain its evangelizing campaign, and to execute administrative functions in the new lands. Thus in 1535, the first of four viceroyalties, New Spain, was established. It would endure for, more than three hundred years.

Under the supreme control of the clergy, the fruitful cultural life of New Spain produced a lavish array of artistic expression that, although from its beginnings had evangelization as its only goal, within a very short time had acquired unique characteristics nurtured by images, symbols, and signs derived from Mesoamerican beliefs that then evolved into a splendid eclecticism revealing a search for its own language.

The present publication offers a comprehensive panorama of The Arts in Latin America, 1492–1820, and serves as faithful testimony of the magnificent exhibition organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in collaboration with the Mandato del Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso/ National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art with the support of many individuals and institutions.

Since 1939, the National Institute of Anthropology and History has established itself as the premier Mexican organization for researching, recovering, conserving, and disseminating the memory of the Mexican past. By participating in the realization of The Arts in Latin America, we are pleased to reaffirm our desire to circulate relevant aspects of Latin American history among new and more widespread publics, as well as to increase knowledge of the diversity and riches of our multiple cultures.

Luciano Cedillo Álvarez, Conservator

Director General

National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), Mexico

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