Aléna Robin and Luís de Moura Sobral
pp. 1–6
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Erell Hubert and Victor Pimentel
pp. 7–21
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Abstract
Adopting an anthropological approach to collections, this article situates the pre-Columbian collection of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts within its historical and social context. Numbering over 1,150 objects produced by more than fifty different Latin American cultures, the MMFA’s collection of pre-Hispanic works of art is one of the largest in Canada. Close to a century of acquisitions led to its current composition, and it therefore offers a unique window onto collecting practices in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Several curators, donors, and art dealers had a major impact on its creation and development. These individuals, far from being neutral, were—and continue to be—influenced by their social, political, and economic context, by their personal and professional networks, and by their own personal interests. Punctuated by great periods of acquisitions, the history of the pre-Columbian collection of the MMFA is inseparable from Montreal’s history and from the transformation of the art market. The present contextualization of the collection is part of a larger effort to reassert the value of this exceptional group of objects and to heighten public awareness of the importance of protecting cultural heritage by working toward greater transparency by museums regarding the origins of the works they harbour.
Cody Barteet
pp. 22–39
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Abstract
This paper examines the processes through which early modern cartographers created conflicting spaces of Hispanic America in their respective engagements with monarchial inquiries of Philip II and his successors, and through other judicial proceedings. I primarily analyze cartographic objects produced by the Maya peoples of Yucatán and other indigenous Americans. The cartographs reflect their creators’ heterogeneity, many of whom had differing economic, judicial, and political motivations, that did not always correspond directly to royal interest. Diversity in form and content emerges from this heterogeneity resulting in the formation of new knowledge precepts. By engaging with current academic theories and concepts pertaining to Hispanic American cartography and mapmaking practices, I further consider and advance the supposition that cartographs offer an important glimpse into the formation of Hispanic American culture as well as to the evolution of the map as an abstract form.
Sebastián Ferrero
pp. 40–55
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Abstract
In this article, I discuss the relationship between Andean spiritual beliefs relating to agrarian practices and the mural paintings in the rural church of San Pedro de Andahuaylillas (Cuzco, Peru), built in the early seventeenth century and decorated probably between 1618 and 1626. Using a Western iconographic language, both the ideologue (the priest Juan Pérez Bocanegra) and the painter of the decorative program (Luis de Riaño) sought to unite the Andean cults and rituals that surround the agrarian reciprocity system with others more in line with the dogmas of the Catholic Church. The Indigenous parishioners of the Quispicanchis agrarian valley ascribed meaning to these European iconographic representations in line with their social reality and religious beliefs. The creator of the iconographic scheme, Juan Pérez Bocanegra, and the painter Luis de Riaño put into play a complex multisensory system of painting, liturgy, and music to create a space for parishioners to contemplate the abundance of divine Providence.
Michael A. Brown
pp. 56–70
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Abstract
The Colombian painter Gregorio Vásquez de Arce y Ceballos (1638–1711) was born in Bogotá to a family who had come from Seville in southern Spain at the end of the sixteenth century. By Vásquez’s lifetime, Bogotá had become one of the most important artistic centres in the Spanish viceroyalty of New Granada, which spanned from present-day Ecuador and Colombia northward to Panamá and Venezuela. In the context of the history of art in the Spanish viceroyalties, Vásquez stands out for a number of reasons, perhaps most notably for his extant corpus of drawings, of which at least 106 sheets survive. He was also among the most prolific painters in the three-century history of Spain’s American colonies. Best known for his work for various religious institutions in Bogotá, Tunja and elsewhere in New Granada, Vásquez’s most important commission was perhaps for the dozens of paintings that decorate the Sagrario Chapel, which was constructed between 1660 and 1700 and sits adjacent to the cathedral in Bogotá. Vásquez’s enormous artistic production was made possible by a workshop that appears to have included his brother, daughter and son. A small group of paintings has recently come to light in the Denver Art Museum, here attributed to Gregorio Vásquez and his workshop, which provide new insight into this great painter’s studio practices and teaching methods, including the prominent role played by European prints and the master’s own drawings.
Luis Gordo Peláez
pp. 71–89
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Abstract
Construction of the new granary or alhóndiga in the Mexican city of Guanajuato began in the winter of 1798. Promoted by Intendant Juan Antonio de Riaño, this building would became a singular example of civic architecture, of Neoclassicism, and of buen gusto (good taste) in late-eighteenth-century Mexico. The history of this strong and beautiful building, with “nothing superfluous” in the words of the famous architect Manuel Tolsá, involves some of the most talented and distinguished characters of late Colonial Mexico, including Viceroys Branciforte and Iturrigaray, Intendant Riaño, and architects Juan de Dios de Trinidad Pérez, Francisco Ortiz de Castro, and José del Mazo y Avilés. Though this larger and better-equipped granary was clearly needed, its construction raised some controversy, particularly among those who considered it a tremendous expenditure for the city that was in need of other infrastructure and civic architecture. Juan Vicente Alamán, former alderman of the city of Guanajuato, expressed his noticeable disagreement with this monumental building, which he described as a “palace for the maize.”
M. Elizabeth Boone
pp. 90–108
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Abstract
Centenary celebrations inspire both organizers and their guests to reflect upon the characteristics of national culture and its relationship to other cultural traditions. Exhibitions of Spanish art mounted in 1910 in three Latin American cities celebrating one hundred years of independence—Buenos Aires, Mexico City, and Santiago de Chile—offered these historically and culturally distinct places an opportunity to reflect upon their histories and current relationships with Spain. This paper uses printed news accounts and popular imagery, diplomatic correspondence, as well as artwork from Argentina, Chile and Mexico to explore a range of questions about Latin America. What do these exhibitions tell us about Spanish and Latin American art produced at this time? What do they tell us about Argentina, Mexico, Chile and their relations with Spain? And in what ways might the reception of Spanish art in these three Latin American countries help us to understand the political and cultural issues of each nation? By looking at Spain’s participation in the Latin American centenaries, issues of concern to Spain and the Americas, the creation of Latin American national identities in relationship to Europe and to each other, and the existence of a market for art in Latin America (or lack thereof) all come into play.
Anna Katherine Brodbeck
pp. 109–123
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Abstract
Brazilian artists of the 1960s and 1970s were deeply engaged with their own modernist legacy, especially in relation to European models that had fascinated the cultural scene since the 1920s. Following in the spirit of Oswald de Andrade’s “Manifesto Antropófago” (1928), which argued that artists in Brazil should aggressively devour imported source material as a means of creating something unique to their country, Brazilian artists and critics during this period sought to define their relationship to international modern art. This essay examines two exhibitions. The first, the Salão da Bússola (1969), revealed the emergence of “anti-art” characterized by bodily performance and the use of “poor” materials. The second, Do Corpo à Terra (1970), more clearly defined the Brazilian response to the burgeoning movements of “post-studio” art such as arte povera, process art, and land art. The curatorial efforts and critical response to these exhibitions reveal a deliberate positioning of such experiments with regard not only to contemporary artists such as Jan Dibbets, but also to historical vanguard artists such as Kurt Schwitters and Kazimir Malevich. Taking up both the legacy of the European avant-garde and contemporary local concerns, Brazilian artists at this time effectively answered Andrade’s call to create art that was born of Brazil but walking in step with international art.
John J. Corso
pp. 124–134
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Abstract
Venezuelan artist Jesús Rafael Soto led Latin America’s innovative kinetic art movement of the 1960s with his Plexiglas moiré reliefs and geometric installations. The current literature predominantly describes his work in terms of formalism or phenomenology. However, his work also brings together social agents in public spaces, and this raises the issue of the political. Using the critical theory of Hannah Arendt, this paper recasts Soto’s so-called Penetrable sculptures from the 1960s and 1970s as political interventions through which he reintroduces a viable public sphere of action in the midst of Venezuela’s thorny recovery from totalitarianism.
