"New Worlds' at the Art Museum (2nd review)

After the Spanish conquest of the Inca empire in the 16th Century, Bolivian silver became an important source of revenue for the Spanish Empire. Cusco, Peru was then one of the world's most populous cities, with 200,000 inhabitants— roughly the size of Paris— while Potosi in Bolivia was the heart of an area that produced 75% of the world's silver.

The Spanish occupiers celebrated their victories over the Andean natives by commissioning Catholic ceremonial objects made of silver, and vivid paintings with Catholic subjects.

The Art Museum's new exhibition of this wealth of colonial art spotlights an area that's been neglected by most museums, and grievously overlooked by collectors. Rather than coming from the familiar sources in Europe, these paintings, sculptures and decorative objects originated in Latin America and parts of Asia that the art community has neglected to explore.

Even some of us who've been through South America have overlooked this material. When my family and I spent a week in the Cusco area, our guide showed us the remnants of the culture that existed before the Spanish invasion. Then we traveled through the Sacred Valley between Cusco and Machu Picchu, where we saw terraced settlements and native Peruvian artifacts.

Avoiding churches

Our guide, who descended from the Incas, spoke to us partially in Quechua, which even today is spoken by more than 8 million South Americans. He displayed no animosity towards Hispanics, but clearly he took a broader view (a more catholic, with a small c, view) of his land's history and culture. He never steered us into the interiors of Catholic churches— and I, not being Catholic, didn't object.

Roberta and Richard Huber, the donors of their private collection, told me that most of their art was produced for the region's Catholic churches before finding its way into the hands of private dealers. Much of it was dirty, with damaged frames, and the Hubers paid for extensive restorations.

The question naturally arises: Why did the churches get rid of these historical paintings?

Partly it was because of a secularization that modern Latin American states went through, during which many monasteries, convents and churches were closed. Other sanctuaries were demolished to make way for new buildings, and fresh works of art were commissioned to adorn their walls. This process brought old paintings onto the market.

Gold and gemstones

My favorite pieces are Saint Michael the Archangel, which portrays the good guy sticking a spear into the villain and crushing the devil underfoot. The anonymous painter made opulent use of gold stenciling while delineating lacy textile garments and adding faint small cherubs floating in the background.

Our Lady of the Rosary, which is only 28 by 32 inches, is dazzling. This oil on canvas contains embedded semiprecious gemstones and elaborate gold stenciling of starbursts, flowers and scrolls. It displays an astonishing amount of gold filigree per square inch, surrounded by an expansive gilded frame.

Portable writing desks, cabinets and coca boxes (for storing coca leaves) are adorned with mother-of-pearl, ivory, tortoiseshell and silver.

Some of the paintings show Biblical characters in jungle-like landscapes that are decidedly South American rather than Holy Land or European. This illustrates two cultures in collision, melding into a combined art form.

Bargain price

This month the Art Museum announced that four of the paintings on loan from the Hubers will remain at the museum as their gift: King Luis I of Spain on Horseback (from Peru), Saint Anthony of Padua Preaching Before Pope Gregory IX (Peru), The House at Nazareth (Bolivia), and Our Lady of the Reedbed of IrÓºn with Donor, Captain Joaquín Elorrieta, by the Ecuadorian artist José Cortés de Alcocer. These are among a larger number of works that the Hubers have promised the Museum.

The Hubers say that the market value of everything here is less than the price of a single painting by Andy Warhol. Even Warhol devotees should find that proportion insane. This colonial art should maintain its proper stature long after trendy artists like Warhol have been forgotten. ♦


To read another review by Andrew Mangravite, click here.