Blog 3 (Assignment C) Review of Revelations

The description of the 2007 "Revelations" exhibition in Mexico City really piqued my interest. The show is said to provide fresh perspectives on more than 300 years of history, that is Mexico's colonial history which for many is a painful and difficult history to recall. Despite it being the biggest exhibition of colonial art ever to be displayed in Latin America, it really didn't seem to attract the fanfare or attention that a show of this magnitude would.

And it is understandable why Mexicans, especially given the art history of outspoken artists like Diego Rivera, would not be clamoring to view art that waves the colonial flag. As stated in the article, "Joe Rishel, curator of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, put together the show, which first opened at his museum. He says that Latin American colonial art has not been appreciated at home and abroad." Despite the circumstances and events surrounding these artworks, each piece seems to showcase an incredible range of skill and visual strength.

Blog 2 Flora & Fauna Motifs in Mestizo Arts

photo of cherimoya tree

The incorporation of indigenous flora and fauna in the mestizo decorative arts seem to represent the cultural blending that was taking place between indigenous and european art traditions. In reading "Eye of the Other; The Indigenous Response," I learned that the first time the term mestizo was used was in 1925 to describe the architectural style seen in 17th and 18th century Peru.

In the ornate carvings on the pillars and doorways of buildings there is a serpentine layering of the local flora and fauna to give the feeling of walking through a dense overgrown jungle. I was intrigued to read that specific plants such as the cacao plant and cherimoya tree could be identified. Both are fruits that I have tasted and enjoyed eating during my travels in Central and South America. The next time I eat these fruits I am going to remember how these were also the foods of the pre-colonial people such as the Incas.

Olmec Head and Other Wonders of Early Mexico

The first artwork to really capture my awe and imagination was the Olmec head described in the Preconquest lecture given my Professor Reiss. These stone head sculptures measured 9 feet in height and weighed over 25 tons. The sheer magnitude of such a project is impressive. What impresses on me is the fact that different cultures all over the world have a similar example of large stonework resembling heads such as the heads of Easter Island. They may be a testament of the fortitude of the people they represent.

I was also impressed that the early indigenous people in Preconquest Mexico also had developed a first ball game and also had complex forms of architectural planning. This really exceeds what people in Spain and perhaps all of Europe were led to believe about the "primitive" indigenous people of early Mexico. If perhaps these higher order attributes about a society were understood, the European counterparts may have viewed them as a more sophisticated society. But perhaps nothing can overcome greed in terms of "conquering" new lands especially during that time of hungry exploration.

Welcome to the Art of Colonial and Modern Mexico Blog

Rivera Mural at City College of San Francisco

This blog is part of a course I'm taking on the Art of Colonial and Modern Mexico with Professor Cynthia Reiss at West Valley College. I just got the textbook "Art in Latin America" by Dawn Ades for this course in the mail today, and it looks like a great book filled with lots of color photos and showing a wide variety of artwork. I'm excited for the course and can't wait until we start learning about the Muralism traditions that came out of Mexico in the vein of Diego Rivera and Fernando Leal. Living in the Bay area we have so many actual examples of Rivera murals to look at like the one on the campus of City College of San Francisco and San Francisco Art Institute.