>>> Spanish-American paintings from Mexico.
In the past, not considered good enough to be high art,
not low enough to be folk art. But now they are commanding
center stage in New York at the Met. Judge for yourself.
>>> In the spring of 2018, the Metropolitan Museum
of Art unveiled an new exhibition: “Painted in Mexico”.
It focuses on the vitality and inventiveness of local
artists in 18th century Mexico- which the conquerors
called New Spain.
>>> This exhibition was organized by the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art in collaboration with Fomento
Cultural Banamex. Is comprised of approximately
100 paintings. The research upon which this exhibition
is based took about six years of fieldwork.
Very large percentage of these paintings have never been
seen outside Mexico.
>>> After nearly two centuries of Spanish colonization,
locally born artists were painting in the European
tradition but with their own style and iconographies.
There was a fully developed art industry. Shipments of new
paintings to Spain often carried a proud signature
by local artists.
>>> A number of the paintings are signed Pinxit Mexici,
which means painted in Mexico.
>>> Religious themes dominated. Large scale
paintings in these galleries were used to decorate churches,
government buildings and universities. One of the major
functions of these Mexican paintings is story telling.
The paintings were tools the church and state used to
educate new worshipers.
Unique to these Mexican artworks,
the story telling function was further developed by
adding small texts right in the middle of the paintings.
>>> This is from a very large altarpiece dedicated
to St. John of Nepomuk from Eastern Europe.
St. John of Nepomuk was killed by the king of Bohemia
because he refused to give up the secrets of his
wife's confessional. So he was thrown into the
Moldova River. You see his body floating in the
Moldova River illuminated by stars in the water. 00:03:09.723,00:03:07.487 >>> “Virgin of Guadalupe” is the special saint
worshiped in New Spain by local people. The Virgin
Mary appeared before Juan Diego, a Mexican peasant
and told him to build a new church. But no one
believe him. As proof, on her fourth appearance,
Mary gave Juan Diego some non-native Castilian roses.
When Diego laid them before the Archbishop,
the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously
appeared on Diego’s cloak.
>>> You see the vision of the Virgin hovering above
the valley of Mexico. If you look right here in the middle of
it is the shrine where the, where the image is venerated.
>>> When girls moved into the convent to become nuns,
and thus married to Christ, they gave up the luxuries of
life outside the convent.
>>> This is a young woman, on the eve of her entry
into a convent. It's the sort of portrait that families
commissioned to commemorate their daughters whom they
might not see again. These are depictions of young women
after they've entered the convent. She is wearing a type
of devotional painting called a nuns badge or a nuns shield.
These are little, little paintings that simultaneously
served as items of personal adornment on
special occasions, but were also used for private devotion.
>>> By the 18th Century, a serenity had settled into
native Mexican church art.
>>> This is a painting of the Divine spouse or the
Divine bridegroom. It was certainly painted for a convent
of nuns and many of the flowers and in particular the irises are
shown with emblems of the passion painted on them.
Irises are traditionally seen as symbols of the Virgins sorrows.
>>> Other non-religious subjects also represented
in the exhibition, like this painted screen.
>>> It's called a biombo, which is actually a corruption
of a Japanese word for a folding screen.
So we've got an Asian format and the French 18th
century theme and individual types. She’s wearing a rebozo,
which was a typical clothing from Mexico.
These musicians are actually playing a piece of music
that was a very famous minuet. And then over here there’s
this wonderful image of the man reclining, the soldier
here or the hunter rather is what he's been hunt or
not necessarily animals but young ladies.
>>> Caste paintings were major export items and
welcomed in Spain. These were portraits of racially
mixed families, a kind of propaganda to show a peaceful,
racially mixed society in the new continent.
In order to maintain control in the new continent,
the Caste system was introduced. Everyone’s social and
economic rank depended on bloodlines. European born
whites were on top, then whites born in the Americas.
If Indians or Blacks had some white blood,
they were considered above the local Indians.
And only Blacks, at the bottom, could be slaves. Although
local Indians could not be enslaved,
they could be forced to work on Church and
government project to pay tribute, taxes.
>>> This particular work comes from a set of Caste painting.
There were originally sixteen of them.
But this is the original format. It could
be rolled up. De Espanol, y Morisca; Albina.
The Spaniard is shown as a soldier and his spouse,
the Morisca, the Morisca was a term that designated
mixture between Spaniard and Mulatto and their
child is an Albino.
>>> Interestingly, Albino here was considered a
“race” instead of a genetic alteration.
Perhaps, it had religious implications, that even a
colored family could have miracles. From these 18th
century paintings, we can see visual proof of how
the Europeans maintained their control over the
Americas by using religion and the Caste sys em to
ensure white Europeans would remain in power.