Art Museum's Tesoros (second review)

Treasures to be savored,
from a world turned upside down

ANNE R. FABBRI

"Tesoros/Treasures/Tesouros: The Arts in Latin America, 1492-1820, "now on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, opens our eyes to a culture more than 3,000 years old and its subsequent amalgamation with those of Europe, Africa and Asia. It boggles the mind and turns all our assumptions upside-down. What Christopher Columbus and all the Europeans considered the New World actually was an ancient world of magnificent cities and complex cultures. Our parochial thinking extends to this day when we continue to refer to ourselves as Americans. That would be news to all the citizens of Central and South America who (Mr. President, please take note) think of themselves as Americans and of us as the North Americans.

For the first time in any museum in this country, we have an opportunity to experience first-hand the variety of cultures blended into the Spanish and Portuguese conquests. More than a walk through history, the exhibition bursts with beautiful art works, 250 plus, never seen before by most of us. It is an experience to be savored again and again. I’ve been through it three times and that wasn’t enough.

The first incredible encounter occurs in the Great Stair Hall. Nothing prepares you for the shock of encountering a huge altarpiece and a carved crucifix with rood screen on either side of the neo-classic staircase. Both are more than 20 feet high, with the figures framed in columns of shining gold. Facing the stairs to the right is the Virgin of Sorrows altarpiece, Mexico 1690. The central niche holds a statue of the Virgin dressed in a fine gown of deep, red silk with a dagger piercing her left breast. Surrounding this are paintings of the Passion of Christ flanked by painted and carved putti. I am not Roman Catholic and never had a course in the arts and history of Latin America, so I don’t know why the dagger was there— probably a visual metaphor. But it is poignant, and the whole ensemble seems incredible.

A lesson for Alexander Calder

Turning to the left, the crucifix and rood screen of polychromed and gilded wood is by an unknown sculptor and painter for the Monastery of San Bento, Olinda, Brazil, 1783-92. With its finely carved, attenuated figure and the intricate rood screen decoration, it gives testimony to the sophisticated amalgam of the arts by the late 18th Century. There is nothing primitive about this piece. The Alexander Calder mobile, White Ghost, floating gently from the ceiling above, suddenly seems puny and innocuous in this company.

Enter the exhibition proper and you will be amazed by the variety of arts on display. Don’t worry too much about chronology and history; just look at and experience the paintings, sculpture, textiles, ceramics, and domestic and religious furniture. One may question and condemn the missionary mania and cruelty of the European conquerors but not their building zeal and their utilization of native craftsmen. Artists always want to create things, and if those foreigners wanted statues of people in strange poses and states of dress or undress, that is what they produced. Art is amoral.

The vibrant features of a leader and his two sons by Andres Sanchez Gallque, an Andean, in 1599 is the oldest known dated and signed portrait from South America and the most modern in the exhibition, with a life-like immediacy and glowing colors. Commissioned by Juan de Barrio, a judge in Quito, to be sent as a gift to the Spanish king Felipe III, it is a portrait of Don Francisco de la Robe and his sons Pedro and Domingo, residents of what is now Ecuador. They are mulattos, descendants of Africans and Native Indians, who were visiting Quito at the time. The sons look toward their father, who gazes directly at the viewer.

Don Francisco was the leader of a community of escaped slaves and natives who had achieved a peaceful co-existence with the others. Dressed in beautiful robes, holding their hats in polite greeting, each of the three subjects wears gold facial jewelry – contemporary looking earrings for both the top of the ear and the earlobes and nose rings and pendants. This could start a fad; tongue rings are out with the college crowd, the nose is in.

What we learned from Greek vases

Paintings reveal clues to life in that time and place. If it were not for Greek vase painting, how else would we know what they wore in ancient Greece, how they hunted and traveled, their house furnishings and recreation? Look at the paintings in this exhibition and see the magnificent churches these first Americans built, how they celebrated weddings and honored the dead. Remember that portraits don’t necessarily capture a true likeness. Usually idealized to please the patron, they often dwell on the garments, jewels and other symbols of social status. Christ might be portrayed as a child in a tunic or royal robes, whatever meets the demand. Landscapes viewed behind the figure often depict a desired new location. Verisimilitude was not a requirement (nor is it now).

A rare six-panel, two-sided floor screen of oil on canvas paintings portrays the four elements and some of the liberal arts. Although four of the customary ten panels are missing, it is one of the few surviving records of New Spanish mythological paintings and is the only one of its kind signed by the artist, Juan Correa (c. 1646-1716). Friar Payo de Ribera, the New Spanish bishop-viceroy, as a gift for his brother, sent it to Spain.

Where are the women?

Indian Wedding and Flying Pole (Mexico City c. 1690), an oil and canvas painting on a folding screen, recalls the peasant celebrations painted by the Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel in the first half of the 16th Century. Men perform a ceremonial dance and, probably fueled by drink, climb a pole and swing out in circles (Didn’t they used to do something similar in South Philadelphia on a certain holiday?) You can easily miss the bride and groom leaving the church on the far right. But where are all the other women? I could only count four. The others, probably, are behind the buildings, cooking the celebratory feast.

Trade and world shipping ensured that none of these settlements was isolated from distant cultures. Artists and craftsmen converge wherever there is a demand. Beginning in 1573, ships sailed from Manila loaded with household goods that were copied and adapted. Blue and white Chinese ceramics and their native adaptations became popular decorative objects in all the affluent households. Portable desks and secretaries found in Mexico astonish with their fine marquetry, inlaid with bone and ivory in geometric patterns influenced by Mudejar art. Many of the pieces were painted inside in imitation Chinese red lacquer. Fine silver decorative and religious accessories almost overwhelm other pieces in the exhibition.

Too much for one visit

My only caveat is that it is almost too much to cover in one exhibition. It is a courageous beginning that I would like to see followed by exhibitions concentrating on a specific country, style or influence. Six years in the planning, borrowed from public and private collections throughout the Americas and Europe, the exhibition was organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in collaboration with the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildeffonso, Mexico City and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and, after it closes here on December 31, will travel to both those sites.

Joseph Rishel, the Art Museum’s senior curator of European painting before 1900, and Suzanne Stratton-Pruitt, organized this extraordinary exhibition and its illustrated catalogue. That alone is a treasure trove of knowledge, a must for every academic and public library. Wall labels in both Spanish and English help define the exhibit’s scope and objectives.

”Tesoros” and all its related programs can open our minds to a sense of how new identities and cultures develop from diversity. Just as our culture changes with each new wave of immigration, it also happened in Latin America beginning in 1492. I am grateful we can experience one phase of it.

You will need to reserve timed tickets for admission to the exhibition at $20 for adults, $17 for seniors, students with student I.D. and youths 13-18. Free for children 12 and under. A special discounted admission of $15 is offered at 3:00 and 3:30 on weekdays until Nov. 17. Consider planning your visit for a Friday afternoon, when you can see the show, stay until 8:45 and enjoy all the special entertainment. You can even have a bite to eat and a drink. Choose the right night and learn the tango. Don’t miss this great opportunity.


For another review of "Tesoros" by Andrew Mangravite, click here.


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