Painting depicting a group of men carrying Christ on the cross
Image Credit

José Clemente Orozco, Via Crucis (Christ Carrying the Cross) detail, about 1940. Gouache paint on canvas; 33⅝ × 29½ in. Gift of Nancy Rogers and Edward D. Pierson in Memory of Mary Vandusen and Charles Bolles Rogers, 1983.241. © 2022 Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York/SOMAAP, Mexico City.

Neocolonial: Inventing Modern Latin American Nations

2022 Mayer Center for Ancient and Latin American Art Symposium
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José Clemente Orozco, Via Crucis (Christ Carrying the Cross) detail, about 1940. Gouache paint on canvas; 33⅝ × 29½ in. Gift of Nancy Rogers and Edward D. Pierson in Memory of Mary Vandusen and Charles Bolles Rogers, 1983.241. © 2022 Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York/SOMAAP, Mexico City.

Overview

Organized by Dr. Jorge Rivas, Frederick and Jan Mayer Curator of Latin American Art, and Dr. Lynda Klich, Associate Professor, Hunter College, CUNY.

In the first half of the 1900s, Latin American artists, architects, and designers searched for visual languages that matched the modern identities of their young nations. Surprisingly, many found their answers in the aesthetics of their colonial past. This symposium explores the paradoxical nature of this neocolonialism by examining a wide array of art, from painting and architecture to furniture and graphic design. A group of international scholars will probe the meanings, cultural agendas, and contradictions that emerged when artists in democratic nations grounded their work in the visual regime of imperial Spain at a time of rising consciousness of Indigenous cultures and Panamericanism.

This event took place onsite from 9 am to 6:30 pm, doors at 8:30 am. Entry included a light breakfast, lunch, cocktail hour from 5:30 to 6:30 pm, and a 20% off discount at the Shop.

Sharp Auditorium—Hamilton Building, Lower Level
Tickets are $52 for Museum Friends, $55 for Members, and $65 for the public.

Related

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Speakers

  • Lynda Klich (Hunter College, CUNY) Casa Zuno: Revolutionary Gesamtkunstwerk
  • Carla García (Centro de Investigaciones en Arte y Patrimonio, Universidad Nacional de San Martín) Martín Noel: Cultural Routes and Pictorial Maps
  • Marina Garone (Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliográficas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) The “Neocolonial” in the History of Books and Publishing in Postrevolutionary Mexico
    • Translated to English by Lisbet Barrientos, MA (Denver Art Museum). Presented on Dr. Garone’s behalf by Kathryn Santner, PhD (Frederick and Jan Mayer Fellow in Spanish Colonial Art, 2022-24)
  • Horacio Ramos (The Graduate Center, CUNY) Adobe, Ceramic, Wood: Enrique Camino Brent and the Modern Appropriation of Colonial Material Culture
  • Ricardo Kusunoki (Independent Curator) Aesthetics of Excess: Lima’s Neocolonial Imaginary (1870-1950)
    • Translated to English by Natalia Majluf, PhD (Museo de Arte de Lima). Presented on Dr. Kusunoki’s behalf by Kathryn Santner, PhD (Frederick and Jan Mayer Fellow in Spanish Colonial Art, 2022-24)
  • Ana Elena Mallet (Independent Curator of Modern and Contemporary Design) Neocolonial Design in Mexico (1940-1970), from a Lost Heritage to a Modern Vocabulary
  • Cristina López Uribe (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) Antagonisms: Neocolonial v. Functionalism in Mexico
  • Jorge Rivas Pérez (Denver Art Museum) Neocolonial Architecture for a Modern Capital: Carlos Raúl Villanueva’s Urban Renewal of “El Silencio” in Caracas (1942-45)