Unframed The LACMA Blog

Welcome to Wonderland: Surrealist Women Exhibition Opens Sunday

lacma — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:30:29 +0000

Opening to the public this Sunday—and to members starting today—In Wonderland: The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States features approximately one hundred and seventy-five works by nearly fifty women artists active in North America who engaged with surrealism in their art. It is the first exhibition to present a view of surrealist art based on this body of work and to depart from canonical histories of surrealism that privilege its male practitioners and European origins. In Wonderland includes a number of Mexico’s designated national treasures by Frida Kahlo, Remedios Varo, and María Izquierdo. Paintings, sculptures, drawings, photography, and film by such leading figures as Dorothea Tanning, Kay Sage, and Louise Bourgeois are installed in a 1940s surrealist exhibition–inspired space along with works by many women artists whose work has remained little known—until now.

Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas), 1939, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, © 2011 Banco de México Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, photo courtesy Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, reproduction of Frida Kahlo governed by Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBA)

The idea for the exhibition was itself surreal—based on a chance meeting between Ilene Susan Fort, curator of American art at LACMA, and Mexico-based curator Tere Arcq at the opening of LACMA: Obras Maestras 1750–1950, an exhibition of LACMA’s core American paintings collection loaned to the Museo Nacional de Arte (MUNAL) in Mexico City in 2006. Both curators discovered their shared interest in women artists and surrealism from their respective countries, and the desire to organize an exhibition to bring them all together was born.

Dorothea Tanning, Birthday, 1942, Philadelphia Museum of Art, purchased with funds contributed by C.K. Williams II, 1999, © Dorothea Tanning Collection and Archive/Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York/ADAGP, Paris, photo © Philadelphia Museum of Art/Art Resource, NY

The curators identified recurring themes explored by the artists in In Wonderland, such as national and self-identity, domesticity, war and politics, fascination with the occult, and much more. As these women delved into the nature of creative expression and experimentation with surrealist methods and technique, they created a mass of work that is often touching and sometimes a startlingly profound reflection on their personal lives.

Leonora Carrington, Green Tea (La dame ovale), 1942, collection of Hector Fanghanel, © 2011 Estate of Leonora Carrington/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, photo © 2012 Museum Associates/LACMA by Jorge Perez de Lara

In Wonderland is on view through May 6. Reserve your tickets today. Become a member to receive free tickets to In Wonderland and all specially ticketed exhibitions. For upcoming events at LACMA related to In Wonderland, keep your eye on the calendar.

Devi Noor, Curatorial Administrator, American Art

Expanded Abstraction: Animated Film and Digital Art on View at Stark Bar

lacma — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:30:14 +0000

By popular demand, this program has been extended through February 16!

~~January is the last month~~ to view a special HD program of abstraction for three screens at LACMA’s Renzo Piano–designed Stark Bar. Curated by Cindy Keefer from the Center for Visual Music (CVM), the program features stunning abstract animated film and digital work by artists Scott Draves and The Electric Sheep, Robert Seidel, Baerbel Neubauer, Christina McPhee, and Maura McDonnell, as well as a historical piece by Charles Dockum (1904–1977).

Two of the works presented at Stark Bar were created specifically for LACMA; three originated in other cities. Scott Draves’s Generation 244 genetic algorithms and Robert Seidel’s vellum have been presented as site-specific, multiple-screen installations in New York and Seoul. Baerbel Neubauer’s playful animated Water Ambiences, a new work created for the LACMA screens, explores water rhythms, one of the themes also seen in Christina McPhee’s new nine-screen Bird of Paradise. Maura McDonnell’s Silk Chroma was originally performed as a visual music installation in Dublin. Charles Dockum’s 1969 Mobilcolor Projector film, originally a 16mm film document of his color organ performance in three movements, was preserved by CVM, transferred to HD, and reformatted to three screens for this LACMA program.

Scott Draves and The Electric Sheep, Generation 244 (still), © Scott Draves and The Electric Sheep

Robert Seidel, vellum (still), © Robert Seidel

Baerbel Neubauer, Water Ambiences (still), 2011, created especially for this CVM Program, © Baerbel Neubauer

The artists here investigate silent lyrical abstract art, though many also work in the visual music tradition of establishing a strong interrelationship of image and sound. Charles Dockum’s Mobilcolor work, live performance of projected abstract colored lights, is part of the color organ history that includes Thomas Wilfred and is a pre-digital forerunner to today’s veejay culture and live cinema. Dockum worked in Altadena for decades and was supported by the Guggenheim Museum (then the Museum of Non-Objective Painting).

Christina McPhee, Bird of Paradise (still), created especially for this CVM Program, © Christina McPhee

Maura McDonnell, Silk Chroma (still), © Maura McDonnell

Charles Dockum, Mobilcolor Projections, 1969, courtesy of Center for Visual Music, © Greta Dockum

The Center for Visual Music is a non-profit archive dedicated to visual music, abstract cinema, and experimental animation. Its film and video programs can be seen in museums and cultural centers worldwide, and its archives house the world’s largest collection of visual music resources, including the films and papers of filmmaker-artist Oskar Fischinger. In 2011, CVM presented a Jordan Belson retrospective at LACMA, and in April it will present two special film programs in the Bing Theater in conjunction with the current exhibition California Design, 1930–1965: “Living in a Modern Way,” including a retrospective of films by Oskar Fischinger.

The videos can be seen at Stark Bar, located on the BP Grand Entrance, through January 31. You can catch them every morning (besides Wednesday) from 10:30 am to noon. In addition, the videos are also on view Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 8 pm to 11 pm and Tuesday from 9:30 pm to 11 pm.

Cindy Keefer, Center for Visual Music

Ellsworth Kelly: An Appreciation from Los Angeles

lacma — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:30:14 +0000

While Los Angeles may not figure directly in his work, Ellsworth Kelly has made a distinct impression on the city—from the close working relationships and friendships he has formed, through the collections that preserve his work, to the artists he continues to inspire. His latest exhibition, Ellsworth Kelly: Prints and Paintings, is now on view at LACMA.

In the 1960s, when his career was just beginning to gain traction in the competitive New York City art scene, Kelly had his first solo exhibition in Los Angeles at the Ferus Gallery (1965), and a number of L.A. patrons began to acquire his works. He would continue to exhibit regularly at Ferus and later at Irving Blum’s gallery until 1973. One of his early supporters in L.A. was Betty Asher, who worked in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s modern art department between 1966 and 1979, at which point she launched the Asher/Faure Gallery in West Hollywood and continued to distinguish herself as an astute collector.

The 1960s also saw the establishment on Melrose Avenue of the now-legendary print workshop Gemini G.E.L. by Ken Tyler, Sidney Felsen, and Stanley Grinstein. In their hope to attract the leading artists of the day, they first invited Kelly to make prints with them in 1968. After meeting with Tyler, Felsen, and Grinstein in New York, and taking into consideration the strong recommendation of Frank Stella and Barbara Rose, Kelly accepted the offer. He came to Gemini for the first time in January 1970, initiating what would become a forty-year working relationship.

Ellsworth Kelly, Red-Orange Yellow Blue, 1970, lithograph on special Arjomari paper, collection of Jordan D. Schnitzer, © Ellsworth Kelly and Gemini G.E.L. Los Angeles

In Kelly’s prints, although each edition proceeds according to its own requirements, the element of collaboration is always paramount, and the standards always stretch the limits of perfection. In large part, Kelly’s dedication to Gemini rests on two factors: his utmost trust in the workshop’s directors and master printers, and his preference for direct lithography from metal plates. Many presses, then and now, favor offset, which eliminates the problem of image reversal. But Kelly—who engages with printmaking intellectually as well as aesthetically—had learned to love the direct process early on, with Marcel Durassier at Imprimerie Maeght in Paris. The hydraulic lithographic presses Tyler had designed and installed for Gemini were doubtless an inducement to give the new workshop a try. Working with Gemini’s printers to devise means of transferring drawings and hand-cut plastic negatives to the plate, Kelly has turned the technical challenges of direct lithography into conceptual triumphs.

In all media, Kelly achieves surface purity, essential form, and harmonious scale, according to his unerring personal sense of these elusive qualities. Printmaking in particular has served as a platform of sorts, on which all the variables can be placed and replaced. In requesting what must sometimes have seemed beyond the scope of the medium, Kelly has ended up expanding it.

Kelly’s work has always appeared to advantage within the context of encyclopedic museums such as LACMA. It has utter integrity in the true spirit of Modernism, and it connects to the span of art history and visual culture. With his profound admiration of the traditions of other times and places, Kelly not only draws inspiration for his compositions, he leads us to discover archetypes of our own. We are privileged to premiere a comprehensive exhibition of Kelly’s prints on the occasion of the artist’s eighty-ninth year.

Ellsworth Kelly: Prints and Paintings co-curators Stephanie Barron and Britt Salvesen

The Dragon Is Coming!

lacma — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:00:35 +0000

If you have ever dined at a Chinese restaurant, you have probably seen something printed with the signs of twelve animals—rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, dog, and boar—known as the zodiac animals. The Chinese use these signs to mark years, a system that follows the lunar calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar used in the West. The first day of a lunar year is the most important holiday, celebrated in many countries in Asia, such as China, Korea, and Vietnam.

January 23, 2012, is the first day of the year of the dragon. To celebrate this special occasion, we have installed a gallery with dragon related works from LACMA’s permanent collection. The dragon is the only mythical animal among the twelve zodiac animals, bringing special auspices to the year of the dragon. In addition, the dragon is believed to possess supernatural powers such as controlling the rain. As a result, it is one of the most popular themes for Asian artists.

Vase with Everted Fluted Lip and Raised Dragon Décor, Japan, nineteenth century, gift of Allan and Maxine Kurtzman

Jar with Dragon and Clouds, Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), nineteenth century, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jae Min Chang and The Korea Times

In the gallery, you will see ceramics from China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Although the objects are different shapes and sizes and were made at different times in different regions, each piece has a dragon (or a pair of dragons) as its decorative motif. The earliest piece displayed in the gallery is a bronze mirror made in China circa 200 BC, where the interlaced bodies of the dragons emphasize the animal’s long and curvilinear body.

Mirror (Jing) with Interlaced Dragons, China, probably Anhui Province, the Phil Berg Collection

In ancient China, the dragon was seen as the embodiment of the emperor, who claimed himself as a “son of heaven.” In the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1911), only the imperial family was allowed to use dragons to decorate their homes, furniture, and clothes. The embroidered image of a dragon on display in this special installation is a rank badge, probably worn by a prince in the seventeenth century.

Badge (Lizi) of the Imperial Prince with Dragon, China, late Ming dynasty (1368-1644), mid-seventeenth century, gift of Miss Carlotta Mabury

The dragon emerges from a background of waves and clouds. The waves symbolize the yin element of the ocean, and the clouds the yang element of the sky. Here the dragon resides within the perfect harmony of yin and yang, which can also be seen as the imperial house’s supreme power over the universe. Other works included in the gallery, such as a Japanese ink painting of a dragon and a jade belt buckle in the shape of a dragon, testify to the popularity of the dragon in Asia.

Christina Yu Yu, Assistant Curator, Chinese and Korean Art

This Weekend at LACMA: Ellsworth Kelly Opens, Glenn Ligon and Mural Remix Close, Contested Visions Film Series, and More

lacma — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:30:43 +0000

There is a lot of exhibition activity happening this weekend, especially in BCAM, where Glenn Ligon: AMERICA ends its run and Ellsworth Kelly: Prints and Paintings begins. The Kelly show gathers 100 examples of Kelly’s prints, organized thematically (grids, curves, and contrast), as well as paintings and one sculpture from LACMA’s collection. The exhibition is on the second level of BCAM, just across the way from the Glenn Ligon show. In case you missed them, here’s a look at some of the blog posts we’ve done over the course of Glenn Ligon’s run:

Glenn Ligon talked to us twice—first in a quick Q&A, then in a splendid video interview
A lot of contributors had unique, personal responses to the exhibition, in particular over issues of identity—see entries from Unframed contributors Christine Choi and Hylan Booker, and from our high school interns, who responded to Ligon’s work by making their own art.
Glenn Ligon, Rückenfigur, 2009, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of the 2010 Collectors Committee, © Glenn Ligon, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Also closing this weekend is Mural Remix: Sandra de la Loza, one of our Pacific Standard Time exhibitions. De la Loza created a visual “mashup” by creating original works from details of East L.A. murals painted in the 1970s. Previously on Unframed, curator Chon Noriega interviewed de la Loza about the exhibition. (FYI, Saturday’s “Mural Remix Tour,” which includes stops at LACMA, the Fowler Museum, and the site of artist Willie Herrón’s newest mural, is sold out.)

Sandra de la Loza and Joseph Santarromana, Action Portraits (installation view), 2011, © Sandra de la Loza, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

One last exhibition note: Metropolis II is up and running for its second weekend, now on its regular schedule. The artwork is operational only on Fridays through Sundays, at the following times:

Fridays: 12:30–1:30 pm; 2:30–3:30 pm; 4:30–5:30 pm; 6:30–7:30 pm
Weekends: 11:30 am–12:30 pm; 1:30–2:30 pm; 3:30–4:30 pm; 5:30–6:30 pm

In addition to exhibitions, there are also plenty of films to see this weekend. Tonight we hold a special, members-only screening of Oren Moverman’s new film Rampart, starring Woody Harrelson, Ice Cube, Steve Buscemi, Sigourney Weaver, and more. The screening, co-presented with the New York Times, is an exclusive benefit for LACMA members and members of LACMA Film Club, Film Independent, and the New York Times Film Club. If you want access to screenings like this one, or priority ticketing for popular events like our Live Reads (February’s is already sold out!), join the Film Club.

Saturday and Sunday we’re offering a free film series, open to all: Contested Visions in Latin America through Film, in conjunction with the current exhibition Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World, which closes next weekend. See yesterday’s Unframed post for a full rundown of the films, including trailers.

Sunday is a great day to enjoy lots of free activities, including the Contested Visions films, art-making activities during Andell Family Sunday—inspired by the upcoming Chinese New Year !—and a free concert by the Chamber Ensembles from the Crossroads School perform Beethoven, Ravel, and Brahms. (These events are free but admission to the galleries is still regular price.)

Scott Tennent

Free Latin American Film Series this Weekend

lacma — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:00:05 +0000

This weekend we celebrate the final weeks of our beautiful exhibition Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World with a free two-day film series. The seven films in this series explore themes from the exhibition–from the lasting impacts of colonialism to the many hardships of Latin American people to guerrilla uprisings against oppressive rulers.

Saturday’s program includes a fascinating selection of feature films. The series kicks off at 1 pm with Academy Award nominated Peruvian film La teta asustada (The Milk of Sorrow).

Mexican film El Violin (The Violin) follows with the story of a family leading a double life as humble musicians and also supporters of the campesino peasant guerrilla movement against the oppressive government. Guillermo del Toro, director of Pan’s Labyrinth, called the film “one of the most amazing Mexican films in many a year.”

Saturday’s films end with the Bolivian film El regalo de la Pachamama (The Gift of the Pachamama) which follows a father and son along the “Salt Trail” trade route for months. Through this excursion, the young boy discovers what his grandmother meant by “The Gift of Pachamama.”

Sunday’s films include compelling shorts and documentaries. The day starts with Mexican documentary Teshuinada, Semana Santa Tarahumara (Teshuinada, Holy Week at the Tarahumara) which was made in the Holy Week of 1979 in Munérachi, a town in Batopilas, Chihuahua. The film explores ritual and the coming together of pre-Hispanic and Christian worldviews.

Following is Solo un cargador (Porter), a beautiful documentary about the hard life of the cargadores who trek through the mountains and jungles of Peru with baggage on their backs. The film has won numerous awards for best short, including from the American Institute Film Festival and the Festival International du film d’Aubagne.

Another Peruvian documentary–El puente dorado (The Golden Bridge)–looks at the fascinating Qeswachaka hanging bridge of Cuzco which is hand-woven every year from local grass.

The series finishes with Mexican documentary film La pequeña semilla en el asfalto (The Little Seed in the Asphalt). The film looks at the lives of four youths from Chiapas who move to the city to study and pursue their dreams.

This weekend’s series is not to be missed. Saturday’s program will be followed by a roundtable discussion with some of the directors and actors (the roundtable discussion starts at 6:45 pm, after the last film of the day). And make sure to give yourself time to stop by Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World one last time before the exhibition closes on January 29.

All films in this series are free but reservations are required. Reserve your tickets online or by calling 323 857-6010.

Alex Capriotti

LACMA’s Collection of Ancient Indian Art Travels South

lacma — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:19:07 +0000

While we were reinstalling our South Asian Sculpture Gallery late last year, objects from our permanent collection traveled internationally for the first ever exhibition of ancient Indian art in Mexico. The special exhibition, Ancient Art of India: Masterworks of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, was presented at the Museo Nacional de las Culturas in Mexico City. In March, an expanded and renamed version of the exhibition continues its journey, heading even farther south to the Centro Cultural Palacio de la Moneda in Santiago, Chile, where it will once again break new ground by being the first major international exhibition of premodern Indian art in Chile.

Installation view of “Ancient Art of India” at the Museo Nacional de las Culturas, Mexico City

Featuring 150 objects from LACMA’s permanent collection, India’s Universe: Masterworks of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art explores the elaborate cosmologies of ancient India’s three man indigenous religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Ancient India’s religious mythology and associated artistic imagery were among the most highly developed of all world cultures. Each of these religions constructed systems of the universe with multiple realms, which were populated by a diverse range of real and imaginary inhabitants. Divinities, demigods, demons, mortals, and animals all interacted in a grand theater of life, the afterlife, and the endless cycle of time and rebirth. Numerous traumatic conflicts and heroic exploits were imagined in prose and poem and portrayed in a sophisticated tradition of sculpture, painting, and the decorative arts.

Installation view of “Ancient Art of India” at the Museo Nacional de las Culturas, Mexico City

The exhibition is organized into five thematic sections that explore the myriad inhabitants of India’s perceived universe:

deities—Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain gods and goddesses;
demigods—protective nature and fertility spirits associated with the earth and various celestial nymphs, musicians, and supernatural beings;
demons—revered leaders and guardian figures with demonic powers and generic hordes of demonic warriors;
humans—archetypical rulers who uphold virtue and preserve order by triumphing over evil, religious ascetics who conquer the temptations of the spirit and gain magical powers, and individuals typifying the plethora of life’s activities and occupations;
animals—the full spectrum of the animal kingdom, from powerful elephants to noble lions and cunning tigers to mischievous monkeys.
Installation view of “Ancient Art of India” at the Museo Nacional de las Culturas, Mexico City

LACMA is proud to help promote greater understanding and appreciation of Indian culture in Chile by sharing these extraordinary works of art from its renowned holdings.

Stephen Markel, the Harry and Yvonne Lenart Curator and Department Head, South and Southeast Asian Art

LACMA is Free Today!

lacma — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:30:54 +0000

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! LACMA is free all day, thanks to Target. We’ve also got a few special events scheduled for the holiday.

Edward Biberman, I Had a Dream, 1968, purchased with funds provided by the American Art Council, © Edward Biberman Estate. On view in the Ahmanson Building, Level 2

The Peruvian ensemble Inca will perform Andean music, accompanied by dancers, in the Los Angeles Times Central Court at 12:30 and 2:45 pm.

There will also be some family art-making activities on the LATCC as well as in the Boone Children’s Gallery. Note that for the Boone Gallery we will be offering (free) timed tickets on a first-come, first-served basis, to ensure a safe and pleasant experience for all. Time in the gallery will be limited to 30 minutes.

If you’re here with kids (or if you’re not!), be sure to stop in to see the newest addition to our galleries, Chris Burden’s Metropolis II, in BCAM. The massive sculpture features 1,100 toy cars zipping through eighteen winding tracks, as well as electric trains and fantastical buildings made from Lincoln Logs, Erector Sets, and more. The artwork will be operating at 12:30–2 pm; 3–4:30 pm; 5–6:30 pm; and 7–8 pm. (Want more tips for things to see with kids at the museum?)

We have six special exhibitions on view, including Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World, which closes at the end of this month. Today, educators will be in the Contested Visions galleries to answer questions and offer tours, between 1:30 and 3 pm.

Installation view, Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World

Also closing soon—next week, in fact—is Glenn Ligon: AMERICA, a mid-career retrospective of the artist’s incredible body of work, which explores issues of race, sexuality, and identity.

Glenn Ligon, Untitled (I Am a Man), 1988, collection of the artist, courtesy of the artist and Regen Projects, Los Angeles, © Glenn Ligon, photograph by Ronald Amstutz

You can also catch California Design, 1935–1960, Ai Weiwei’s Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, and much more. And don’t forget, you can make a day of it by enjoying lunch, dinner, or drinks at Ray’s and Stark Bar while you’re on campus.

Scott Tennent

This Weekend at LACMA: Metropolis II Opens, Edward Kienholz Closes, and More

lacma — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:32:07 +0000

The wait is finally over for Chris Burden’s Metropolis II—the mesmerizing sculpture opens to the public this Saturday (and members can get an early jump this evening). Because the work requires an operator to be on hand and focused on the work at all times, Metropolis II is only operational at specific times, so plan your visit accordingly:

Saturday and Sunday: 11:30 am–1 pm; 2–3:30 pm; 4–5:30 pm; 6–7:30 pm
Monday (Martin Luther King Jr. Day): 12:30–2 pm; 3–4:30 pm; 5–6:30 pm; 7–8 pm

In the future, Metropolis II will only be operational on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Chris Burden, Metropolis II, 2010, long-term loan courtesy of the Nicolas Berggruen Charitable Foundation, © Chris Burden, courtesy Gagosian Gallery, photography by E. Koyama

This weekend is also your last chance to see Edward Kienholz’s powerful Five Car Stud, an immersive and challenging Civil Rights-era artwork that is on view in the US for the very first time. Five Car Stud will travel to the Louisiana Museum of Art in Denmark this summer. On the occasion of the exhibition’s closing, here is a look back at the blog posts we’ve done on the piece:

Curator Stephanie Barron recalls the first time she saw Five Car Stud—the only other time the artwork has ever been on view, in Germany in 1972
Nancy Kienholz, who spent three years restoring Five Car Stud, talks about the making of the work
We interviewed Keith Berwick, a former talk show host who was cast as one of the figures in the artwork
On lacma.org, we also have a firsthand account of the making of Five Car Stud written by Edward Kienholz in 1971
Edward Kienholz: Five Car Stud 1969–1972, Revisited, installation view, photography by Tom Vinetz, © Kienholz, collection of Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art, Sakura, Japan, courtesy of L.A. Louver, Venice, CA and The Pace Gallery, New York, photo by Tom Vinetz

One more exhibition note—we’re happy to note that Maria Nordman FILMROOM: SMOKE, 1967–Present has been extended! It will remain on view through May 20.

In addition to these exhibitions, be sure to check out Glenn Ligon: AMERICA, Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World, California Design, 1935–1960, and the rest of our exhibitions and installations on view.

On Sunday in the Bing Theater, the Triple Helix Trio will perform selections from Beethoven’s three trios, Opus 1—free. Finally, Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and that means it’s a Target Free Holiday Monday. Happy three-day weekend!

Scott Tennent

The Influence of Japanese Art on Colonial Mexican Painting

lacma — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:30:23 +0000

Before Contested Visions in the Spanish Colonial World closes in just a couple of weeks, I wanted to share some of my favorite pieces. It may come as a surprise to some, but the relationship between Japan and Latin America dates back to the seventeenth century. Japanese folding screens were first introduced to New Spain as exports by way of the Manila Galleon trade and by Japanese embassies that brought them to Mexico as gifts in the early decades of the seventeenth century. Known in Spanish as biombo–a Portuguese and Spanish transliteration of the Japanese word for folding screen, byōbu–the Mexican artform was inspired by its Japanese prototype. The versatility of the folding screen contributed to its quick adaptation to daily life; because the biombo was freestanding, portable, multi-paneled, and could be painted on both sides, it provided an ideal surface on which to paint. Biombos transformed spaces into definable spaces, and were indispensable elements in domestic interiors. Today, folding screens are such an ubiquitous part of everyday life frequently used to divide rooms and spaces, as they were originally intended.

Night Festival of Tsushima Shrine, Japan, early Edo period, Kan’ei era, 1624–44, gift of Camilla Chandler Frost, David and Margaret Barry, Lenore and Richard Wayne, Leslie Prince Salzman, Friends of Heritage Preservation, Gwen and Peter Norton, and the East Asian Art Council, in honor of Robert T. Singer. On view in the Pavilion for Japanese Art.

The unique and innovative format of the folding screen provided new ways for artists to depict subject matter. It differed from the usual format and iconography of an altarpiece, devotional painting, or portrait, and was intended for domestic use. Freed from the constraints of the Catholic Church, artists experimented with the genre of secular art and utilized the full artistic potential of the folding screen.

The folding screen was a favorite format for the depiction of historical scenes. On view in the exhibition is a remarkable example of colonial painting that depicts the conquest of Mexico on the front, and the viceregal capital of Mexico City on the back. Various scenes of the conquest play out over the ten front panels, among them the meeting of Cortés and Moctezuma, the siege of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, and the assassination of Moctezuma. The artists’ incredible attention to detail in the rendering of the human figures and their elaborate costumes invites the viewer to linger over each scene on the screen.

On the back of the screen, the transformation of the Aztec capital into the orderly Spanish colonial city replete with the city’s numerous churches and plazas invites the viewer to meander among the streets, searching the legend at the bottom left for familiar sights within the city’s boundaries.

Folding Screen with the Four Continents, Mexico, late 17th century, Museo de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, photo by Sofía Sanabrais

The second folding screen on view in the exhibition includes allegorical depictions of the four continents as women riding golden chariots, flanked by the mythological figures of Ceres and Flora. Before the “discovery” of America, Europeans imagined the rest of the unknown world to be inhabited by Amazons, cannibals, and other unimaginable creatures. America, the second figure to the right, is pulled by unicorns, fantastical beasts, and behind her is a scene of indigenous cannibalism, an obvious reference to the misconception of the lack of civilization in the Americas.

Folding Screen with Indian Wedding and Paseo de Ixtacalco (front), Mexico, second half of the 18th century, Buch Molina Collection, photo by Sofia Sanabrais

The last folding screen in the exhibition portrays a slice of daily life in colonial Mexico. This scene takes place in Ixtacalco, a village in the environs of Mexico City known for its canals, canoes and verdant landscape that served as a respite from the hectic pace of the viceregal capital. This remarkable example of eighteenth century painting provides the viewer with a glimpse into the leisurely activities enjoyed by the various social classes of colonial society. In the upper right, an indigenous couple celebrates their wedding, revelers in flower-laden canoes enjoy music performed by musicians, and a family sits along the banks of the canal enjoying a meal.

The paintings on the back of this folding screen were unbeknownst to us until after the exhibition design was complete. The paintings depict Indians performing various activities, women, children and various examples of local flora and fauna. It was a delightful discovery!

Sofía Sanabrais, Assistant Curator of Latin American Art