Art of New Spain: Spanish Colonies in the Americas

TIME PERIOD: 1500-1820
  • MIXING OF INDIGENOUS ART FORMS WITH EUROPEAN; REJECTED BAROQUE
  • INFLUENCE FROM ASIA/AFRICA 
  • PROTRAITS, HISTORY PAINTINGS, GENRE SCENES 
  • SPANISH CREATED WORLD WIDE TRADING EMPIRE; CONNECTED MEXICO TO ASIA; BROUGHT ASIAN SPICES, CERAMICS, SILKS, IVORY; ARTISTIC LIFE BECAME ENRICHED BY THESE CONTACTS 
  • COLONIAL RULE WAS OVER BY 1822; LATIN AMERICA FILLED W/ INDEPENDENT STATES 
  • WORKS FROM NEW SPAIN COMBINE ROMAN CATHOLICISM WITH NATIVE AMERICAN TRADITION USING MATERIALS FROM ASIA 
  • MANY MEXICAN PORTRAITS SHOW MEN IN THE LATEST MADRID STYLES TO PROVE THEIR ARISTOCRACY 
  • HISTORICAL BATTLE SCENES; ARCADIAN LANDSCAPES 
  • OIL TECHNIQUE; NO INTEREST IN PERSPECTIVE; FAVORED FLATTENED SURACE, EARTHEN TONES
  • WORKS CREATED ANONYMOUSLY; IN SERVICE OF RELIGION RATHER THAN FAME; STYLE OF ART SCHOOLS CLOSELY UNITED
VOCABULARY: 
  • BIOMBOS: FOLDING FREE-STANDING SCREENS 
  • CASTA PAINTINGS: SHOWED MIXED RACE PEOPLE 
  • ENCHONCHADOS: SHELL-INLAY PAINTING, TINY FRAGMENTS OF MOTHER OF PEARL PLACED ONTO A WOODEN CANVAS W/ THIN GLAZES OF PAINT
SUMMARY: 
  • COMBINED EUROPEAN BAROQUE W/ ASIAN IMPORTS; PATRONAGE; PORTRAITS, PAINTED SCREENS, LANDSCAPES, HISTORICAL EPISODES 
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