A response to the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Colonial Latin American collection..
Museums adhere to a rational structuring of their collection—ordering works of art within a certain epistemological framework, making it easier for the audience to locate a specific piece amongst the vast collection of work. Colonial Mexican art disrupts this definitive system of classification; it does not fit into a perfectly defined category. Post-Conquest Mexican art has become more “civilized” than artifacts dating to their pre-Colombian ancestors, yet scholars do not regard their art with such esteem as their European contemporaries. However, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, unwilling to interrupt the structure of the museum collection, conjoins Mexican art under the blanket label of “Spanish,” placing a small assortment of art works from the Colonial Mexican period throughout the European Art: 1500 – 1850 wing of the museum.
Following the implied path guiding the visitor along the second floor wing, one passes by galleries of religious art, genre scenes, decorative arts, and period rooms, commencing at the end of the building’s axis in a small room with the label, “Mexican Art.” As discussed in class, Colonial Mexican Art is an eclectic mixture of various influences (Spanish, indigenous, Asian, Dutch, etc.); therefore, the curatorial decision to place the gallery at this poignant location amidst the European wing might assist museumgoers to make the connection and draw this conclusion. On the other hand, it is discretely tucked away within the monumental building that many visitors might not take the time to notice.
The small rectangular space of the gallery houses an unusually large amount of works. Unlike any other gallery in the museum, paintings completely cover the two longer parallel walls in a Renaissance, wonder-cabinet fashion, yet there is still an evident curatorial placement of each work. The works hung on one side of the room reflect the same subject matter or artist of the painting it faces on the opposite wall—the Archangel Michael faces the Archangel Gabriel both painted by the same artist, a fragment of a painting by Francisco Antonio Vallejo is directly opposite another, etc. There is a noticeable universal religious theme within the paintings, except for one, Portrait of two Children of the Aristocracy, which appropriately hangs opposite the only other portrait—a monjas coronadas entitled Portrait of the Reverend Mother Maria Antonia de Rivera. The reflection of the lights on the surface of the paintings, however, makes it difficult to discern those hung higher on the wall and prohibits a closer examination.
Along the adjacent wall in front of a large curtained window are small, private devotional paintings and a glass vase lining a long glass case. Its parallel wall displays numerous tin glazed earthenware tiles and pottery. It is evident throughout the gallery that most of the pieces are arranged by size and medium. There is no particular piece displayed in a purposefully prominent location as to be awarded an importance over the others. Each wall of the gallery is full of numerous works of art that there is little room for the visitor’s eye to rest. Only after a closer examination can it be concluded that the more important pieces were accompanied by subsequent text on the label. More information implied a greater importance, or at least interest, to the painting. The information provided describes distinctively Mexican regional interpretations of religious legends, such as Black Virgin and Child and Virgin of Valvanera, or describes uniquely Mexican techniques, such as painting on copper. Since these additional labels are limited, the cluttered arrangement of the gallery might be to ensconce the lack of scholarship on the subject of Colonial Mexico in art history.
The abundant amount of tin-glazed earthenware, a medium we have not thoroughly discussed in class, particularly interested me. The adjacent gallery also houses an extensive collection of European porcelain ware, and the juxtaposition of the two rooms solidified a distinct contrast between the ornately detailed, well-crafted 18th Century European porcelain and the stylized Mexican earthenware. The piece I chose to focus on is simply titled, Jar with Handles, and is attributed to the mid-17th century as a work of Damián Hernández.[i] This is the only piece in the Colonial Mexican gallery provided with supplementary audio guide information, which also interested me to hear. As an autochthonous material, clay has been used in Mexico to create art prior to the Spanish Conquest; however, all of the objects on display in the gallery were decorated with blue and white glazes unseen in such pre-Colombian pottery. The form has also evolved from a “primitive” indigenous style into one more ornamental and Rococo-esque—the bulbous shape with flowing, curved handles.
The decoration is painted in blue and depicts an assortment of unusual motifs—floral designs, decorative patterns, and a conglomeration of figures and animals. From what we can see, a woman carrying a parasol is riding in a carriage pulled by horses and driven by an Asian man. On either side of this central image, European men, depicted with long noses and hats, appear amongst various animals—a rabbit, a cat, two dogs, a bull—and more Asian men, depicted with long moustaches and ponytails. This eclectic arrangement resembles casta paintings and again establishes the Mexican interest of representing diversity in their art. According to the audio guide, the style and technique of the jar is also a mixture of various influences—the form is a hybrid of Chinese vessels and traditional Spanish oil jars, the use of blue and white glazes resembles Asian pottery, and the surrounding dotted patterns are derived from Islamic art. The guide even provides a brief history on glazed pottery in New Spain and informs the viewer that the city of Puebla, where this piece is from, was located near the Spanish trade routes, providing artists from the area a direct encounter with Chinese ceramics.
The piece, Jar with Handles, exemplifies Colonial Mexican art and the curatorial decisions for its gallery in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This piece, in its form, technique, and motifs, represents a union of the numerous influences infiltrating the New World after the Conquest, resulting in a style uniquely Mexican. It is evident that the Philadelphia Museum of Art, through the audio guide information and the placement of the gallery, intended to enlighten its visitors in, at least, this one important facet in the history of art.
[i] Information available at the Philadelphia Museum of Art website- www.philamuseum.org; attributed to Dean Walker, from Philadelphia Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections (1995), p.56.
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