Treasured arts from Latin America

From the very beginning--practically within months of the arrival of the Spanish to the New World in 1492--irrefutable patterns of assimilation, imitation, adaptation and, above all, innovation took place in the making of uniquely Latin American works of art. In remarkably short order, the convergence of European and native traditions introduced onto the world stage artistic creations whose independence and authority only can be explained by their intrinsic merits.

Conquest and innovation. In Brussels in 1520, the Renaissance artist Albrecht Durer, upon viewing the first treasures of conquest (gifts from the Aztecs) sent by Hernan Cortes to Emperor Charles, wrote in his diary, "For I have seen therein wonders of art and have marveled at the subtle ingenia of people in far-off lands. And I know not how to express what I have experienced thereby."

For all the violence of conquest and domination of the New World--the destruction of "pagan" idols and melting down of magically wrought metals--native artists survived the transition, adapting their traditions and techniques to those of European masters. Indigenous forms and methods not only survived with remarkably sophisticated evolutions, but were transformed into nimble innovations to meet new requirements.

Places. The Spanish found huge cities in the Americas--particularly at Tenochtitlan (capital of the Aztec empire and the future Mexico City) and Cuzco (in what now is Peru)--on a scale, splendor, and order well beyond their own European experience. The Spanish were quick to build still more ambitious urban centers along purely formal Renaissance patterns, ornamented by spaces and structures as great as anything in Europe.

People. Colonial societies in Latin America developed with a fluidity and an energy quite different from those of the North American colonies of the English, Dutch, and French. Initially, members of Spanish and Portuguese aristocracy were imported to rule native peoples, but thereafter a generic evolution of remarkable diversity quickly took over. Loosely defined as mestizaje, this mingling of race and social status became arguably the major defining character of much of Latin American life.

16th century. The remarkable swiftness with which the new European regimes established themselves in the Americas carried with it huge demands for artistic creations, especially with the founding of massive religious institutions. Hundreds of artists, painters, and sculptors emigrated not only from Iberia, but from Italy and Flanders as well. At their best, they were highly accomplished, gifted artists who found capital and thrived in the New World, forming dynamic workshops and extended family operations, some lasting several generations. Native and imported forms soon merged to create original and independent ideas, and what had begun as a purely European visual style and narrative took on a fresh look.

17th century. Much of the Latin American art of this period is positioned somewhere between a looking back to European sources and styles and an absorption of the much denser cultural mergers of native influences. Artists born on American soil began to dominate and, as their local patrons established ideas of their own desires and requirements, the artists became progressively more distant from the Old World. Out of this emerged painters, sculptors, and craftsmen of truly international stature--Melchor Perez Holguin in the Viceroyalty of Peru and Cristobal de Villalpando in Mexico, among others--who were sought after and supported on a grand level.