Spanish Colonial Art Goes on Display at Miami’s Frost-FIU Museum

THE MIAMI HERALD
By John Coppola
St. Joseph and the Christ Child Cuzco, Peru, 18th century
Oil on canvas Frost Art Museum, MMAC Collection Alex Garcia
FLORIDA---In art as in religion, the colonial period of Latin America took its greatest influence from Spain. But it wasn’t simply a thin imitation of the motherland, but a complex confluence tinged with politics, racial issues and religions both indigenous and European. That point lies at the heart of a new exhibition at the Frost Art Museum, "Spanish Colonial Art: The Beauty of Two Traditions," curated by museum director Carol Damian. “The idea,’’ says Damian, “is to show that the colonial art of Latin America is not derivative and a poor copy of Spanish art, but so much more.” [link]

Frost Art Museum: "Spanish Colonial Art: The Beauty of Two Traditions,"Florida International University (Ends Aug. 25), 10975 SW 17th St., Miami, FL, (305) 346-2890 or thefrost.fiu.edu

Comments

This is very timely, especially with the election of a Pope whose ancestry goes back to Europe. I am intrigued by this question of what makes Latin religious art quite derivative, or not at all.