Transformative Performances of National Identity: Bolivian Art and Cultural Expressions.
About the Event:
The region of what is present day Bolivia during colonial times was the seat of the highest judicial body of the Viceroyalty of Peru, called the Audiencia de Charcas, which derives its name from the name of the city in which it was located (now the city of Sucre, the capital of Bolivia), which was also the seat of the Archbishopric. Charcas was the administrative center that administered the fabulous wealth of the Cerro Rico de Potosí for the Spanish Crown, the world’s largest silver deposit that has been mined continuously since the 16th century, located next to the city of Potosí, Bolivia. Its silver production financed the Spanish Crown until the end of its colonial rule and indirectly much of the industrialization of Western Europe. The arrival of the Europeans to the Americas brought the concepts, techniques and fashions of Spanish, Flemish and Italian art. These were used by the Spanish Conquest for the conversion of the indigenous people to Catholicism, by means of the production of images, initially for the devotional practices of the European immigrants and later of the entire population of the Colony, and also for the embellishment of churches. The skill of the local and indigenous artists in replicating European paintings produced some of the most important Bolivian colonial artists of the time: Melchor Pérez de Holguín, Gaspar Miguel del Berrío and Leonardo Flores, to name a few. The value of the contributions made by these artists is highlighted in a précis of the history of Bolivian Colonial Art to be found in a comprehensive catalogue edited by Suzanne Stratton-Pruitt entitled, The Art of Painting in Colonial Bolivia (Philadelphia: Saint Joseph’s University Press, 2017). At the end of the panel there will be a short presentation in honor of renown art historian and critic, Teresa Gisbert.
About the Speakers:
Carlos Mesa, Historian and former Vice-President and President of the Republic of Bolivia
Suzanne L. Stratton-Pruitt, Curator, Spanish and Latin American colonial art
Marcus Burke, (Moderator) Senior Curator, The Hispanic Society of America
About Transformative Performances of National Identity: Bolivian Art and Cultural Expressions:
This is a seven panel virtual series that will provide a historical overview of Bolivia’s artistic and cultural production. A group of Bolivian artists and intellectuals will trace the history and art of this South American country.
Transformative Representations of National Identity: Bolivian Art and Cultural Expressions is open and free to the public. Please click on this link to access registration for all panels https://www.eventbrite.com/o/carolina-scarborough-33772654223. At the conclusion of the series, the panels will also be available to the public on social media platforms.
Funders
The series of virtual panels, Transformative Performances of National Identity: Bolivian Art and Cultural Expressions, is made possible by generous funds from The Fundación Simón I. Patiño in Geneva, The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University, The Bolivian American Chamber of Commerce in New York, Roberta & Richard Huber, and two anonymous donors.
Special thanks to George Ruiz, Fréderic Debray, Ignacio Oficialdelgui, Jill Lane, Omar Dauhaujer, Iván Rebolledo, James Huber, María Eugenia de Asín, Rita del Solar, Ingvar Elleffsen, Elizabeth Elder, Alejandra Prado, Bryan Rosado, Sharon Schultz, and Edward J. Sullivan.