Viewing page 6 of 15

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[Image]]
Amado Pena-Big Faye with Sitar on a Warm August Afternoon
Collection the artist
On the Cover: Ray Chavez-Moon Song
Mr. and Mrs. Alva Stem Collection
[[Image]]
Michael Ponce de Leon-Countertrust
Brooklyn Museum
The Art of Mexican-America
by Dr. Jacinto Quirarte
Associate Professor of Art History in the college of Fine Arts at The University of Texas
The Mexican-American Artist is not difficult to identify in the 20th century. His parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents may have come originally from Mexico. He may have been born in Mexico himself but spent a good part of his life in the United States. He may be a first or a sixth generation American. The important thing is that somewhere there is a tie with Mexico or New Spain before that. Thus he is part American, part Mexican, and part Spanish. Which part plays the dominant role in his life depends upon many variables, all of which are tempered by his own talents and intelligence. The contributions that American artists of Mexican ancestry have made in the past are far more difficult to establish. In order to do this we have to determine exactly when and how this identify was assumed. When do we begin to speak of Mexican-Americans and not Mexicans or Spaniards? The dates of exploration, conquest, and evangelization by the Spaniards of the lands and peoples now comprising Mexico and parts of the United States took place between 1521 and 1821. The 19th century saw far-reaching and rapid political change take place: First, the independence of Mexico declared in 1810 and attained in 1821; then its fragmentation with part of its northern frontier (Texas) breaking away in 1835; and finally the loss within 10 years of the area now comprising the American states of New Mexico, part of Colorado, Arizona, and California. It is proper, then, to speak of the peoples living in these areas at the time of the American conquest as Mexican-Americans? Technically, this would be correct, even though the area had been under Spanish control for a much longer period of time. Obviously, these designations based solely on national distinctions are only part of the picture. Those who settled and built the first missions in the American Southwest were New Spaniards; these were the same people who later became Mexicans and then Americans. The first mission in the Southwest was established some 30 miles north of Santa Fe on July 11, 1598. Within the next 30 years 43 other missions were built. One of the most impressive of these is San Estevan Mission in Acoma New Mexico. Missions in Texas and Arizona were inaugurated in 1690. Major examples are San Jose (1720-31), whose architect and sculptor was Pedro Huizar, and Purisma Concepcion (1731), both in San Antonio, and San Xavier de Bac (1784-97) in Tucson. The 20 missions of California were founded between 1769 and 1823. The artisans who worked during this initial period are called santeros, or makers of santos, Spanish for saints. This is a reference to a carved or  painted representation of holy persons, not exclusively restricted to saints. The Holy Family and the Crucifixion as well as saints were represented either in figures in the round called bultos, or painted on altarpieces or other panels, called retablos. Bultos made of cottonwood were assembled with dowels, never with nails, and then painted in red, yellow, blue, and green. The small wooden panels or retablos usually made
[[3]]