El Favor de los Santos
Traveling exhibition to showcase
NMSU's
retablo
collection
| La Sagrada Familia, the Holy Family. Our Lady of
Guadalupe,
the
Dark Virgin. La Mano Poderosa, the Powerful Hand. The images of
hope and
faith have graced countless home altars in Mexico and the Southwest United
States.
Known as retablos, these small oil paintings of religious
figures, usually on tin, have obvious links to the strong Catholicism of
the Spanish explorers who colonized vast areas of the New World. But they
also have roots in pre-Columbian culture, according to scholars who are
taking a closer look at the art form.
A major exhibition being prepared by the New Mexico State
University Art Gallery aims to show as never before the complex cultural
context of the retablo. "El Favor de los Santos: The Retablo
Collection
of
New Mexico State University" opens Nov. 21 at the University Art Gallery
and remains on display there through Feb. 7, 2000. After that, the
exhibition will travel for three years to museums in Mexico and the United
States. | 
Retablo:
From
the Latin
retro tabulum, meaning "behind the (altar)
table." |
It is the most comprehensive exhibition to date on the subject of
the 19th century Mexican retablo, says gallery Director Charles Lovell. It
will feature 180 retablos and related works from the gallery's collection
of more than 1,700 pieces - the largest public collection of Mexican
retablos in the country - plus 75 works of art borrowed from institutions
such as the Museo Franz Mayer and the National Museum of Anthropology,
both in Mexico City.
"The intent is to show the relationship of retablos to other forms
of votive art from pre-Columbian times to the present," Lovell said.
The Aztecs, for instance, mass produced images of gods that were
venerated in households before the arrival of the Spanish. One of the
installations in "El Favor de los Santos" will be a recreation of
an
Aztec
household altar. Other installations that will help explain the retablo
tradition include a baroque painted altarpiece, showing the European
influence; a typical 19th century bedroom shrine from Mexico; and a
contemporary altar, showing how the tradition continues today.
Although derived from a variety of sources, the retablos are
distinctly Mexican.
The country's art, "like Mexican culture in general ... must be understood
as a separate, distinct phenomenon, related to Spanish culture in many
ways but just as often finding its own values," wrote Marcus B. Burke,
curator of painting at the Hispanic Society of America in New York.
"Nowhere is this more apparent than in the rich and varied imagery of the
santos and retablos."
Burke is one of a dozen scholars whose essays will appear in a
300-page, full-color catalog for "El Favor de los Santos." He and
others
who have studied the NMSU retablo collection will share their research at
a symposium Dec. 13 and 14, sponsored by the University Art Gallery and
the NMSU Honors Program. The symposium coincides with the annual Tortugas
festival in Las Cruces, which features practices related to the retablo
tradition, including a 12-mile procession with images of the Virgin of
Guadalupe to the top of Tortugas Mountain, commonly known as "A" Mountain.
Total expenses for the exhibition are expected to be more than
$800,000. The University Art Gallery has raised about $300,000 so far,
including a $60,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation Museum Program,
to be used for archival framing and educational materials. Other major
support has come from the U.S./Mexico Fund for Culture, the Stockman
Family Foundation, the New Mexico Office of Cultural Affairs and the New
Mexico Arts Division.
Lovell's co-curators for "El Favor de los Santos" are
Elizabeth
Zarur, assistant professor of art history at NMSU; Elin Luque, director of
plastic arts, Casa Lamm, Mexico City, Mexico; and Michele Beltran,
director of exhibitions, Papalote Museo del Nino, Mexico City, Mexico.
The retablos in the University Art Gallery collection were donated
between the years 1963 and 1973 by Dr. and Mrs. Andrew Babey, Pamela
Babey, Mr. and Mrs. Philip Carolyn, Dr. Reginald Fisher, Dr. and Mrs. Ezra
Neidich, Andrew Sutherland and Fran E. Tolland.
Karl Hill
Showings scheduled far and wide
"El Favor de los Santos: The Retablo Collection of New Mexico State
University" will open at the University Art Gallery on Nov. 21 and remain
on display there through Feb. 7, 2000. After that the exhibition will
travel to major museums in Mexico and the United States:
Museo de Historia Mexicana, Monterrey, Mexico, March 18 to June 7, 2000.
Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico, July 7 to Sept. 15, 2000.
Museo Franz Meyer, Mexico City, Mexico, Oct. 15, 2000, to Jan. 31, 2001.
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, Calif., March 1 to May 31, 2001.
Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Chicago, Ill., July to September 2001.
Queens Museum, Queens, N.Y., November 2001 to January 2002 (tentative).
University of Miami Lowe Art Museum, Miami, Fla., Feb. 13 to April 6,
2002.
Gallery
director
achieving
goals
with help
from friends
Charles M. Lovell, director of the New Mexico State University Art
Gallery, came to NMSU more than four years ago ready to accomplish goals
he believed would make the gallery more successful.
Photo
by Michael Kiernan | "My major goal
when I came here was to increase the
professionalism of the art gallery," Lovell said. He wanted to increase
the quality of exhibitions, enhance the gallery's educational programs and
supplement the gallery's relatively small operating budget with funds from
major donors. "I feel like we've been very successful in achieving these
goals," he said.
In 1998, under Lovell's direction, the gallery received a $120,000
grant from the Stockman Family Foundation and $60,000 in 1999 from the
Rockefeller Foundation in addition to several other substantial grants. He
also has been able to bring in several high-quality exhibitions and expand
the gallery's educational outreach programs. |
Lovell said that the 20-member board of trustees of the Friends of
the Gallery organization, a non-profit group that supports the gallery
through donations and by volunteering, is a major help. "These are leading
community members who assist the art gallery by fund raising and also
being liaisons with the community."
When Lovell came to NMSU, there were about 20 members of Friends
of the Gallery. Now there are more than 200. "It's a wonderful
organization," Lovell said.
To join Friends of the Gallery or for information about upcoming
exhibits call (505) 646-2545.
Armando Arrieta
