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By Father Gonzalo Meza
Today's Catholic
More than 130 works of art were put together in an exhibition that is currently being presented in a historical building located in downtown Mexico City, “El Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso.” Many of these master pieces used to decorate or travel along with the missions in Northern New Spain; through them, it is possible to appreciate the intense work of evangelization of the first Spanish missionaries in the territories of Northern New Spain (nowadays part of Mexico and the United States). These art pieces talk by themselves about the work made by the Jesuits and Franciscans to establish missions and spread the faith in the New World. By 1750 there were hundred of missions in Northern New Spain. The process of starting a mission implied not only the construction of new buildings (church, monastery, granaries, etc.) but also the adornment of their inside. Therefore the missionary endeavor was accompanied also by the flowering of art. The result was a new expression in art, a cultural syncretism that left important traces for history that can be admired in this exhibition.
The exhibition will be in San Ildefonso, Mexico City, until Aug. 31. It will arrive to the San Antonio Museum of Art from Oct. 17, 2009 until Jan. 3, 2010. Then it will travel to Tijuana, Mexico; Oakland and Los Angeles.
Today’s Catholic correspondent Father Gonzalo Meza traveled to Mexico City and toured this impressive exhibition. Accompanying the tour were Paloma Porraz, executive coordinator of San Ildefonso; Eri Camara, M.A., and Bertha Cea, from the American Embassy in Mexico City, cosponsor of this exhibit.
Clara Bargellini Ph.D., professor of Art History at the National Autonomous University in Mexico City, is one of the curators of this exhibition. She talked exclusively to Father Meza and Today’s Catholic about “The Art of the Missions of Northern New Spain.”
TC: What is the purpose of this exhibit?
Bargellini: The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue grew out of a long standing fascination of the curators, myself and Michael Komanecky, for the missions of the United States and Mexico. Although many aspects of the history of the missions have been studied, very little attention had been paid to the paintings, sculptures and other objects that were sent to the missions or made there during the Spanish period. Many of these art works are of outstanding quality and interest, but they are also often in poor condition and at risk; so it was important to begin their systematic study in order to make them known to the public through an exhibition, which finally opened at San Ildefonso in Mexico City on April 15.
TC: How many sections you have in this exhibit? What are the main topics covered?
Bargellini: The exhibition begins with maps and the projection of large photographs of the mission sites and their architecture; it is accompanied by displays of some of the work of missionary linguists and cartographers, whose legacy is important for our knowledge of indigenous cultures. There are also colonial sculptures of the founders of the two principal missionary religious orders that worked in the region: Sts. Francis of Assisi and Ignatius of Loyola.
Franciscan friars took part in the first Spanish expeditions northward from Mexico City, and before the end of the century, they had established missions in New Mexico. In 1591 the Jesuits reached Sinaloa on the Pacific Coast, and began the establishment of a mission system that would eventually cover all of the northwest territories. When the Jesuits were expelled in 1767, the Franciscans remained as practically the only missionaries in the north. During this last stage of mission work, the leading role was taken by the friars who were trained in the schools of Propaganda Fide (the propagation of the faith). They substituted the Jesuits in many of the Sonora and the Tarahumara missions, and founded new missions in upper California (in the United States).
After this general introduction, the exhibition has a section with paintings and sculptures that express and explain the aspirations of the missionaries, and the nature of missionary work throughout the world. For example, a group of paintings and sculptures tell the story of St. Francis Xavier, the Jesuit who worked in Asia and was considered a model for missionaries everywhere. There are images of Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries in Asia represented in the persons of St. Philip of Jesus, and the Japanese Jesuit St. Paul Miki, martyred in Nagasaki in 1597. A couple of Franciscan paintings present, through allegory, their history as first missionaries in the New World; there are other canvases that depict stories of martyrdom, such as the one that tells of the destruction of mission San Sabá, Texas.
The next section begins with the second and main part of the exhibition, made exclusively of objects used at the missions. First of all, there are sculptures and paintings, mostly of the Virgin Mary, that can themselves be considered as missionaries. The Jesuits and Franciscan friars traveled both from Europe and Mexico City with images that were considered miraculous; they accompanied and protected them.
Then we have liturgical objects and representations used in religious celebrations. The liturgy was celebrated from the very beginning at the missions even before any kind of building was erected. Its regular and well-made celebration was an important concern for the missionaries. It was largely within liturgy and community celebrations that the acculturation processes developed between Europeans and Amerindians. Some objects, such as chalices, candles and vestments, were essential for any mission. Many of these objects were sent to the missions from Europe, Asia and, mostly, from Mexico City. However, others were designed at the missions by the new converts or by the settlers using local materials and techniques. Two videos are presented at this point, one is a documentary of the 2008 celebration at San Javier, Baja California Sur; it is the feast of its patron saint, Francis Xavier; the other video features the buildings, liturgical objects and paintings of Carmel Mission in California.
In the next section we have altarpieces that were shipped in parts from Mexico City and assembled at their final destinations; they were made of paintings with frames that imitated architectural ornament. In general, the paintings were imported from Mexico City, where some of the artists specialized in supplying pieces for the missions. We have for example, works at the missions made by Antonio de Torres, Miguel Cabrera, Francisco Martínez, Nicolás Rodríguez Juárez, and José de Páez. Metal and silver works were made at some of the missions; carpentry and sculpture were also designed at others. Local indigenous art traditions are also presented in the exhibition; it includes paintings from New Mexico and basketry made at the Chumash missions of California.
Finally, the exhibition displays works that are not fully restored in order to illustrate the plight of some of the missionary art. This last section also features photographs and videos that explain the process of conservation undertaken for the exhibition. Indeed, the preparation of the exhibition involved a lot of conservation work. In Mexico, this was carried out by the School for Conservation and Restoration of the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology; San Ildefonso also set up a workshop to take care of about half of the works presented; one of them had the sponsorship of the United States Embassy in Mexico. In the United States the restoration work was carried out in California and Texas; for example an important painting about the Last Judgment from Mission San Luis Rey in California was treated with funding from the Getty Foundation.
TC: When did you start to prepare the exhibit? What kind of work did it involve?
Bargellini: The entire process has involved a lot of work and cooperation from Mexico and the United States. The U.S. curator, Michael Komanecky, currently chief curator and interim director of the Farnsworth Museum in Maine, and me, began planning the exhibition and its catalogue over 10 years ago. We traveled to several missions in both countries, in order to see, evaluate the objects, and talk with mission’s personnel and colleagues. The authors that write the main essays for the catalogue met together at a seminar in 2005; it was sponsored by the School for American Research in Santa Fe, N.M. When San Ildefonso decided to take on the organization of the exhibition, two years ago, we started the last phase of the project; at this point the curators set to work with the museum staff, and the exhibition finally took shape. Despite the abandonment and destruction accumulated from many years, these objects leave us with wide open eyes because we contemplate in them the past and present realities, the contradictions, the hopes and the aspirations.