Notes on Latin American Colonial Painting: On Color

As part of my research and studio project I am currently studying Latin American colonial paintings particularly from the 18th century. There is much to be studied in this overlooked field. The work of many painters in the Spanish colonies besides being intriguing products of cultural imperialism, also stand out as primal models of  forged hybrid identites that still define our countries to this day.  There are two paintings that have caught my attention  The Virgin of Rosary by Puerto Rican Painter Jose Campeche and The Virgin of Guadalupe by Mexican Painter Sebastian Salcedo. The two are images of madonnas painted with virtually the same colors were also painted the same year (1779) . These visual links in history provide interesting hints on the pigments these painters used in their oil paintings. Here's a brief analysis of the colors they must have used.

 

 

We can see that Salcedo and Campeche's blues are very similar and in fact quite often we see this cool greenish hue blue in European and Latin American paintings from the 18th century. The pigment in question is Prussian blue, invented in the early 1700's. It is one of the first synthetic colors to be produced and it substituted the expensive Lapis lazuli. Jose Campeche is known to have used this pigment in his paintings. We can also see it widely used the work by Francisco Goya.

 

By the time of the conquest and colonization of the Americas, Europeans discovered a pigment extracted from the dried bodies of insects and was used by the Aztecs as a dye.  The insect is known as cochineal and the color they got from it was a beautiful alizarin carmine like deep red. Today it is used in cosmetics and food under the name of Red 40. This pigment was widely used as an oil pigment by the time Campeche and Salcedo were active so it is probable that they might have used it in their work. The pigment is known as Indian Lake or Carmine lake. Rose madder would be the other option. Today Alizarin Crimson or Quinacridone Red have far better lightfastness so they are recommended above the others.

Here's a very brief analysis of the colors used by Jose Campeche on this painting:

 

1. A mixture of Burnt Umber and white
2. Rose Madder and White
3. Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre and White
4. Yellow Ochr and white
5. Prussian Blue and a hint of Black
6. Raw Umber and White

Both  artists were using a very limited palette  like most painters in the Spanish colonies the selection most likely would include the following :

 

1. Lead White

2. Carbon Black

3. Raw Sienna

4. Burnt Sienna

5. Burnt Umber

6. Raw Umber

7. Yellow Ocher

8. Vermillion Red

9. Rose Madder (or some other deep red lake color)

10. Prussian Blue

 

Some variations to this list may be found but this seems to be the most common palette for the painters in the Americas by the 1700's. Most of these colors I already use in my work except for the blues and reds which I will adopt to emulate the late colonial visual language in order to communicate my ideas about neo-colonialism.  I hope to share more insights like this in future posts.

 

On the significance of the Tarot in art today

In recent years I've had a renewed interest in Tarot, Astrology and Alchemy and from what I can see I'm not the only artist finding deeper meaning and significance in these ancient mystical teachings when applied to art. As a figurative artist I am fascinated by archetypes and always see them come to life in film, literature and art. Each time I identify traits and qualities of any given character in film or painting and analyze his/her root archetype, I seem to get a better understanding of the overall narrative and how all the pieces fit together. The Tarot is an encyclopedia of archetypes and archetypes are like the abc's of story telling. They are the ingredients of what makes a particular story interesting.This is why I think Tarot is very significant for any visual artist involved in representational art and especially for those interested in symbolism and narratives in art.

22 Arcana Major from Tarot of Marseilles

The Tarot is a a pack of playing cards consisting of 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana (78 cards in total) used at least since the 15th century in Europe as a game, divination tool and educational device. In the 22 Major Arcana or trumps there are a series of images that represent different characters and situations that people from the Renaissance were very familiar with, such as "The Last Judgement" or "The Magician" or "the Fool". Today we can re-interpret these in many ways, from a humanistic, cultural, historic or esoteric point of view.  I find the archetypal approach to be the most useful. Archetypes are very open, dynamic transcending time and cultures. Even though they might mean slightly different things for any given culture or period their meaning in the end becomes universal. Take for example the card with no name, Arcana 13, also known as Death. The images in these cards could work as keys or guides to understanding almost about any narrative we could imagine in art today.

Arcana 13 from Della Rocca Tarot

As with alchemy, Tarot follows a process and sequence, starting with "The Fool" (materia prima) and ending with "The world" (The Philosopher's stone). As with astrology, each archetype can be both dark and light in meaning so they are double sided and ambiguous at the same time. For example "Death" is not neccesarily evil if we see it as an end of old things and a new beginning.  This potencial for multiples meanings makes the Tarot so contemporary. Archetypes are natural energies that follow the laws of the Universe and always have an important lesson to teach us.

Study of archetypes in Classical Mythology from one of my journals

In the following weeks I will be posting more on this topic as I am doing some research on it for my new project that involves Latin American Colonial Iconography in painting, Contemporary Global Issues and the 22 Major Arcana or 22  Major Archetypes found in the Tarot. So stay tuned... This will really get interesting as I explore each archetype and share my insights on my blog.

Starting a new project for 2012-13

This year has been a busy one so far. After having two solo shows one in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Santa Fe, New Mexico, travelling to Guatemala and El Salvador and coming back to my studio and completing two commissions I now feel ready to embark on a  new adventure. There has been a project occupying my mind for some years already. Since my thesis project and exhibition Iconsumer I have been sporadically inserting narratives related to the Tarot in my work.  The more I studied the archetypes present in the Tarot cards, the more captivated I've been by this elusive and mysterious imagery. I have been researching the hidden meaning behind these cards and even started my own collection of decks.  After working with Christian iconography, historical and mythological figures, which lead me to the study of archetypal astrology, it makes perfect sense to carefully study and see how I can incorporate the archetypes present in the Tarot into my work. It seems like the right time to concentrate completely and inmerse myself in this universe of archetypes while keeping the neo-colonial narratives very present in the work. By adding this extra layer of meaning I intend to enrich and expand the original discourse on how colonialism is still very active in our global age. I shall document my creative process not only in my personal journal but also in this blog. I hope to cover techniques, concepts and philosophy behind the images I will be working on. I have already made  sketches of all the cards and pinned these right in front of my work desk to serve as a map for my journey.  Everytime An idea comes to mind I write it down on one of the 22 sketches depending on with what card I think the idea would fit in or correspond. Each card will have a Christian Icon related in some way to the colonial iconography in Latin America and the original achetype used in the Tarot. I already started with  this preparatory drawing for my  first card of the Tarot: "The fool".

San Roque Illegal Alien