Golden brocades and voluptuous fabrics are a characteristic visual feature of Spanish American art.
Painted Cloth: Fashion and Ritual in Colonial Latin America addresses the social roles of textiles and their visual representations in different media produced in Bolivia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela during the 1600s and 1700s. Beyond emphasizing how aesthetic traditions of European and Indigenous origin were woven together during this period, the exhibition showcases the production, use, and meaning of garments as well as the ways they were experienced both in civil and religious settings.
Additional Reading
Delve deeper into details featured in the show by reading our blog post The Unusual and Ravishing: Beauty Marks, Cochineal, and Prints Galore by Daniel Ymbong.
Join the conversation on social using #PaintedClothATX
“Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple,” Cusco, 18th century, oil and gold on canvas,37 13/16× 51 1/2 in.,Collection of Carl & Marilynn Thoma
“Ecstasy of Mary Magdalene,” Cusco, 18th century, oil and gold on canvas, 211/4 × 263/4in., Colección Barbosa Stern, Lima
“Tunic (Uncu),” circa 17th century, camelid fiber, silk, metallic thread, 26 3/4 x 31 in., Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Ernest Erickson Foundation, Inc.
Attributed to Pedro Díaz, “Rosa de Salazar y Gabiño, Countess of Monteblanco and Montemar,” Lima, circa 1770–1780, oil on canvas, 37 x 29 3/4 in., Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Purchase through the generosity of Jeanne and Michael Klein in honor of Marilynn Thoma, 2019
“De Lobo y Negra, Chino,” Mexico City, circa 1775, oil on copper, 14 3/16 × 18 7/8 in., Museo de América, Madrid (photo: Javier Rodríguez)
Woman’s dress and petticoat (“robe à la française”), England, circa 1770, silk plain weave (“faille”) with metallic thread supplementary-weft patterning and metallic thread bobbin lace, r”obe à la française” center back length 52 5/8 in.; petticoat center back length 33 5/8 in., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Costume Council Fund (photo: © Museum Associates/LACMA)
“Nuestra Señorade Belén con un donante [Our Lady of Bethlehem with a Donor],” Cusco, 18th century, oil with gold leaf on canvas, 105 1/4 x 73 x 2 1/2 in., Collection of the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation
Previous Programs
Press
Al Día, Learning From Spanish Colonial Art
Antiques & The Arts Weekly, Painted Cloth: Fashion and Ritual in Colonial Latin America
BBC, The 18th-Century clothing that reveals hidden truths
Hyperallergic, The Complex Fashion History of Colonial America
The Daily Texan, Blanton Museum Opens Exhibition on Spanish American Textiles
Wall Street Journal, Power Dressing in Spanish Colonial America
Credit
Painted Cloth: Fashion and Ritual in Colonial Latin America is organized by Rosario I. Granados, Marilynn Thoma Associate Curator, Art of the Spanish Americas at the Blanton Museum of Art.
Lead funding for this exhibition and accompanying catalogue is provided by the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation and a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom, with additional support from the Scurlock Foundation Exhibition Endowment.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.