Puerto Rico Artist / Art in Puerto Rico

Mike Hernandez Blog: Puerto Rican Primitive Artist

http://www.puertoricoartist.com/


Saints and Religious Art in Puerto Rico

The carving of santos has a long tradition in Puerto Rico where santeros, or saint-makers, trace their craft to the sixteenth century. Traditionally, these small portable figures were created by self-taught rural carvers whose figures were revered as manifestations of the saints’ spirit and as objects of devotion. Today’s carvers represent a link to Puerto Rico's past and are appreciated as living symbols of the island’s cultural heritage.

Santos, an especially beloved form of folk art, evolved from the Spanish church's use of sculptures to convert indigenous Puerto Ricans to Christianity. Meaning "saints" in Spanish, santos depict figures of saints and other religious icons. Families continue to pass this centuries-old craft down from generation to generation. The artisans, called santeros, create santos from native wood, clay, and stone. After shaping simple effigies, they often finish by painting them in vivid colors. Santos vary in size, with the smallest examples around eight inches tall and the largest about twenty inches tall. Traditionally, santos were seen as messengers between the earth and Heaven. As such, they occupied a special place on household altars, where people prayed to them, asked for help, or tried to summon their protection.

Syncretism

While the basic cult in the Island and its sacraments were definitely the domain of the priests and official Catholicism during the early years of the conquest, the cult of personages (especially Mary and the saints) were open to folk interpretations and practices or rituals. Among folk Catholics it was the saints who received the greatest adoration.

Saints were venerated at domestic altars as well as in church. The official church could no more control the worship of these saints among the common people than it could the distribution of the saints’ images or paraphernalia upon which so much of folk Catholicism depended.

The popular religious concept of sainthood associated with miracles was a major area of experience from the past of both white and black Spanish settlers. In the New World this Folk religion adapted itself with Española ecological conditions and the Afro-Taino-creole culture. Deive distinguished two Catholic religions in colonial Santo Domingo: one rural associated with the plantation and the ranching system and the other urban, organized by white and black cofradias. The veneration of the saints by African slaves is by structural and ideological analogy, that which allowed the black population to maintain alive their African deities, and consequently reinforce ethnical and cultural solidarity.

See image : Macumba / Mike Hernandez / http://www.puertoricoartist.com/Macumba.htm


Religious Arts in the History

Jose campeche (1751-1809), was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Campeche is the first known Puerto Rican artist and considered by many as one of the best rococo artists in the Americas.

Perhaps the strongest Spanish influence on Puerto Rican arts was in painting. During the colonial period, native-born painters emulated classic European styles. The first of these artists to gain international acclaim, José Campeche, learned techniques from both his father, who was also a painter, and exiled Spanish artist Luis Paret. His work concentrated on religious themes and portraits of important citizens in Spanish Rococo style. Still regarded as the most important 18th century painter in the Americas, Campeche is also credited with creating Puerto Rican national painting.

Campeche was born to Tomás Campeche, a freed slave born in Puerto Rico, and María Jordán Marqués from the Canary Islands. Because of this mixed descent, he was identified as a mulatto, a common term during his time. Campeche's father was a restorer and painter of religious statues and had an early influence on the younger Campeche's interest in the arts. He was trained by Luis Paret, a Spanish court painter banished from Spain.

Since Campeche was fascinated by religious paintings, many of his 400 works were for churches.

To be continued......