Noticias
A second exhibition that the MET dedicates in 27 years to our country after Mexico: Splendors of 30 centuries
Opening of the exhibition Cristóbal de Villalpando. Mexican painter of the Baroque at the MET in New York
July 25, 2017The great exhibition Cristóbal de Villalpando. Mexican painter of the Baroque was opened at the MET, New York with 11 pieces of public and private collections, including the canvas Moses and the bronze serpent and the Transfiguration of Jesus, a 28-foot-tall work painted by the 17th century artist at the age of 34 for the Puebla Cathedral.
Secretary of Culture, María Cristina García Cepeda, presided over the opening of this exhibition along with Daniel Weiss, president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York; Cándida Fernández, director of Fomento Cultural Banamex; and Michael Corbat, CEO of Citigroup.
María Cristina García Cepeda said that this exhibition confirms the Government of Mexico’s commitment and the President of the Republic, Enrique Peña Nieto in the preservation of Mexico’s artistic heritage, talking to the world, approaching nations through culture, connecting peoples and enriching us as human beings.
She said that Cristóbal de Villalpando. Mexican painter of the baroque shows Mexico’s artistic richness, born out of the indigenous cultures, the way how the European influence was absorbed, the prodigious mixture of races, creative languages and the diversity that defines us.
She celebrated that for the first time the monumental canvas of the Puebla Cathedral, Moses and the bronze serpent and the Transfiguration of Jesus, restored by a group of Mexican and American specialists, are presented as a gesture of friendship with the MET that boasts a prestigious history of almost a century and a half together with the visiting public.
The Secretary of Culture reminded that Cristóbal de Villalpando is considered the most important baroque painter of New Spain for his originality, technical mastery, innovative vision, color and richness of shades. The color explosion of his altarpieces, murals and oils, remains in the temples and convents of Mexico and his genius created jewels of the novohispano time safeguarded by the institutions of culture.
"The MET’s large public coming from all over the world, will be able to appreciate Villalpando’s work finding in it human hope, the novohispano colors and the look of the mestizaje; that mixture of cultures is expressed in art to reflect life. You will find one of the many ways to understand Mexico and a creator who touched the sky with his brushes”.
This is the 2nd exhibition that the MET dedicates to our nation since 1990, when Mexico: Splendors of 30 centuries was presented, that explains the initial period of Cristóbal de Villalpando’s creative life, when he painted the enormous canvases of the sacristy of the Puebla Cathedral where the works, Epiphany and The sweet name of Maria stand out.
The Secretary of Culture said that the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, receives a Mexican artistic treasure, reason why the Government of Mexico prides itself to contribute valuable works from its artistic collections to this exhibition.
The exhibition addresses Villalpando’s madurity period, with his cathedral works such as Moses and the bronze serpent and the Transfiguration of Jesus (1683), which allowed him to improve his style and use of color.
Finally, the visitor can see the works belonging to the first years of the 18th century like the Annunciation (1706), which show a mature painter, owner of his own language, who combines experience with the pleasure of painting, willing to venture In experiments of light and color.
The exhibition was curated by Jonathan Brown, Professor of Fine Arts at New York University; Ronda Kasl, curator of the Department of Latin American Colonial Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Clara Bargellini, Rogelio Ruiz Gomar and Pedro Ángeles Jiménez, specialists of the Institute of Esthetic Research of the UNAM. The overall coordination of the project was carried out by Cándida Fernández de Calderón, director of Fomento Cultural Banamex.
Accompanying the exhibition, a catalog was published in Spanish and English concerning the works and periods to which the works belong, in addition to including photographs that detail the symbols of each one of them.
Cristóbal de Villalpando. Mexican painter of the Baroque has been possible thanks to the support of Citibanamex and Diez Morodo Foundation, in collaboration with the Department of Foreign Affairs, through the Mexican Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AMEXCID, for its acronym in Spanish), the General Consulate of Mexico in New York and the National Institute of Anthropology and History. It will be on view until October 15th at the Robert Lehman wing of the MET, New York.
Mexico,Distrito Federal
