This work is an example of the classic iconography of the Madonna and Child, with the Virgin Mary holding the Baby Jesus on her lap. Both are shown holding the rosary beads in an exquisitely simple composition.
The Blessed Virgin and Child appear before St. Simon in a work that follows in the tradition of religious iconography dedicated to portraying the visions of saints. This work is presumed to be a copy of a Flemish or Italian prayer cards or stamps.
In this rendition of the Immaculate Conception, the Virgin is shown surrounded by clouds while standing over a crescent moon. 14 Cherubs present before her various offerings, like a palm leaf and a lily. This painting belonged to the Power Family whose descendant, Ramón Power y Giralt, became the first Puerto Rican to represent the Island in the Cadiz Courts (1810-1813).
Santa Teresa de Jesús is depicted here as a Doctor of the Church, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, as represented by a white dove. The work is a portrait –and not a copy– of a prayer card. To create this portrait Campeche used the description of the Saint’s features as described by Friar Diego de Yepez, the Saint’s confessor.
San José (Saint Joseph) is depicted holding the hand of the Child Christ. In his left hand, he holds a staff with flowers on the upper end. The artist adds other religious symbols, such as the cross, which is being carried by cherubs.
In this version of a Pietá , the Virgin is shown with the dead Christ’s head laid across her knees, with the walled city of Jerusalem depicted on her right-hand side. This composition is a copy of a prayer card or stamp, showing Christ being taken down from the cross.
Campeche paints a version of La Virgen de la Merced (Virgin of Mercy) in a composition that includes two kneeling figures, a free man and a shackled prisoner, on each side of the Blessed Mother, both receiving a scapular from the hand of the Blessed Child and Mother respectively.
The Virgin holds Baby Jesus on her lap with a halo of twelve stars that crowns her head. The painting, which is a copy from a prayer card or stamp, carries the following signature: “José Campeche p.t 1793”.
Campeche depicts the Blessed Mother in a way that upholds the values of modesty that were commonplace at the time, covering the breast of the nursing Mother with a “purity cloth”. Throughout his career the artist reproduced this image many times, as these specific works were considered miraculous, leading to numerous commissions by devotees.
An incredibly dramatic piece, the Virgin Mother and San Juan (St. John the Evangelist) stand on each one of Jesus’ sides, while a visibly affected Mary Magdalene clings to the cross.
Campeche depicts San Juan( St. John the Baptist) as a young shepherd holding a cross with his left hand and a shell on his right. In the foreground we can see a lamb, which symbolizes the Agnus Dei or the Lamb of God.
This representation of the Lamb of God is shown laying over a book with seven golden seals. Until 1935, the painting was part of a door in the Convent of the Carmelite Nuns. This image was used as the source of inspiration behind the national emblem of Puerto Rico.
This scene was made during one of Oller’s visits to France. Throughout this work, Oller plays with a wide range of greens in the vegetation and the reds in the roofing of the house; a palette brought forth by the sheer natural light that bathes the scene he has chosen to depict.
The decision behind the artist’s chosen theme was heavily influenced by Oller’s stay in Madrid, Spain. The work shows a woman riding horseback while waving a red cape in order to provoke a bull.
In this landscape, Oller depicts the topography of the rural countryside of the Island through a painting peppered with some interesting details like the little house in the background and the trails that lead to the top of the hill, making for a rich composition.
Oller executes an exquisite still-life that pays particular attention to detail. In this work, we can see Oller’s mastery of the genre; from the precision with which he depicts the chunks of the skin of the pineapple as they lay on the white table cloth, to the shadow of the bottle of wine.
It’s Oller’s skillful use of the light that which makes the texture of the fruit stand out in this piece. Among the fruit chosen for this composition is the Mamey, a fruit native to the New World, which the artist shows cut into slices along with its skin.
This is an unfinished work by Oller which consists of a simple schematic drawing of the subject. The importance of this work befalls on the opportunity it offers to study the creative process of the artist.
The portrait’s subject, Don Manuel, is depicted in a seating position with a mountainous landscape in the background, along with the inclusion of two paintings which add dimension to the artwork.
Pérez García’s technique of printmaking acts as a metaphor of the violence her subjects endure. The carved wood is obliterated into pigment to create the final image.
Marta Pérez García
The title of the piece confronts the viewer with a historical reality within the Americas in which many persons have disappeared and are presumed dead, their bodies never being recovered.
Marta Pérez García
The emphasis on the US flag within the work's composition, as part of the body of a being that seems to prey on the suffering, white-clad central figure, signals a certain adjudication of responsibility.
Marta Pérez García
The figure is enveloped by the immense wingspan of the sinister creature. Could this be a reference to Operation Condor, the US-backed campaign of political repression and state terror that also resulted in thousands of disappearances in the Southern Cone of South America?
Marta Pérez García
In this case, the disappeared refer to those lost at sea on the journey from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico, in hopes of eventually making their way to the United States. Beginning in the 1960s, very prominently during the 1990s, and peaking in the year 2000, a great number of Dominican immigrants arrived in Puerto Rico for political, economic, and social reasons.
Marta Pérez García
'In Praise of the Disappeared' by Marta Pérez García
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See it allMelvin Martínez (b. San Juan, Puerto Rico 1976) is a Puerto Rican painter deeply invested in the history and materiality of his medium, producing mixed media paintings, as well as sculptures and installations about painting itself.
Melvin Martínez
The painting is titled after a housing complex built in 1965 in the town of Carolina, Puerto Rico. Jardines de Country Club, or Country Club Gardens, was an extension of the urban development called Country Club that sold middle class upward mobility dreams.
Melvin Martínez
Martínez references the optics of Pointillism, the anarchy of Abstract Expressionism, the resplendence of Color Field painting and the embodied summons of gestural abstraction.
Melvin Martínez
Patches of glitter, stenciled decorative motifs, geometric shapes, lines and dripping spray paint complete the composition.
Melvin Martínez
Martínez's work engages with kitsch and pop via his use of materials and their applications. Some works might even seem decadent in their lushness.
Melvin Martínez
The surface of this large-scale canvas appears frosted, at once irresistible and grotesque. More than a formal exercise, Jardines de Country Club establishes a link between the aesthetics of the painting and the aspirations of mid-century middle class Puerto Ricans.
Melvin Martínez