New York’s Hispanic Society Returns after Four-year Closure with Brilliant Exhibition, ‘Gilded Figures: Wood and Clay Made Flesh’
By Laine Capshaw
A whirlwind of laborious renovations led to the closure of the Upper West Side’s New York Hispanic Society in 2017. Opening its doors on the fifteenth of October for the first time in over four years with a soft opening of its eastern gallery, the Hispanic Society does not fail to dazzle with its watershed exhibition titled ‘Gilded Figures: Wood and Clay Made Flesh.’
A small exhibition consisting of around twenty pieces, ‘Gilded Figures’ serves as an investigation into the rich output of religious sculpture from the Hispanic World between the years 1500 and 1800.
The exhibit moves sequentially from the late Gothic to Baroque periods and highlights two important factors often overlooked in exhibitions that reflect Spanish and Latin American art: the stylistic impact of Spanish artistic convention on that of Latin American art of the same period, and the prominence and talent of women artists as well as other Spanish and Latin American artists that may have been overlooked in contemporary art historical thought.
Curators of the exhibition at the Hispanic Society sought to use this exhibition to not only display the high quality of Spanish and Latin American cultural output with respect to sculpture, but also its uniqueness. Where the neoclassical sculpture of Renaissance high rollers Greece and Italy produced in this period remain bare and devoid of color, Spain acts as a maverick with regard to adding color to her religious sculptural work.
Andrea de Mena, Mater dolorosa and Ecce homo (1675). Photo courtesy of the Hispanic Society of America.
One of the woman artists exhibited is Andrea de Mena, daughter of prominent artist Pedro de Mena. Completed in 1675, two polychrome painted sculptures of Christ and the Virgin Mary are the only two works confirmed to be by de Mena and are the definitive standout pieces of the exhibition. Further exploration of the history of her career suggests that her work may be much more prevalent than we currently assume.
Luisa Roldán, Rest on the Flight into Egypt (ca. 1692–1706). Photo courtesy of the Hispanic Society of America.
Luisa Roldán actively sculpted during the overlapping Baroque and ‘Golden’ eras of Spanish cultural history and reached high status during her lifetime as Royal Sculptor. Carved into terracotta, Rest on the Flight to Egypt is a vividly colorful and textural work that narrates this New Testament story. The piece itself accounts for the elite level of craftsmanship and skill expected of the artistic production by the Spanish Catholic Church.
Attributed to Manuel Chili, known as Caspicara. Ecuador, The Four Fates of Man: Death; Soul in Heaven; Soul in Purgatory; Soul in Hell (ca. 1775). Photo courtesy of the Hispanic Society of America.
Another highlight of the exhibition is a series of four chilling, macabre sculptures by Ecuadorian sculptor Caspicara, titled The Four Fates of Man. These small sculptures reflect a stoic belief in Roman Catholicism and its spread between Spain and Latin America via historic transatlantic diaspora. Attributed to being the most dramatic assembly of sculptures in the show, technical care and extreme attention to detail classify Caspicara’s artistic practice.
The exhibition is on display until the ninth of January 2022. Guided immersive tours and events related to the show can be found on the New York Hispanic Society website.
Bibliography
Hispanic Society Museum and Library. “Gilded Figures: Wood and Clay Made Flesh.” Accessed 30th October, 2021. https://hispanicsociety.org/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/gilded-figures-wood-and-clay-made-flesh/
Cascone, Sarah. “With a Knockout Show of Vividly Painted Religious Sculptures, New York’s Hispanic Society Comes Back to Life After a Four-Year Closure.” Artnet, 27th October 2021. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/hispanic-society-reopening-2026030