Puerto Rican Art

Puerto Rican Art

Historically, Puerto Rico is only 512 years old. The island was discovered on November 19, 1493 by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the New World. On the island he found Taino Indians living there. Juan Ponce de León came to the island in 1508 as its first governor. In 1521, the city of San Juan was established.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Puerto Rico was attacked by the Dutch and English, Spain’s enemies. The island was struggling to attain economical stability by raising cattle and farming on a small scale. By the end of the nineteenth century, Puerto Rico had grown considerably socially, economically, and politically. The Cédula de Gracias of 1815 offered many incentives and advantages the immigrants of the new Latin American republics. Puerto Rico became a sugar exporting colony. After the Spanish-American War in 1898, Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain to the United States. In 1917, Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens and adopted the Commonwealth state in 1952.

Although Puerto Rico is relatively young artistically, it has gone through major cultural changes, first with the Spanish conquest, and then with the United States and other immigrant groups. The artistic production of painters and craftsmen, through these not yet five hundred years, reflect these cultural shocks.

Puerto Rico, like the United States, is a land of immigrants. It is presently in the process of establishing a cultural statement. Because of the diversity of its inhabitants, no statement of a unified artistic expression can be made. In earlier times, the discovery, the colonization period, and later some stability in the nineteenth century, the artistic production was basically unified, that is, it portrayed Puerto Rico through single statements, its people, its vegetation, eminent politicians, religious beliefs, etc.

The contemporary artists have expressed their ideas in more complex and stylized ways. This is not saying that the earlier works were primitive or archaic. It simply means that the times demand different artistic visions of what the Puerto Rican reality is now. Art will provide some explanation and insight into the life and reality of our people.

The Taino Indians

The Taino Indians had been living in Puerto Rico for hundreds of years when the Spaniard conquerors arrived in the fifteenth century. They w...

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...island. Castor Ayala is the maximum exponent of this craft. Other crafts from coconut shells are also made here. The African influence is heard in music and through handmade musical instruments.

The influence of the Indian, Spanish, and African heritage’s is also reflected to various degrees in the pottery and clay figures made today on the island. Puerto Rico’s present day crafts are many and varied, and there are craft fairs celebrated on the island for everyone to enjoy.

Resources:

Magaly Rivera “Welcome to Puerto Rico!”

http://welcome.topuertorico.org/index.shtml

Irvine R. MacManus, Jr. “Taíno Treasures The Legacy of Dr. Ricardo E. Alegría”

http://ca80.lehman.cuny.edu/gallery/taino_treasures/macmanus_essay.htm

Bob Corbett “Pre-Columbian Hispaniola - Arawak/Taino Indians”

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43a/100.html

“Puerto Rican Painters”

http://www.angelfire.com/art2/puerto_rican_artists/

Cecil Marie Cancel “¡Bienvenidos a la página de nuestro pintor, José Campeche!”

http://members.tripod.com/~josecampeche/

Mari Carmen Ramírez “Modern and Contemporary Puerto Rican Artists Francisco Oller”

http://www.zenstudio.com/pr/artists/oller/oller.htm