Discursive Capabilities of Contemporary Artistic Practices in Honduras Gustavo Larach
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University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Art & Art History ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations 7-1-2015 Discursive Capabilities of Contemporary Artistic Practices in Honduras Gustavo Larach Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/arth_etds Recommended Citation Larach, Gustavo. "Discursive Capabilities of Contemporary Artistic Practices in Honduras." (2015). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/arth_etds/5 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Art & Art History ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i Gustavo Larach Candidate Art & Art History Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Kirsten Pai Buick Co-chair Kency Cornejo Co-chair Erica Segre Szu-Han Ho ii Discursive Capabilities of Contemporary Artistic Practices in Honduras iii Gustavo Larach BA, Industrial Engineering, Universidad de San Pedro Sula, 1996 BFA, Art History, Massachusetts College of Art & Design, 2000 MA, Art History, University of New Mexico, 2010 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Art History The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico July, 2015 iv For David Craven, in memoriam v Many thanks to Erica Segre Kency Cornejo Kirsten Pai Buick and Szu-Han Ho vi Discursive Capabilities of Contemporary Artistic Practices in Honduras by Gustavo Larach BA, Industrial Engineering, Universidad de San Pedro Sula, 1996 BFA, Art History, Massachusetts College of Art & Design, 2000 MA, Art History, University of New Mexico, 2010 PhD, Art History, University of New Mexico, 2015 ABSTRACT My dissertation constitutes a descriptive and interpretative analysis of modern and contemporary artistic practices in Honduras. This analysis is carried out comparatively, contrasting mainly the formative decades of Honduran “modernism” (1920s-40s) against the last 15 years of artistic production. Along this diachronic strategy, my interpretation of these processes is anchored in detailed accounts of the socio-historical durations that bear upon them. For each case, at least one case study is developed thoroughly, elucidating thus the dialectic entwinement of art and history. For such purpose, the modes of production and reception entailed by the practices of Arturo López Rodezno (active 1940s-1960s) and Lucy Argueta (active 2005-present) are read in close relation to the social historical processes in which they are incrusted. It thus becomes apparent how some practices, like that of López Rodezno, deny social history and contemporary realities, and others, like that Argueta, prompt participation in making sense of contemporary history, even while artists are too diffident or market-oriented to openly acknowledge meaning. vii Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 1 ONE: A CRITIQUE OF HONDURAN MODERNISM ................................................................. 13 THE MYTH OF A HONDURAN MODERNISM ................................................................................................ 14 A PERVERSE INDIGENISM ................................................................................................................................ 20 López Rodezno & ENBA ............................................................................................................................ 21 Maya Motifs ........................................................................................................................................................ 27 An Artistic Agenda to Glorify the Dictator .......................................................................................... 50 TWO: OFFICIAL “FINE ART” VERSUS VERNACULAR PHOTOGRAPHIC DISCOURSE IN CONTEMPORARY HONDURAS ................................................................... 52 ENBA TODAY ....................................................................................................................................................... 53 Discourses about art at the ENBA ........................................................................................................ 54 Art Students at a Historical Juncture ................................................................................................... 63 The Artistic Field in Honduras' Political Centre ............................................................................. 66 IMAGES THAT CONTEST THE NATION .......................................................................................................... 76 THREE: MAKING SENSE OF ARTISTIC PRACTICES IN HONDURAS TODAY ........ 105 SOCIO-HISTORICAL CONTEXT ..................................................................................................................... 106 PRECURSORS OF DISSENT ........................................................................................................................... 120 DIFFERING SUBJECTIVITIES .......................................................................................................................... 142 FOUR: LUCY ARGUETA’S MERMA: THE RETURN OF THE REPRESSED ............... 172 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................... 173 A COMPLEX EXPERIENCE .............................................................................................................................. 182 PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................. 190 A DIALOG WITH HISTORY ............................................................................................................................... 203 FINAL ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................................ 219 FINAL OBSERVATIONS ................................................................................................................ 230 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................ 243 viii Table of Figures Figure 1: Arturo López Rodezno, Mujer y niño, enamel on copper, 1960s .......... 28 Figure 2: Arturo López Rodezno, Fragmento de escultura, enamel on copper, 1960s ............................................................................................................ 32 Figure 3: ball-court marker from Copan, (centre, ball-court II-b), early classic, photographed upon unearthing, undated photograph from Carnegie Institution of Washington, Collection of Maya Archaeological Photographs (Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. ...................................... 32 Figure 4: Arturo López Rodezno, "mural maya", detail, enamel on copper, 90 x 1200 cm ........................................................................................................ 34 Figure 5: Temple of the Frescoes, Bonampak, Room 2, North Wall: detail fo warriors surrounding captives on a terraced platform. Copy by Antonio de Tejeda (original mural c. 800 CE) ................................................................. 35 Figure 6: Arturo López Rodezno, Untitled, enamel on copper, 1960s ................. 38 Figure 7: 1940s photograph of the mural at the bottom of the "Maya corridor" from Carlos Izaguirre´s 1948 book on the School. ....................................... 47 Figure 8: Tiburcio Carías Andino in one of his many visits to ENBA. Photo from Carlos Izaguirre´s book on the School. ......................................................... 49 Figure 9: "Would you like to die?" A peasant activist is threatened by Ramón Flores, a character in Raúl Ruiz's film Utopía (1976, still at 23:19). ............. 81 Figure 10: Anonymous photographer, San Pedro Sula, August 14, 2009 ........... 87 Figure 11: La Prensa's obliged apology for image manipulation. ........................ 91 Figure 12: Anonymous photographer, Pedro Magdiel Muñoz, July 2009 ............ 93 Figure 13: Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Assassinated Striking Worker, 1934 .............. 94 Figure 14: Larry Towell, San Salvador, 1989 ...................................................... 96 Figure 15: Anonymous photographer, Seat of the Honduran Congress, Tegucigalpa, late 2009 ................................................................................. 96 Figure 16: Anonymous photographer, Todas la voces, UNAH-VS, San Pedro Sula, 21 October 201 .................................................................................. 100 Figure 17: Anonymous photographer, San Pedro Sula, 14 August 2009 .......... 100 Figure 18: Anonymous photographer, undated ................................................. 101 Figure 19: Anonymous photographer, Choloma, 16 July 2009 .......................... 101 Figure 20: Anonymous photographer, undated ................................................. 102 Figure 21: Anonymous photographer, undated ................................................. 102 Figure 22: Anonymous photographer, undated ................................................. 103 Figure