City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2010 Colombian Artists in Paris, 1865-1905 Maya Jiménez The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2151 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] COLOMBIAN ARTISTS IN PARIS, 1865-1905 by MAYA A. JIMÉNEZ A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2010 © 2010 MAYA A. JIMÉNEZ All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Art History in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Professor Katherine Manthorne____ _______________ _____________________________ Date Chair of Examining Committee Professor Kevin Murphy__________ ______________ _____________________________ Date Executive Officer _______Professor Judy Sund________ ______Professor Edward J. Sullivan_____ ______Professor Emerita Sally Webster_______ Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii ABSTRACT Colombian Artists in Paris, 1865-1905 by Maya A. Jiménez Adviser: Professor Katherine Manthorne This dissertation brings together a group of artists not previously studied collectively, within the broader context of both Colombian and Latin American artists in Paris. Taking into account their conditions of travel, as well as the precarious political and economic situation of Colombia at the turn of the twentieth century, this investigation exposes the ways in which government, politics and religion influenced the stylistic and thematic choices made by these artists abroad. For those who were pensioned artists and who were restricted by a defined political agenda, their artistic experimentation was limited, while the more radical artists were typically wealthy and independent. Regardless of the circumstances, Colombian artists were burdened by their country’s minimal and ineffective presence overseas, which resulted in a complete misunderstanding of their culture abroad and in a lack of presence at major universal expositions. In focusing on their role as artists, educators and art critics, this dissertation reveals the important contributions that these travelers made to Colombian art as a result of their overseas travel. As revealed in the art criticism of the period, the work of these artists and their progressive philosophies on art were received with skepticism in Colombia, a country that until then had remained largely hermetic and which traditionally had been very conservative. These artists, who established the tradition of traveling to Paris and who challenged the insularity of Colombian art, ensured the eventual birth of modernism. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted first and foremost to my adviser, Katherine Manthorne, who guided and encouraged me through this project. Her valuable insights and interesting perspectives are present throughout this manuscript. I am also thankful to Professors Judy Sund, Edward J. Sullivan and Sally Webster, who from the onset were supportive of my work and whose contributions helped to significantly shape this dissertation. I am also grateful to Professor Patricia Mainardi whose guidance was valuable during the early stages of my research. At the Museo Nacional de Colombia, I am grateful to Antonio Ochoa Flórez for his assistance researching and to Cristina Lleras Figueroa, who generously responded to a lot of my inquiries. Beatriz González was also very generous with her time, and her emails and publications impacted greatly this project. Catalina Pérez Builes and Conrado Uribe, from the Museo de Antioquia, were also an immense help, as well as Gabriel Escalante Guzmán, from the Archivo Histórico de la Antigua Escuela de Bellas Artes in Bogotá. I am also thankful to the staff of the Museo de Arte Moderno, particularly Liza Viviana Pulecio Santos and Jaime Pulido Cruz. I am appreciative of all those who helped me at the various libraries and archives which I visited in Bogotá, Medellín, and Paris. I am deeply grateful for having received the Sue Rosenberg Zalk Student Travel and Research Award and the Dean K. Harrison Fellowship. The Office of Education Opportunity and Diversity Programs and the Art History Program Office, particularly Sandy Wakefield and Andrea Appel, were also a great encouragement during this process, and even before I began my doctoral dissertation. My friends were key supporters during this process, particularly Nandi Cohen, who proofread my dissertation with care and patience, and Jung Joon Lee, whose v encouragement guided me through the program. Lastly, I am deeply grateful to my entire family, particularly to my mother-in-law who helped me with my research when I could not travel to Colombia, and lastly to my husband, whose constant encouragement made this project a reality. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract iv Acknowledgements v List of Illustrations ix Introduction 1 • Contributions and Review of the Literature 4 • Chapter Summaries 14 Chapter 1: Before Paris 17 • Political and Social Unrest in Post-Independent Colombia 19 • Colombian Art Before 1886 27 • Colombian Art Education Before 1886 31 • Traveling to Paris, Rather Than Madrid 39 • Introduction to Selected Artists o Alberto Urdaneta 49 o Epifanio Garay 52 o Francisco Antonio Cano 55 o Ricardo Acevedo Bernal 60 o Andrés de Santa María 64 Chapter 2: In Paris 70 • The École des Beaux-Arts and Académie Julian 79 • The Latin American Art Community in Paris 87 • French Traditions: o The Nude 90 o Development of Caricature and the Illustrated Press 102 o Representations of Labor and Vagabonds 109 o Decorative Painting and Art Nouveau 115 o The Techniques of Impressionism 122 Chapter 3: Exhibiting in Paris and Bogotá 132 • Art Criticism in Colombia and France 133 • The Difficulties of Exhibiting in Paris 137 • Universal Expositions in Paris and Chicago 140 • The Difficulties of Exhibiting in Bogotá 153 • Between Two Worlds: Garay in Paris at the Salon of 1886, and in Bogotá at the Exhibition of 1886 155 • In Paris: Santa María and Naturalism 159 • In Paris: Moreno and the Orientalist Aesthetics 165 • Exposición del Club Brelán, Medellín 1899 169 • A Changing Landscape: The Exhibitions of 1899 and 1904 in Bogotá 171 • The Issue of Female Nudity at the Exposición de Bellas Artes of 1899 174 • Impressionism at the Exposición de la Fiesta de la Instrucción Pública 183 • Towards Modernism: Exposición del Centenario, Bogotá 1910 186 • The Inconsistencies of Colombian Art Criticism 190 vii Chapter 4: The Legacy of Paris 194 • Expansion of the Art Curriculum o The Introduction of the Live Model 199 o The Development of Printmaking 206 o Santa María and the Introduction of En Plein Air and Decorative Arts Classes 211 o The Tradition of Copying Modern, Rather Than Ancient Masters 215 • The Importance and Early Establishment of Art Collections 216 • The Creation of a Culture of Rewards 219 • The Emergence of Alternative Art Establishments 221 • The Continuation of the Tradition of Traveling Abroad 224 Conclusion 229 Table 1 235 Bibliography 239 Illustrations 258 viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1: Map of Colombia. Source: http://www.ne.jp/asahi/pazyfe/amistad/nanbei/colombia/img/geografia_mapa_col ombia.jpg, accessed on January 8, 2010. Figure 2: Colombia’s National Coat of Arms. Source: http://web.presidencia.gov.co/asiescolombia/simbolos1.htm, accessed on August 24, 2009. Figure 3: Pedro José Figueroa, Simón Bolívar, Liberator of Colombia, 1821, oil on canvas, 37.4 x 29.5 in. (95 x 75 cm.), Museo Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. Source: Colección de pintura, Museo Nacional de Colombia, eds. Beatriz González and Cristina Lleras (Bogotá: Museo Nacional de Colombia, 2004), 34- 35. Figure 4: Gregorio Vásquez de Arce y Ceballos, Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, c. 1700, oil on canvas, 69.3 x 51.2 in. (176 x 130 cm.), Colección del Banco de la República, Bogotá. Source: http://www.lablaa.org/blaavirtual/todaslasartes/cbre/cbnre02a.htm, accessed on August 24, 2009. Figure 5: View of Pedro Carlos Manrique’s photogravure printing studio in Bogotá, c. 1898. Source: http://juliomanrique.com/abuelos/abuelos.html, accessed on October 14, 2008. Figure 6: Alberto Urdaneta, Cover of El Mochuelo, September 27, 1877, Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. Source: photograph taken by me on November 25, 2008. Figure 7: Alberto Urdaneta, Cover of Los Andes, June 23, 1878, Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango, Bogotá. Source: photograph taken by me on November 27, 2008. Figure 8: Alberto Urdaneta, Cover of Papel Periódico Ilustrado 2, 1882-1883, Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango, Bogotá. Source: http://www.lablaa.org/blaavirtual/historia/paperi/indice.htm, accessed on August 26, 2009. Figure 9: Epifanio Garay, Portrait of Rafael Núñez, 1891, oil on canvas, 103.5 x 80 in. (263 x 203 cm.), Museo Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. Source: Colección de pintura, Museo Nacional de Colombia, 63. Figure 10: Francisco A. Cano, The Artist’s Studio, 1888, oil on canvas, 16.5 x 23.2 in. (42 x 59 cm.), Private Collection, Medellín. Source: http://www.lablaa.org/blaavirtual/revistas/credencial/septiembre1996/septiembre2 .htm, accessed on August 24, 2009. Figure 11: Gustave Doré, “Mexican Gauchos,” wood engraving, from Victor-Adolphe Malte-Brun’s Le Mexique illustré, histoire et geographie (Paris: Azur-Dutil, 1862). Source: photograph taken on October 30, 2007. Figure 12: Plan of the Exposition Universelle of 1889 Paris. Source: http://www.lib.umd.edu/digital/worldsfairs/record.jsp?pid=umd:822, accessed on August 25, 2009. Figure 13: Felipe Santiago Gutiérrez, The Huntress of the Andes, 1874, oil on canvas, 38.5 x 60.6 in. (98 x 154 cm.), Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City. Source: Felipe Santiago Gutiérrez: pasión y destino (Toluca: Instituto Mexiquense de Cultura, 1993), 45-47.