Painting as a Form of Communication in Colonial Central Andes Variations on the Form of Ornamental Art in Early World Society Dissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Kultur- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Luzern vorgelegt von Fernando Valenzuela von Santiago (Chile) Eingereicht am: 7. September 2009 Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Rudolf Stichweh Zweitgutachterin: Prof. Dr. Cornelia Bohn Originaldokument gespeichert auf dem Dokumentserver der ZHB Luzern http://www.zhbluzern.ch Dieses Werk ist unter einem Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Switzerland Lizenzvertrag lizenziert. Um die Lizenz anzusehen, gehen Sie bitte zu http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ch/ oder schicken Sie einen Brief an Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California 94105, USA. Eine Kurzform der in Anspruch genommenen Rechte finden Sie auch auf der nachfolgenden Seite dieses Dokuments. 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Am einfachsten ist es, an entsprechender Stelle einen Link auf diese Seite einzubinden. Eine ausführliche Fassung des Lizenzvertrags befindet sich unter http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc- nd/2.5/ch/legalcode.de i Abstract This dissertation offers a meta-synthesis of the history of painting in colonial central Andes from the point of view of the theory of social systems put forward by Niklas Luhmann. Assuming this author's central insight regarding the observation of art as a social phenomenon – namely, that art is a form of communication inasmuch as it triggers a search for meaning that is used as a basis for further communications or behaviors (artistic or otherwise) – this research attempts to answer the question: How did paintings trigger a search for meaning in this region of western South America from the second half of the sixteenth century to the eighteenth century and what societal conditions made this form of communication probable? I propose that, in a peripheral context in which the evolution of art wasn't guided by a differentiated artistic memory, painting constituted itself as communication through the tight coupling of forms in the medium that was made available by the ornamentation of symbols. Even though different modalities of painting could be directed to different audiences according to a primarily stratified differentiation of society, this medium established a common denominator for what could be expected from painting in both sides of the social hierarchy, establishing which variations in painting could be successful in the central Andes during most of the colonial period. Art participated of a sphere of social reality in which every experience or action could be communicated as contingent in the light of transcendence, so that it triggered a search for meaning that was religious proper. Thus a shift in the system of reference of sociocultural evolution has to be expected when comparing the colonial periphery with the European metropolis in this epoch. In the central Andes, “modern” pictures that corresponded to an art that already aimed towards autonomy posed interesting innovations for a program of ornamentation of symbols when proving themselves against a mainly religious and moral representation of the world. What art historical texts highlight as moments of artistic globalism that set the evolution of colonial art in motion – such as the works of the Italian mannerist masters Bitti, Pérez de Alesio and Medoro, and those of Basilio de Santa Cruz Pumacallao – constituted accidents that didn't lead to the formation of social structures in the direction of a differentiated system of art. However, for sociocultural evolution, these were not altogether failed variations, as they were quickly adopted by series of parasitic ornamental systems: heteronomous ornamental systems that were built based on other systems, the internal operations of which already aimed towards autonomy. ii Acknowledgments I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Dr. rer. soc. Rudolf Stichweh, for his insightful observations and constant support, and to Dr. Pedro Morandé, who first introduced me to this area of research. Many other people have helped me gain different perspectives to the research problem. I want to give special thanks to Prof. Dr. Cornelia Bohn, Prof. Dr. Martina Merz, Dr. Darío Rodríguez, Dr. Aldo Mascareño and Dr. rer. soc. Christian Morgner, and to the researchers and librarians at the Ibero-American Institute in Berlin, in special to Dr. Peter Birle, Dr. Barbara Göbel and Dr. Katja Carrillo Zeiter. I also would like to make a special reference to Dr. Carol Damian, who sent me copies of key documents without which I wouldn't have been able to understand the history of this subject. Of course, the blame for errors in the analysis (if any) lies with me alone. This dissertation wouldn't have been possible without the emotional support of my wife Verónica Wedeles, who accompanied me in this journey into unknown territories, of my parents, and of my friends in Lucerne, who made us feel at home in a distant land. I am also thankful for the support I have received from my colleagues at the Department of Sociology of the Universidad Alberto Hurtado. This research was funded by the programs Beca Presidente de la República and Becas Chile of the Government of Chile, which allowed me to settle in Lucerne from 2006 to 2009, and by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, that made possible a research stay at the Ibero-American Institute in Berlin during the summer of 2008. iii A Verónica y Maite iv Table of Contents Abstract..............................................................................................................................i Acknowledgments............................................................................................................ii Introduction.......................................................................................................................1 1. Regional traditions of art in the periphery of an emerging world society.................14 1.1 Introduction to the history of painting in viceregal central Andes......................19 1.1.1 Immigrant masters, imported images..........................................................20 1.1.2 Mestizo paintings.........................................................................................22 1.1.3 Decline of the Cusco school of painting......................................................24 1.1.4 The modernist hecatomb and the creole cosmopolitans..............................31 1.2 The centrality of the social context of colonial painting in historical narrations and the need for a systematic review.........................................................................34 1.3 The art system of society in the work of Niklas Luhmann.................................46 1.4 Art in a world society..........................................................................................54 1.5 Art and ornament: social system, parasitic ornamental systems and symbolization.............................................................................................................63 1.5.1 Ornament as mere decoration and as unifying principle.............................64 1.5.2 Ornamental art and parasitic ornamental systems.......................................67 1.5.3 Ornament and symbolic art.........................................................................71 1.6 Sociological reconstruction of art history: methodological considerations........80 2. Colonial paintings in the central Andes seen through the form of ornamental art....90 2.1 Mestizo architecture as context for the history of painting.................................90 2.1.1 Mestizo architecture as innovative ornamentation of archaic structures.....91 2.1.2 Formal disintegration and the influence of pre-contact indigenous traditions ...............................................................................................................................95