Pre-Columbian art
Great civilizations succeeded one another on the Peruvian territory since the first occupations, more than 100 million years ago. The amateurs of archaeology will appreciate the stones of the region of Ancash sculpted by the Sechín, the site of Chan Chan and its 9 citadels of the Chimu time. Near Trujillo, the superb bas-reliefs left by the pre-Inca civilization of the Moches adorn precious places of worship. The temples Huaca del sol and Huaca de la Luna testify of an impressive artistic mastery. Of the following centuries, let us quote the ceramics recuay then chinca and finally, the vestiges of the Inca culture, the most famous of Latin America, which blooms between the XIII and the XVI century. Thousands of years of an amazing aestheticism are retraced in the MAP Museo de Arte Precolombino of Cuzco. The Nazca civilization which developed in the south of Peru between -200 and 800 is famous for its geoglyphs, these lines and motives dug in the ground which are visible from the sky. Their polychrome ceramics with zoomorphic motives are also of any beauty.
As them, the Incas privilege the geometrical motives in order to elaborate a visual vocabulary easily readable. To this know-how, is added a sophistication full of cosmological references. In the pre-Columbian art, the feminine deities are associated to the Moon, and the masculine deities, to the Sun. Other evocative themes of the local spirituality, the relation to the death as well as the human sacrifice as cosmic regulator.
The descendants of the Incas, established in Peru, continue to make palpitate their culture in the Museo Inka of Cuzco or in the Larco museum of Lima. There, 45,000 pre-Columbian works of art trace the emergence of the civilizations that populated Peru, up to the Inca Empire.School of Lima, school of Cuzco
Initiated by the arrival in the vice-kingdom of Peru of the Italian Jesuit Bernardo Bitti, at the end of the XVIth century, the Lima painting translates the Spanish rigor then in vogue. The School of Lima, very dark, is inspired by Zurbarán among other Spanish Masters. The main churches of the capital were equipped with paintings of real artistic value, like those of the cathedral or the church of San Francisco.
It is paradoxically in Cuzco, the ex-capital of the Inca Empire, that the painting knows its most spectacular rise. With the creation of the School of Fine Arts and under the influence of Bitti, the most lively artistic current of Spanish America was formed here. In the 17th and 18th centuries, thousands of paintings by indigenous and Creole artists left Cuzco for La Paz, Lima or Quito. This trade becomes one of the first sources of wealth of the city. Far from the Spanish canons, the School of Cuzco produced a luminous painting, populated with pink and chubby characters (the archangels are evanescent teenagers in contemporary clothes), of sweet and sunny landscapes, reflection of a European art in full revival. For the first time, the Virgin is associated with the cult of Mother Earth or Tierra Madre (Pachamama). A Baroque trend was established in 1650, thanks to local artists such as Diego Quispe Tito or Antonio Sinchi Rocca. In the 18th century, painters moved away from classical religious themes in favor of an "indigenous" vision of the world including pre-Hispanic symbols: the Madonnas are richly dressed in coats embroidered with indigenous motifs and the colors refer to previous civilizations. It is the apogee of the school of Cuzco, which is translated by the use of the golden ornament as means of identification.
The School of Cuzco loses its originality at the beginning of the XIXth century before running out of steam.Indigenism
After the declaration of independence in 1821, the Peruvian art presents the native under the features of the foreigner. Gradually, the pre-Columbian heritage resurfaced, culminating in the 1920s with Indigenism. This current influences the Peruvian modernism, as we can see in the works of José Sabogal, Camilo Blas, Julia Codesido or Elena Izcue. It affects all areas of creation.
Mario Urteaga (1875-1957) was one of the first Peruvian artists to take an interest in the indigenous peasants of his province of Cajamarca, along with José Sabogal and Camilo Blas (1903-1986). In 1936, he was the first Peruvian painter to enter the Modern Art Museum in New York. His house, in Cajamarca, where he lived and wrote politically committed articles, is now a museum run by his descendants. His works have their place in all the museums of Peru and in many others around the world.
Jorge Vinatea Reinoso (1900-1931), despite his early death, left a considerable work. In addition to his work of caricaturist of press, he paints the natives and the small people of the sierra. His line is vivid, his colors are frank, and the humor is often present in his paintings. His paintings can be admired in most of the country's museums. The colorful art of José Sabogal (1888-1956) is also characterized by his serious faces and his villages lost in the Andes. Attached to show the indigenous reality, Sabogal redefines the "Peruvianity" on the basis of the heritage of his ancestors. His paintings, which document the thousand facets of Peru, reveal to the locals unknown aspects of their own country. This master of authenticity met with success from his first exhibition in Lima, in 1919. As director of the School of Fine Arts in Lima, Sabogal trained a whole generation of Peruvian artists.Towards abstraction
The Peruvian abstraction, led by Fernando de Szyszlo, reveals itself as a form of resistance, an alternative to the folkloric nationalism. It gives to the honor the geometrical motive bequeathed by the inca art. Pioneer of the Peruvian abstract art, Fernando de Szyszlo (1925-2017) is known for his paintings in red earth drawing from the pre-Columbian imagery. His style, steeped in archaic mysticism, is a model for his generation. Cultivated, he proposes a total art, which mixes with the indigenous culture the literature, the poetry and the cinema. This committed artist opposed totalitarianism by founding the Movimiento Libertad in 1987 with his friend Mario Vargas Llosa.
Described by the Times as "the most acclaimed painter of Peru", the painter Sérvulo Gutiérrez Alarcón (1914-1961) is a self-taught, who is interested in sculpture during his apprenticeship with the Argentine Pettoruti. His sculpture Amazonia won a prize in 1942. Impervious to the European avant-garde, he glorified the indigenous influence by giving it an expressionist style rendered by textural effects in painting. At the end of his career, his mystical subjects brought him radically closer to Fauvism.Photography and its great names
The photographer Martín Chambi was born in 1881 in Coaza (Puno), in a family of farmers. At a very young age he learned the profession of photographer in Arequipa, where he settled in 1920. Martín Chambi explores the variations of light and the staging of portraits. The particular way he treats his models, both humble and attentive to their personality, makes his studio extremely popular among all strata of society. As a committed photojournalist, he is helping to raise awareness of the cultural identity of indigenous people. A gallery financed by Scotiabank gathers some of his photos in Cuzco within the Palacio del Inca Tupac Yupanqui.
Mario Testino, the eldest of a large family from Lima, left to try his luck in London in 1976. Very quickly, his talent brought him to the forefront of fashion photographers and led him to publish in prestigious magazines such as Vogue or Vanity Fair. There is a museum dedicated to him in the district of Barranco in Lima. the museum is called MATE Museo Mario Testino.
For twenty years, the photographic portraits of Morfi Jiménez question the human behavior in the heart of his environment. His compositions between fiction and reality bring him closer to classical painting. Born in 1974, he exhibits all over the world.Contemporary art
Contemporary art draws extensively on folk traditions. Indigenous myths allow contemporary artists to express the anxieties of modern society. The works exacerbate feelings such as fear, disdain or aggressiveness. The Peruvian popular culture is valued, and constitutes an inexhaustible source of inspiration. We remember artists such as Angel Chavez and his indigenous and naive painting, Kukuli Velarde and his ceramic sculptures, or Christian Bendayan and his criticism of the consumerist society.
The Peruvian painter and sculptor Victor Delfín, born in 1927, is known worldwide for his sensual works, which have animals as subjects, often birds or horses. In 1965, he moved to Barranco and explored the diversity of materials (wood, metal, fabric) without ever moving away from his pre-Columbian roots. He signed the most admired sculpture in Lima, the monumental El Beso, erected in the Park of Love in Miraflores. His house in Barranco has been transformed into a museum, the Casa Taller Delfín.
In this Barranco neighborhood of Lima, several small galleries exhibit contemporary art like 80 m², Wu or Lucia de la Puente. You can also meet the current creation at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) of Lima, or in underground places like Espacio Los únicos, held by two artists. Several addresses in Miraflores: the Centro de la imagen (El Ojo Ajeno Gallery) specialized in contemporary photography, from Peru and elsewhere; the free exhibitions of the Centro Cultural Ricardo Palma; the gallery of the town hall Sala Luis Miro Quesada Garland.In Lima, street art in Barranco
In the heart of this district bordering the Pacific, between the colonial houses and the colored small houses, the art takes a whole other meaning. In a chic bobo spirit, graffiti and murals flourish in Barranco. Everywhere, they convey messages, usually political. You don't have to decipher them to admire this profusion on the walls of buildings, private residences, bars or on the walls of a tunnel. Yet, in 2015, the incumbent mayor had many of the micro-village's murals covered with yellow paint. Why? Officially, to honor the Unesco World Heritage status of the city of Lima. Unofficially, the expressed anger was disturbing. To calm the spirits, the mayor organized a contest "Las Paredes Hablan" (the walls speak) which allowed to regulate the art of the streets. The new frescoes painted for the occasion mark a renewal of urban art in Lima, with a cultural heritage background. However, it is necessary to underline that international artists participated in the second generation of graffiti. While walking the streets of Barranco, push the door of the galleries. You will discover inside a form of street art to take home!
