Genoveva T. Palmieri
My exposure to art began in my family home where, in my father's library, there were paintings of my paternal grandfather and great-grandfather , done in the typical European style of portrait painting from the early years of this century. I believe my father had the portraits done, since he was extremely interested in genealogy.
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In addition, he became an important supporter of a German refugee, Madame Minnie Schiller, who painted miniatures. My father commissioned her to paint each member of the family, and I still have the miniature painting of myself as a young child, about two years old. And, because of his interest in genealogy, he had her paint miniature paintings of a large number of our ancestors going back three generations. These hung in our home as a collection of both art and genealogy.
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My father was also was very interested in a young Colombian painter Gonzalo Ariza, who specialized in landscape scenes mostly related to lakes, mountains and fauna in the proximity of Bogota. In particular, there was a unique painting of a scene of the city in the late afternoon, with great billows of smoke in the background with a man and his burro riding out of the city. It was a haunting picture. I realize today it was a futuristic pre-ecological scene with the great gray smoke coming from large stacks in the background, giving the feeling of sadness and devastation and foreshadowing the environmental concerns that are now part of our daily public policy debate.
My father also had a portrait of my mother done by another artist who was popular at the time, Sergio Trujillo Magenat. It was a charcoal painting in a more modernistic style, which certainly did justice to my mother.
Thus I did have some exposure to art in this setting, but when I try to recall any other exposure to art I cannot remember any that made an impression on me. The other piece to this puzzle is that there was no class in art appreciation of any sort in our school in Colombia and it is also difficult to try and recall any mention of native art, or history as part of our learning process. It was simply not part of the curriculum in our all girls private school.
The most advanced and developed native culture in Colombia were the Chibchas. One fact that was part of my learning was that our capital city was named Santa Fe de Bogota. The name Bogota came from the "cacique" in power at the time of the conquest and his name was "Bacata", which then of course was written by the Spanish scribes as "Bogota". No history or background on the "cacique" or his people ever came with the explanation of how our city got its name.
The only opportunity to see native art was when trips were taken to towns outside of Bogota. These took place usually on Saturday or Sunday, and those were the days when there was the local gathering at the "plaza" in the center of town, when the "indios" as they were called, came with their wonderful pottery, wools and produce to sell. I was quite young and could not wander off by myself to see those things that caught my attention, so I just had to see things as we passed by them. The "mantas" were the most interesting, made of wool with colors and designs that were unique to the town that we visited. The "Chibcha" designs and colors did not approach the brilliance or intricacy of Maya or Aztec textiles. Sombreros were also part of the creation of the natives. They were very much subdued compared to the Maya hats we see even today. But there were intricate designs and the colors which clearly were taken from the local fruits and plants available in that particular locale.
Pottery was something that was admired and valuable, although it was not common to see decorated pots or dishes. They were better appreciated for the quality of the clay and its good useful design. But again, I cannot recall seeing very much painted or colored pottery. There is a well-known Colombian region, Raquira, where the natives are famous for their work in pottery.
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The "Chibchas" were excellent jewelers. They were great designers of gold pieces they were small unique artistic creations. Today these gold pieces are very much appreciated and considered great works of art. They were not appreciated for centuries and, fortunately, the Spaniards left many of them, being more interested in the pure bullion which was readily available.
Today there is a "Museo de Oro" (Museum of Gold) where this great Colombian treasure is on exhibit. Growing up in Colombia you heard about these unique gold pieces but there wasn't the opportunity to see them, or admire them as art. As an adult I have come to understand that the Catholic Church made it clear that these pieces made by the Chibchas were "obscene". Most of them are figures of men and women in a variety of positions, dressed or undressed. In fact, there is a collection of pieces depicting sexual acts all made in gold. Conquerors discredited, destroyed or buried the treasures of the conquered people.
Thus I arrived in the United States at age fourteen without very much background in what were my native roots or much exposure to pre-Columbian art of the Americas.
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It is interesting to note that as I entered high school in the United States, I did not speak English and I, am sure, looked very different from the students in a middle class New England school, I chose to make myself truly visibly different as soon as the cold weather started by wearing one of my native "ruanas", also called "mantas", of Colombia. Certainly, this was not because I had worn it at home previously on a regular basis.
In fact it was only worn if the weather became very chilly, or when we went on vacations which usually took place in the mountains where the climate was quite cold. My "ruana" obviously gave me comfort. It is interesting because it identified me not as a middle class Colombian but as native of the country from which I had emmigrated. In fact, I have worn "ruanas" for most of my life in the United States; I have a large collection of a variety of them, differing in colors, styles and materials, covering a range of materials coming from many different countries of Latin America.
Today there are some people who know me and if they have not seen me for a period of time, their first question is where is that beautiful "ruana" that you used to wear. That is their foremost recollection or memory of me, my native garb!
There is great significance in the relationship between what we choose for our clothing and our public presentation of ourselves, as we shall see in the outfits chosen by Frida Kahlo as part of her artistic image and her personal needs.
During my integration into the "gringo" culture it became clear how different I was in the midst of a Yankee community. Those things that had been disdained and shunned in my life in Colombia became somehow very important and dear, things that were different and unique became intriguing and something to admire.
Two years after graduating from high school, I was fortunate to have had an aunt who lived in New York City who was quite wealthy and liked the best things the city had to offer. Because she was lonely and her own children had gone away to school, she welcomed my visits. It was definitely a time of great opportunity and discovery and my introduction to art and art appreciation.
Her home was practically a museum with a great deal of art included in it. It was only the late nineteen fifties, and her avant-garde her husband had become a collector of African Art; not just one or two pieces, but that he had acquired a large number of them. I recall people coming to see him just to see his fascination with what was considered at the time, very strange and exotic art.
This was also my introduction to an artistic community. Their house was an artistic center, because it was in New York. Aspiring Latino artists came in search of their fortunes to the mecca of artistic development. Wealthy members of the Latino community, friends of my aunt and uncle, would have interaction in their home with new artists looking to sell their paintings or possibly find a patron.
The Museum of Modern Art was my next introduction into the world of creativity and art. Of course, for the first time I saw paintings by Diego Rivera and Orozco, and it was an eye opener. It was the first time that I could see the influence of the native culture actually put on canvass. The mood of the paintings, the colors were a fresh and different style, when it was compared to the European colonial styles that was prevalent at the time.
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There was great interest on the part of my uncle in the Museum of Modern Art because, at the time, he had taken under his wing, a young Colombian painter, Fernando Botero, whom he was helping to enter the art world in New York. Botero's enormous oversized people were considered monsters by some, but as time has shown he certainly followed and reflected the historical culture of the native populations of the Americas. In his vision large massive pieces are to be public art and not something confined to small museum rooms.
As part of this experience, I also visited the Museum of Natural History where the art and lives of the native in the Americas were exhibited. Again, this was the first time that I had seen the lives and the creations of natives presented as a very important historical perspective of our historical past. In some ways it made me sad because, for the first time, I recognized the terrible injustice done to those ancestors in the Americas who had created so much to offer to future generations. A whole important part of my past which had been hidden was almost lost. The Spanish heritage was the only important and real ancestry that had been presented to me.
This was the start of my art education at age seventeen. I have always felt very lucky and fortunate to have had such an experience and introduction so that my appreciation of all artistic expression is filled with awe and artists are unique and special.