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Unidentified artist, Southern Andes; Poncho with Musicians (Poncho con músicos), late 17th–early 18th century; cotton, camelid-fiber, and silk and metallic-thread tapestry weave; 69 1/2 x 66 inches; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Miss Bella Mabury M.40.1.76; photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800: Highlights from LACMA’s Collection

Language

While acknowledging the violence that marked the process of conquest and colonization in Spanish America from 1500 to 1800, this exhibition audio guide highlights the intricate social, economic, and artistic dynamics of these societies that led to the creation of new artworks. Alongside local community members from the Missouri Botanical Garden and Washington University, listen to commentary from the Museum director, curators, a textile conservator, and a docent.

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    Large Print Labels

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    AUDIO GUIDE TRANSCRIPT

    The audio guide transcript is available to view on your own device.

Introduction

  • Speaker 
     
    Min Jung Kim 
    Barbara B. Taylor Director 
    Saint Louis Art Museum 

    Hello, I am Min Jung Kim, Barbara B. Taylor Director of the Saint Louis Art Museum.

    I am delighted to welcome you to the audio guide for Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800: Highlights from LACMA’s Collection.

    This exhibition features more than 100 works drawn from the collection of Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts on view underscore the generative power of Spanish America and its central position as a global crossroads. In this audio guide, offered in English and Spanish, you will hear a wide range of perspectives on some of these fascinating works. We encourage you to experience this guide in any order you like. You may follow it in numeric order, or pick and choose. Each featured object can be located by following the floorplan on the webpage or by identifying the audio icon on the object’s label in the exhibition. Whether you’re listening from home or in the Museum’s galleries, I hope you enjoy this audio guide and your visit.

  • Gallery Text

    Art & Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800 
    Highlights from LACMA’s Collection 

    This exhibition features more than 100 works from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s renowned collection of Spanish colonial art. The paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts on view underscore the generative power of Spanish America and its central position as a global crossroads.

    Imperial expansion, conquest, and the transatlantic slave trade marked the period spanning from 1500 to 1800. Cataclysmic social and geopolitical shifts brought people into closer contact than ever before—in real and imagined ways—propelling the creative refashioning of the material culture around them. After the Spaniards set out to spread Catholicism and colonize the Americas in the 15th century, artists drew on a range of traditions—Indigenous, European, Asian, and African—that reflected the interconnectedness of the world. Private and public spaces soon teemed with imported and domestic objects.

    Spanish America was neither a homogenous nor a monolithic entity, and local artists, including those who remain unidentified, did not passively absorb foreign traditions. While acknowledging the profound violence that defined the process of conquest and colonization, this exhibition explores the intricate social, economic, and artistic dynamics of these societies that resulted in the creation of astounding new artworks

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