Spanish folk art - traveling exhibition

Magazine Antiques, Nov, 1997 by Allison Eckardt Ledes

The folk art of Spain is as rich and varied as the country's geography, cultural traditions, and language, and it has had a profound influence on the art of the Americas since the sixteenth century. A traveling exhibition that examines this cross-fertilization is on view at the San Antonio Museum of Art in San Antonio, Texas, through January 4, 1998. El Alma del Pueblo: Spanish Folk Art and its Transformation in the Americas features more than three hundred works spanning some five hundred yearn in a variety of mediums, including ceramics, sculpture, paintings, prints, furniture, wood carvings, metalwork, and textiles. The show is sponsored by Ford Motor Company.

As Marion Oettinger Jr., the curator of the exhibition, points out in his essay in the catalogue, Spain is composed of seventeen different regions, each with a very long cultural history. Three mutually unintelligible languages (aside from Castilian) are spoken there, and each has dialectical variations. Most of the regions, particularly those that are geographically isolated, have distinctive folk art traditions.

Among the utilitarian Spanish wares selected for the exhibition are a pair of nineteenth-century wrought-iron andirons from Caceres that are twisted into sinuous zoomorphic shapes; a horn spoon and fork set made in Salamanca in the early twentieth century with incised floral and animal decoration; and a whimsical eighteenth-century glass pitcher (illustrated at right) from Cataluna that long anticipates Michael Graves's now ubiquitous stainless-steel teapot.

Folk art made for religious or ceremonial purposes is the most personal of all. Often offered at the altar of a chosen saint in thanks for answered prayers, in anticipation of future assistance, or to show devotion, these ex-votos are born from their creators plight. They can range from small infant's booties (presumably presented in thanks for curing a sick child) to wedding dresses offered by appreciative brides. Intensely personal paintings by specialized artists are filled with details that pertain to the individual who commissioned them or to their creator. These same artists also executed religious images for popular consumption. Amulets and charms commonly used to ward off evil spirits and as expressions of devotion survive in some quantity.

The exhibition scratches the surface in its examination of Spanish artistic influence on the New Word - particularly in South and Latin America - where Spanish emigrants adopted aspects of indigenous artistic styles and techniques. Since living conditions and raw materials were so different, even functional objects had to answer new requirements. This is most readily apparent in the ceramics produced in the New World. The Spanish introduced both glazed pottery and the potter's wheel to Latin America, where a pottery tradition had evolved over thousands of years. Local clays and design motifs combined with the technical innovations from Spain produced something entirely new.

The catalogue of the exhibition is available in Spanish and English and is co-published by the San Antonio Museum of Art and Abbeville Press. It may be obtained from Abbeville for $49.95 (hard covers) by telephoning 800-278-2665 or from the museum for $29.95 (paper covers) by telephoning 210-978-8147.