Colonial Mexican Art & Architecture: Converging Cultures

An examination of art and architecture in colonial Mexico from the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire in 1521 to Mexican independence from Spain in 1821. Consideration of painting, sculpture, the decorative arts, and the built environment. Central themes include questions of cultural influence, hybridity and transculturation, and aesthetic forms as expressions of political power and social status. Topics will include the encounter and conquest as described in indigenous and European texts and images, the introduction of the Roman Catholic tradition and the use of art and architecture in the Christian conversion of indigenous people, new forms of religious devotion unique to "New Spain," women as cultural agents, the development of local pride and the expression in the visual arts of a class-conscious, multi-racial society, and Mexico as the cultural crossroads of the Spanish empire. (May be taken at the 100-level.)