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A Brief Historical Introduction

In her introduction to a collection of essays about Puerto Rican identity (Flores, 1993) Jean Franco muses that "throughout Latin America and the United States, Puerto Rico stands for something which cannot be assimilated. It is island and continent, a colony and a nation, a community bound by a language that some Puerto Ricans do not speak."

Puerto Rico is a land of contrasts, irony, arresting beauty, and deep melancholy at the same time. The smallest of the Greater Antilles islands, and geographically measuring 39.5 miles from north to south and 111 miles wide from east to west. Located in a tropical latitude, few places on earth can compare with its beauty and splendor that nature has doted on her. The same can be said about its people and their contribution to its placement on the economic, social, and artistic pantheon. The island has gone through a number of cultural, social and political transformations, which have all affected its people and the way they identify.

The Spanish colonization was initially rooted in the Antilles, after several trips by the likes of Columbus and other explorers of his time. On his second trip to the Antilles, and almost completely depleted of resources, he landed in Puerto Rico in 1492, thus opening up a chapter of swift political, natural and cultural coercion that eventually drove the native population to extinction. After several decades of installing a Spanish presence on the island, the colonists' desire for money and wealth drove them to explore other sources of income, namely mining and agriculture. These mostly failed due to lack of capital money from Spain. If left to its own devices, Puerto Rico would have followed the evolutionary laws and would have become a place of mystery with plutonian shores. The geographical location of the island, however, made it indispensable for Spain's naval defense. For the Spanish courts, the island of San Juan (its present day capital) became the easternmost bastion of its colonial world. It had to face Spain's enemies, whether French, English, Dutch, or pirates who stalked the seas in search of treasures. Emphasis on the military isolated San Juan from the rest of the Island, which was left at the mercy of few settlers, fugitive slaves, native Americans who had survived being killed. From this isolation grew an economy of for natural consumption and production of goods destined to smuggling along the barely surveyed coasts. Smugglers had the upper hand, supplying goods that could hardly be obtained otherwise under a very restrictive Spanish trade system in the Island.

Francisco Rodón
Alicia Alonso, or La Maga Duende

The Modern Art Movement in Puerto Rico

During 1949, Jose A. Torres Martino and Felix Rodriguez, a couple of local artist, engendered what was called "Estudio 17", which was a local meeting place of artistic and intellectual minds, much like the Salons in Paris during the Nineteenth Century. Esurient minds of that era identified a yearning or need to create artistic work of a collaborative kind. To that effect, the Estudio 17 was transformed into the Center of Puerto Rican Art. The Center was the first artist collective of its kind, composed solely by local talent as a vehicle of affirming the national art movement, work collectively, but most importantly, to use graphic arts as a vehicle to disseminate art to the masses.

Most of the work that was done was the poster. Posters were mostly used at that time to educate the poor neighborhoods, increase literacy, and awareness of public health concerns. The poster in particular, and graphic arts in general, grew as mediums as a result of this new source of talent. Insular Identity in Contemporary Art

The first major Puerto Rican artist of note was José Campeche, an 18th-century Sanjuanero who lived his entire life in and drew inspiration from the city of his birth. The son of a freed slave and a immigrant from the Canary Islands; Campeche was greatly influenced by a Spanish court painter who was banished to San Juan. Since Campeche was fascinated by religious paintings, many of his 400 works were for churches. He was also a distinguished portrait painter, whose subjects ranged from governors of the colony to local personalities to members of well-to-do families.

Francisco Oller, born in 1833, was also an eminent Puerto Rican painter. He was greatly influenced by European art, especially the works of Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). Oller became the first Latin American artist to adapt the impressionists' interest in light and color to the tropical skies of Puerto Rico. Island scenes fascinated him, and he depicted everything from life on a sugarcane plantation to a funeral wake in the Puerto Rican countryside. His still lifes of local flora, including palm trees and bananas, are eagerly sought by collectors.

Many Puerto Rican artists have followed in Oller's footsteps, including Ramón Fradé and Miguel Pou. Frade's painting of El Jíbaro pays homage to the country peasant farmer.

Funded by government, a tradition of artistic posters became popular in the 1940s. Printmaking still flourishes, and the field has attracted such artists as Antonio Martorell and José Rosa.

Since the 1960s, nearly every major Puerto Rican artist has studied abroad, in both Europe and America. Some artists prefer to live abroad, returning to the island from time to time for inspiration. One of them, Rafael Ferrer, is perhaps better known in New York art galleries than in San Juan. Savvy collectors are also buying the works of well-known contemporary artists as Ivette Cabrera, Consuelo Gotay, Juan Ramón Velázquez, Lorenzo Homar, Rafael Tufiño, and Jorge Zeno.

Throughout the eighteen century, Puerto Rico survived a number of attacks by Spain's enemies, despite its coveted location in the Caribbean. The United State's War of Independence (1776) culminated in the Spanish-American wars (1810-25). On July 25, 1898, the United States Army disembarked on southern Puerto Rico and occupied without any dramatic battles. After more than 400 years in power, the Spanish forces abandoned the Island without offering much resistance. Puerto Ricans, including the thousands who, months before had proclaimed their loyalty to the Spanish flag, welcomed the new regime with open arms. Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States after Spain signed a peace treaty which ended the Spanish-American war. A decision in which the Island took no part.

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