Cambios: The Spirit of Transformation in Spanish Colonial Art (Sold)

From the cover

The variety and originality of works of art created during the period of Spanish rule in Mexico and South America (approximately mid16th through the early 19th centuries) is astounding. In surveying paintings, sculptures, furniture, ceramics, textiles, and silver produced during the colonial period, essayists Gabrielle Palmer and Donna Pierce emphasize the central guiding theme of cambios or transformation. Over time, indigenous art forms, motifs, and skills combined with the European influences that were either imposed or absorbed to form a number of vitally new and original styles.

Objects illustrated and annotated here were selected from the broad geographical and chronological span of the colonial period, using American collections and in many cases, works that are previously unpublished. Works have been chosen that "speak" about the complex process of transformation and that show the enduring evidence of the interaction of two very different cultures: the established, highly developed indigenous pagan cultures of the New World; and the conquering, evangelizing Christian cultures of the Old World. The works of art produced in this process of cambios are eloquent testimony to a creative force that is strong and new.