Emblems of Faith
The Museo de Arte de Ponce continues to create partnerships with local museums to ensure that the community has access to the important works of its renowned and vast art collection. On this occasion, in collaboration with the Casa Museo de los Santos Reyes in Juana Diaz, the institution presents the exhibition “Emblems of faith: Viceregal Painting of the Museo de Arte de Ponce”, which will open to the public on Friday, December 9th.
The exhibition includes nine representative works of the artistic production of the Spanish viceroyalties during the colonial period product of the cultural exchanges between Spain and America.
About the exhibition, Iraida Rodríguez-Negrón, Curator of the Museo de Arte de Ponce said that “this exhibition presents artworks of the South American schools of the Viceroyalty of Perú, especially of the cuzqueño school established in the seventeenth century in the city of Cuzco, ancient Inca capital. The Curator added that “the viceregal collection began only four years after the founding of the museum, in 1959, and was enriched in the first decades of the twentieth century thanks to the donations of Rosario Ferré Ramírez de Arellano and her succession.”
The viceregal art arises from the sixteenth century motivated mainly by the evangelizing mission of the Catholic Church when realizing that the natives responded powerfully to the images of Christ, the Virgin Mary and the saints. The works in the exhibition “Emblems of Faith” reflect a mixture of imported styles with local traditions, thus achieving a synthesis between iconography from Europe and pre-Columbian art.
Regarding “Emblems of Faith” the Administrator of the Casa Museo de los Santos Reyes, Revered Deacon William Santiago Figueroa, said that “we are honored to have achieved this alliance with the Museo de Arte de Ponce. I especially thank its Director, Cheryl Hartup and its Curator, Iraida Rodríguez-Negrón, and the staff of both, the Museo de Arte de Ponce and the Casa Museo de los Santos Reyes for their hard work to achieve the assembly of the exhibition”, the Reverend Deacon added “Casa Museo de los Santos Reyes promotes devotion to the Three Kings whom are important figures of Christianity and ‘Emblems of Faith’ is, without a doubt, a great example of Hispanic devotional art”
“This new collaboration with the Casa Museo de los Santos Reyes is part of our interest in continuing to strengthen ties with institutions dedicated to preserving art, Puerto Rican culture and our traditions. Undoubtedly, the works of viceregal art presented in this exhibition demonstrate the importance of faith in the Hispanic culture of which we are part of. We invite the public to visit this exhibition of little-known works from the collection of the Museo de Arte de Ponce and enjoy the beauty of the details they present,” concluded Cheryl Hartup, Director of the Museo de Arte de Ponce.
The exhibition will be open to the public until July 30, 2023 from Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. For information about the exhibition and when to visit you can contact the Casa Museo de los Santos Reyes in Juan Diaz by calling 787-260-0817 or email: reyesjd2010@ hotmail.com. You can also contact the Museo de Arte de Ponce at 787-840-1510 and access the social networks of both institutions: @museoarteponce @casamuseodelossantosreyes.