Nostalgia for my Island: Puerto Rican Painting from the Museo de Arte de Ponce (1786-1962)

The majestic windy city is the setting for the Museo de Arte de Ponce’s first exhibition, after the impact of the , which travels to the United States as part of the institution’s efforts to make important works of its collection accessible, especially to the Puerto Rican diáspora.  Its opening to the public took place on Tuesday, September 20 at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture located on the grounds of the iconic Humborldt Park, in Chicago and is on display until June 9, 2023.

Nostalgia for my Island: Puerto Rican Painting from the Museo de Arte de Ponce (1786-1962) presents 21 paintings from the Puerto Rican art collection of the Museo de Arte de Ponce. Organized by the curator of the Museum of Art of Ponce, Iraida Rodríguez-Negrón, the  exhibition includes  representative  works of some of the most important artists active in  the Island from the eighteenth century  to the first half of the twentieth century , among them, José Campeche, Francisco Oller, Miguel Pou

and Myrna Báez.

 

The exhibition has a catalogue that  includes images of all the works on display as well as an academic essay by the curator that provides context to the content of the exhibition.

 

The curatorship of the exhibition revolves around three recurring concepts in the plastic arts of the time presented in the exhibition: My Island, My People and My Home; themes that evoke the longing for the  Puerto Rican diáspora and that have been  key  in the development of the identity of the new generations of Puerto Ricans born abroad.