Archive of the World: Art and Imagination in Spanish America, 1500–1800 is the first exhibition of LACMA’s notable holdings of Spanish American art. The exhibition opened June 12 and runs through Oct. 30.
Featuring approximately 90 works, including several recent acquisitions, the exhibition emphasizes the creative power of Spanish America.
Following the arrival of the Spaniards in the Americas in the 15th century, the region developed complex artistic traditions that drew on Indigenous, European, Asian and African art. The Spanish conquest of the Philippines in 1565 inaugurated a commercial route that connected Asia, Europe and the Americas. Private homes and civic and ecclesiastic institutions in Spanish America were filled with imported and locally made objects. Many local objects also traveled across the globe, attesting to their wide appeal. This confluence of riches signaled the status of the Americas as a major emporium — what one author described as “the archive of the world.”
For tickets and more information: https://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/archive-of-the-world
Photo credit: Unidentified artists, Tray (batea) (detail), Mexico, Pátzcuaro, c. 1760–80, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund, photo © Museum Associates/ LACMA