The murals, sculptures and paintings found in the churches, monasteries and books of 16th century New Spain constitutes one of the richest sources to understand not only the complex religious processes of hybridization of the early colonial period, but they also allow us to get glimpses of other aspects of the highly dynamic period following the conquest. Murals, as well as other kinds of religious art, were often composed and produced by indigenous artists, and although mainly following Euro-Christian models and prescripts, there are numerous examples of how the Christian images were adjusted and redesigned to make sense in and reflect the post-Columbian Mesoamerican world and reality, sometimes supplemented with images directly derived from pre-Columbian traditions. The workshop will first introduce the subject of “indo-Christian” art as part of what can be called the visual evangelization and its theoretical and methodological background. We then turn to the mural programs of a selected number of Franciscan and Augustinian churches and monasteries from central Mexico and Yucatan, among them Malinalco, Culhuacan, Ixmiquilpan, Actopan, Xoxoteco and Izamal. Other topics discussed will be the apparent intentional re-use of pre-Columbian sculpture fragments in church façades and monastery walls (known as spolia) and the spectacular atrium crosses.
The workshop will consist of a series of presentations by the tutors, as well as a number of hands-on practical exercises. Attendance requires no previous experience with colonial iconography.