Friday, March 9, 2018

My Peruvian Adventure: The Lima Art Museum (MALI): some highlights

A selection - rather a miscellany - of things I found diverting at Lima's beautiful Fine Arts museum.

As in Brazil, the tradition of painting is either religious, or sustained by arrivals of immigrants after which it appears to suddenly die. Judging from these paintings, there seems to have been a vigorous bohemian culture in Lima up to the 50s, when it must have been a most charming city (an impression reinforced by reading Llosa`s Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. My impression of the city since then is that the middle classes moved en masse to live in Miraflores, leaving the old town to crumble.

Ricardo Grau, Portrait of Ana Pizarro, oil on canvas, 1938

Julia Codesido, India Huanca, oil on canvas, 1932

Jorge Reinoso, Tantahuasi, oil on canvas, 1929

Jose Dieguez, Camilio Blas, oil on canvas, 1927

Víctor Morey Peña, Yo no soy, ink on paper, 1924

Franciso Laso, Road between hills, oil on canvas, 1850-60

Cuzco school, oil on canvas, 1700-1750

Cusco school,

Allegory with Indian patron, oil on canvas, 1770 - 1800

There is a delightful room with some wonderful photos including the following-

Juan Manuel Figueroa Aznar

Historia de amor y desengaño

ca. 1907

Tienda en Morocochaca, 1928 - 1940 Sebastián Rodríguez

Estudio Vargas Hermanos, Ferretería, 1927

Costumbrismo

This amusing observational style flourished in the early 19th Century in hispanic countries. There is an excellent collection here. there are elements of caricature, they document clothing styles and some appear to tell stories.