| |
 Press Page
Historic Milestones
Society History
Contemporary
Artists/Visiones
For further information:
Spanish Colonial Arts Society
(505) 982-2226
|
 |
FACT SHEET
MUSEUM OF SPANISH COLONIAL ART
|
| Mission |
To preserve and honor the living tradition of Spanish colonial art forms, which the Museum recognizes as expressions of the world's first truly global culture. Looking outward from New Mexico, which was the northernmost reach of Spain's empire, the Museum views the full range of this culture across the world.
|
| Location |
750 Camino Lejo
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Situated on a hilltop overlooking Santa Fe, the Museum is adjacent to the Museum of New Mexico complex (Museum of International Folk Art, Laboratory of Anthropology and Museum of Indian Arts and Culture) and is within easy walking distance of the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian.
|
| Founding Institution |
The Museum has been created by Santa Fe's Spanish Colonial Arts Society and is entrusted with the Society's world-renowned collections.
|
| Museum Leadership |
William Field, Executive Director
Paul D. Gerber, President
|
| Building History |
The Museum is housed in a renovated and expanded building designed in 1930 by John Gaw Meem, a leading figure in the development of New Mexico's Spanish Colonial/Pueblo Revival architecture. Originally used as the residence of the Laboratory of Anthropology's director, the building features a multitude of handmade, historically accurate appointments, which range from the ironwork on the doors to the carved decoration of the ceiling beams. The Museum is the only Meem building in Santa Fe that has retained its original integrity.
|
| Museum Facilities |
Total Museum area: 12,000 square feet
Exhibition space: 3,400 square feet
Stockman Collections Center: 6,400 square feet
|
Renovation/Expansion
Team
|
Architect:
Architectural Alliance
Partner-in-Charge: Eric Enfield
Project Architect: Martin Kuziel
Construction Manager:
Davis and Associates
Principal: Robert Watson
Project Manager: George Garduño
|
| Collections |
The 3,000 objects in the collections include devotional and decorative works and utilitarian artifacts, representing an artistic heritage of five centuries and four continents. The collections are unique in their global range; their representation of daily life in the colonial world; their historic importance as a repository of key research objects; and their incorporation of works by present-day Hispano artists of New Mexico.
The collections are rich in retablos (religious paintings on wood), bultos (freestanding religious sculptures), furniture, textiles, fine metalwork, tinwork, straw appliqué, utilitarian objects (tools, weapons, cattle brands, spurs, strike-a-lights, candlesticks, tobacco flasks), objects of personal adornment (crucifixes and rosaries, necklaces, hair combs, fans) and colonial architecture.
These objects originated in New Mexico, Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Guatemala, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, the Caribbean, the Philippines and Goa. Objects from France, Italy, Greece, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Morocco, China and Tibet also play a role in the collections as points of comparison for Spanish colonial art throughout the Americas.
|
| Exhibition |
The exhibition Conexiones: Connections in Spanish Colonial Art presents some 500 of the finest works from the collections, tracing the human interactions that have run through this culture from the late Middle Ages to the present day, from Spain to Asia, from New Mexico to the tip of South America.
Major sections of the exhibition are:
Un Mundo del Arte (A World of Art): an overview of works from the greater Spanish colonial world;
Obras Grandes (Great Works): important objects in all media from New Mexico, and select comparative objects from other colonial areas;
Hecho con Fuego (Made with Fire): utilitarian objects of ironwork, tinwork and micaceous pottery from a variety of locales;
Tesoros (Treasures): precious personal objects from around the world;
La Casa Delgado (The Delgado Home): a period room, based on the 1815 will and estate inventory of Captain Manuel Delgado of Santa Fe;
El Futuro (The Future): a changing installation of works by youth artists, installed in the Museum's Children's Activity Center and Costume Nicho;
Obras Nuevas (New Works): a changing installation of recent acquisitions to the collections;
Cambios (Changes): changing thematic installations, beginning with an exhibition devoted to San Isidro Labrador: Santo de la Terra (Saint Isidro the Farmer: Saint of the Land);
Visiones (Visions): a changing installation of works by contemporary Hispano artists of New Mexico.
|
| Exhibition Team |
Robin Farwell Gavin, Chief Curator
William Field, Installation Designer
Patricia Price, Curator of Education
|
Stockman Collections
Center |
Housing 2,500 objects from the collections, a 1,000-
volume library, a conservation laboratory, a conference area and collections-management offices, the Center is a major international resource for research and education in Spanish colonial art. In addition to serving scholars and artists, the Center will provide the public with access to study collections through docent-led tours.
|
| General Information |
The Museum is open six days a week, Tuesday through Sunday, from 10 am to 5:00 pm. For information on visiting, the public may call 505-982-2226 or visit the Museum's web site:
www.spanishcolonial.org
|
|
|
|
|
