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000639 Visit since November 1, 2005
| TRIUMPHS and TRAGEDY... A history of the Mexican people
CHAPTER III, The Forefathers (45th part.continues..) |
| By Prof. German Estrada - November 2005 |
The richer the Indian community and the more numerous its masons and carpenters, , the bigger and more elaborate the building. Whatever the level of its skills, the Indian built the fortress churches, as well as the Palace of Cortés in Cuernavaca and other lay structures. In places such as Mexico City, skilled Spaniards helped, often by directing the labor of Indians. All the same, in the peripheral world it was the Indian masons and carpenters; when skilled, they did the work immediately; when not, the friars taught them how to do it.
Labor requested, needless to say, was labor demanded. If the Indian failed to offer his services, he was made to do so. In the early years, it was mostly forced labor. Encomiendas, additionally, were sometimes transferred by the crown to the clergy; the Indians of Texcoco, when Cortés lost control of them, to cite a specific case, were given to the Augustinians. Later, the church received repartimientos, forced paid labor, and funds from the crown to build the cathedral, the palace of the Inquisition, the temples of La Concepción, Santa Clara, and La Santa Veracruz, all in Mexico City, and, quixotically, the Temple of the Lady of Guadalupe, the Indian's Virgen. In the small towns, Indian converts to Christianity built the temples. Beyond that, Indians served the friars and, afterward, the urban priest as cooks, maids, gardeners, acolytes, musicians, and, in absence of pack animals, beast of burden.
Once built, the friars were convinced, temples required decorating, the painting of religious scenes with saints, angels, and heavens. In general, Spanish artists did the notable wok, but, again, Indian artists lent a hand. Indians alone painted some of the early murals in convents, monasteries, and temples, such as those at Ixmiquilpan and Culhuacán.
Painting, however, maintained its Spanish character. In no way was it a fusion of European and Indian; as an artist, the Indian accepted European tutelage. Spaniards taught him to pain---for instance, at Gante's famous school---but the art, as friars visualized it, was for a religious purpose. From this blend of Spanish religious design and the labor of Indian artists evolved a "Christian-Indian" school of painting. It was Christian because of its religious goals; Indian because the artist, a neophyte, left his ingenuousness or candor stamped on it.
The Indian sculptor proved less malleable, more independent. It was he, more than the painter, who wove hid unique trademark into the fabric of his wok. Monasteries required not merely murals but sculptures, both in relief and in the round, art forms the Indians had mastered long since. Because of their nature, the similarity of materials used as well as his technical skills, the Indian shaped to his liking the sculptures he carved. The total design might well be entirely European, but, here and there, both technique and ornamental motif were Indian, such as the spires of the dome of the church at Acolman---a design utterly European but, because of its native floral motif, difficult to catalog as Europea.
VIII
During these tempestuous decades, the years after the fall of Tenochtitlán, Spaniards set about to make New Spain their colony. Their success, which laid the foundations of colonial Mexico, cost the natives dearly. Yet out of the exploitation of Indians by Spaniards, there emerged a new people, the Mexicans, and with the a distinct way of life.
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Palacio de Cortés in Oaxaca
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In the next issue we'll continue with Chapter III of this fascinating book: A NEW SPAIN
Prof. Germán Estrada
E-mail: estradanav@yahoo.com
Source: : From the book Triumphs and Tragedy, a History of the Mexican People by his author Ramon Eduardo Ruiz, and with his authorization. (W.W. Norton & Company. New York-London).
Prof. Germán Estrada is the author of the best selling book, México Mágico: Everything You Wanted To Know About... But Nobody Told You..." available in Puerto Vallarta at The Net House, Mail Boxes, Etc., Books, Books as well as directly from his website.
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