Ester Nelly Abuter Ananías - Fachbereich Philosophie und ...

Georgia de Havenon ( Brooklyn Museum, Art of the Americas, New York, u sa )
Un Mélange Bizarre : Michoacán Figures in Humboldt’s Narrative
In Alexander von Humboldt’s extraordinary travelogue, Vues des Cordillères, plates
52 and 53 represent a man and a woman wearing a mixture of native and Colonial
dress. Th ese fi gures are in fact not human, but part of a group of wood fi gurines that
were carved by Michoacán craft speople and presented to the Queen of Prussia by
Humboldt upon his return. Th e author comments on their fabrication technique,
but makes no judgments as to the fi gures’ places in society, and by extension, writes
only that the natives who created the fi gurines were very industrious and possessed
a notable talent for carving. Although not cited as such, these fi gures relate to the
popular genre of casta painting that was prevalent in Mexico during the eighteenth
century. Usually created in a series, the canvases were made to catalog all the racial
types that had evolved since the conquest. Many of these art works traveled to
Spain as witnesses to the curious developments that ensued in the New World. Th e
paintings are not without a certain racist undertone, although they have oft en been
characterized as scientifi c products of the Enlightenment, in particular the Linnean
taxonomic dictate to classify humans. Th is paper will explore the relationship
between the purposeful idealization of casta art and Humboldt’s portrayal of native
people in the Vues des Cordillères, as well as give a brief description of the evolution
of genre specifi c depictions of indigenous people in the next generation of explorer/
travelers.
Email gdehavenon@aol.com
Section Alexander von Humboldt
Panel 81
Date July 31
Time 10 :45
Location l 115