UJ #7 - Peruvian Amazon

AMAZONIAN ART
THE YEAR 2042 WILL MARK
THE 500-YEAR ANNIVERSARY
OF THE “DISCOVERY” OF THE
AMAZON RIVER BY FRANCISCO
DE ORELLANA AND HIS FELLOW
EXPLORERS. IT ALSO MARKS THE
DAY THAT SAW THE BEGINNING OF
A HUGE ARTISTIC PRODUCTION,
WHICH – OVER THE YEARS – HAS
HELPED US UNDERSTAND THE
COMPLEX SOCIAL PROCESSES
THAT HAVE PIERCED AMAZONIAN
SOCIETY. RELIGIOUS MISSIONARIES,
THE RUBBER BOOM, MODERNISM,
AND CONTEMPORARY LIFE ARE
CLEARLY DEPICTED ON THE CANVAS
– MODIFIED TIME AND AGAIN, AS
THESE ARTISTS TELL THE STORIES
OF THEIR LAND, NARRATING,
SHARING, AND DENOUNCING THEIR
HISTORY AND THEIR REALITIES.
By
Diego Oliver
Thanks to:
Christian Bendayán.
Alfredo Villar.
Elena Valera -
Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/elena.
valeravasquez.92.
Juan Vásquez Amaringo -
Facebook:
“PABLO C. AMARINGOˮ
High Art Gallery & “USKO-
AYARˮ Amazonian School
of Painting.
Next Page:
Woman with a macaw and
orchids - César Calvo de
Araujo (1960).
Amazonian
Art
From missions to the urban jungle
Forty-one year old Christian Bendayán is one of the most influential painters from the Loreto
region, and perhaps the biggest current promoter of Amazonian art. Born in Iquitos,
he spent most of his life in the jungle city, but now resides in the country’s capital, Lima.
Bendayán’s work marks a shift in the representation of the Amazon from a more traditional
conglomeration of tribes, rivers, plants, and wild animals, to its modern reality as a concrete
island located in the middle of the jungle with all the chaos and social crisis one would expect
from an third-world metropolis. “I think that Amazonian painting today looks to expose
aspects of history that have been swept under the rug,” Bendayán says. The sunlight coming
through the window illuminates him as he sits in front of a drawing table. Behind him, there’s a
large, unfinished canvas with three seductive, bikini-clad women painted on it – an image that
wouldn’t have been accepted centuries ago.
The Peruvian Amazon has been populated for millions of years. The Kotosh were the first recorded
civilization, dating back to two million years BC. Hundreds of years later - around XIII
AD - Peru witnessed the existence of the Chachapoyas, who populated the Amazon’s high
and lowlands, leaving few archaeological traces. Today’s larger urban conglomerations are
generally located in the lowlands, where Spanish explorers and religious missionaries arrived
during colonization. Upon their arrival, the Spanish began trying to justify the unknown and misunderstood
using Western mythology –actually naming the Amazon after the Greek myth of
the Amazons – rather than attempting to understand the complex reality of the native peoples.
There are few visual records that depict the attempts of the Dominican Missionaries to convert
the natives. Francisco de Requena, who journeyed to establish the limits between Peru and
Brazil from 1779 to 1795, painted some of the best representations of the original interactions
with the ‘new world’. De Requena made beautiful watercolors showcasing the amazing landscapes
of the territory he was overseeing.
Almost a century later, when Peru was already recognized as an independent republic, numerous
scientists made their way over with expert recording artists, and together, they made
a hugely valuable registry of the Amazon’s environment. Among the scientists were Italy’s
Antonio Raimondi, Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt, and Austrian Charles Wiener. Shortly
after, in 1860, the Peruvian government made Iquitos the strategic port-town of the northern
Amazon, triggering perhaps the most tragic period in Amazon history.
The government saw the Amazon as an uninhabited territory. Natives were virtually invisible.
The jungle was a virgin area full of natural resources that were ready to be harvested for
the benefit of adventurous businessmen. All of a sudden, European families began to arrive
and settle in what is now known as Iquitos. And so began the rubber boom. In that time,