Presencia de América Latina
Presencia de América Latina (Presence of Latin America), also known as Integración de América Latina (Integration of Latin America), is a mural painted by Mexican artist Jorge González Camarena between November 1964 and April 1965. The 300-square-meter mural, painted in acrylics on rough stucco, is located in the lobby of the Casa del Arte of the University of Concepción (Ciudad Universitaria de Concepción), in Concepción, Chile. Its principal theme is the unity and brotherhood of the different Latin American cultures.[1]
Description and interpretation
Structure of the mural
The mural is divided into three parts: a flat, central panel measuring 20 by 6 meters, and two sides panels set off at oblique angles to the central part. Each panel measures 7.6 by 6 meters. The mural as a whole is 211.2 m2.[3] In addition to this, the mural makes use of a staircase with right angles leading up to a second-story art gallery, increasing the total area to 300 m2.
Symbolism
The mural describes the history of Latin America through the use of angular, symbolic images, which emphasize the value of fraternity between the different ethnicities of the Latin American world. The work is read chronologically from right to left.
Pre-Columbian culture
The right panel represents
Miscegenation
The central panel begins a bit to the left of the first part with the Spanish soldier and a Native woman, the principal creators of miscegenation. Jorge González called this part The Original Couple ("La pareja original"), who walk over layers of coal, in which there are imprisoned, sleeping women, symbolizing the riches of the earth: silver, gold, iron and copper. On the surface of this swarm of bodies and precious stones, sprouts a pregnant woman covered with vines, representing the fertility of the earth. From her surge American corn and Old World wheat, nourishment that sustains the bases of industrialization, technology and science, represented as an intricate steel machine on the upper part of the panel.
At the center of the panel there are several overlapping faces, which symbolize the fusion of the races: the largest in red, represents the American race. Below these faces a life-sized, naked woman has a map of Latin America on her lap. She constitutes the principal subject matter of the mural.
On the woman one can see a capital that symbolizes the Greco-Roman contribution to Latin American culture; and a bit to the left, great blocks of solid rock, which create a great, vertical structure, symbolizing Mesoamerican architecture.
Fraternity
Presence of Latin America | |
---|---|
Spanish: Presencia de América Latina | |
Artist | Jorge González Camarena |
Year | 1964-65 |
On the left panel of the mural there is a
All along the top of the mural, the flags of the different Latin American nations wave in sequence. The sequence begins at the right with the
The Andes appears in the distant background, and crowning the entire mural are the verses of the Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda:
...There is no beauty like the beauty of America spread out in its hells / in its mountains of rock and power, in its atavistic and eternal rivers...
(...Y no hay belleza como esta belleza de América extendida en sus infiernos / en sus cerros de piedra y poderío, en sus ríos atávicos y eternos...)
Symbol of the University and Concepción
Along with the clock tower of the
See also
References
- ISSN 0718-0462.
- ^ Short documentary about the Mural "Presencia de América Latina" livingatlaschile.com, released on January 18, 2014, retrieved on February 18, 2014
- ^ Peralta, Tole (1965). Muro y mura. Case de Arte "José Clemente Orozco," Universidad de Concepción.
- ^ a b Nuestro.cl (April 2007). "Mural "Presencia de América Latina". Emblema de la cultura penquista" (in Spanish). pp. 3 pages. Retrieved 10 November 2008.
- ^ Echeverría Cancino, Albino (2005). Presencia de América Latina: apuntes para la historia del mural. Universidad de Concepción, Chile: Dirección de Extensión. p. 8.
- ^ "Editorial Universidad de Concepción" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 5 November 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2008.
- ^ Turistel, guías y rutas (Chilean tourism guide). "Pinacoteca de la Universidad de Concepción - Atractivos culturales: museos de Chile" (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 November 2008.
- ^ "Monumento Historico: Mural 'Presencia de America Latina' de Jorge González Camarena" (in Spanish). Government of Chile. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
- ^ "Mural de la Casa del Arte recibió su Placa Bicentenario" (in Spanish). Universidad de Concepción. 2009. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2013.