The Arts of the Missions of Northern New Spain, 1600–1821 (review)

Coedited by the curators of the exhibition of the same title, The Arts of the Missions of Northern New Spain goes beyond general art history to place the religious artistic traditions of Catholic Spain and its objects within the context of the geographical, social, and historical milieu of the regions that encompass present-day Texas, New Mexico, southern Colorado, Arizona, California, and northern Mexico.

In her introduction Clara Bargellini describes the catalog and exhibition as not only featuring the art of the missions but also mission life. This is achieved by including an ample number of scholarly articles by an international team of experts from many different fields such as historian David Weber, ethno-historian William Merrill, archaeologist and art historian Marie-Areti Hers, and architectural historian James E. Ivey.

The essays tell the stories of the mission enterprise in the north. Weber’s essay details the uneasy relations throughout the mission-building period as he delves into components of force, fear, and violence that shaped the lives of both Natives and Spaniards. Hers’s article deals with the diverse cultures and artistic expressions abundant in Northern New Spain before the arrival of the Spanish, while Merrill’s article discusses the various indigenous societies and how their diverse cultures affected the colonial system. Ivey’s article deals with the diversity of not only indigenous societies but also how landscape, geographical environs, and economy influenced and changed the set rules of mission building. Bargellini’s article is an informative narrative of art in the missions themselves while Michael Komanecky’s article bridges past the colonial period into an era when the image of the Spanish mission was romanticized by outside artists. A final article is authored by conservators Liliana Gioguli Chávez, Molanda Madrid A., Mercedes Murguía Meca, Fanny Unikel Santoncini, Jannen Contreras, and Rosa Lorena Román Torres.

The final section of the book is the exhibition catalog. This section is much more than a simple showcase of images and accompanying labels; it includes an in-depth description of each item from the exhibition. Interspersed are individual essays describing a specific artistic tradition such as Marina Garone Gravier’s article on the printed word and the use of indigenous languages. Other detailed articles discuss painting on hide, metalwork, silver objects, and Native American basketry in Spanish missions.

This book includes images from the various regions in Northern New Spain depicting the landscape within which these people lived and the environs in which many cultures merged. A disappointment is that only one map is included in the book. This map, in Merrill’s essay on indigenous societies and the colonial system, depicts the many diverse languages spoken throughout Northern New Spain. Other maps should have been included to illustrate the many place names mentioned in each article.

The Arts of the Missions of Northern New Spain will appeal to scholars and the general public alike. It is a wonderful compilation of articles depicting the diverse cultures and artistic traditions that developed during the colonial period in New Spain.