Latin American art

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Detail from Popular History of Mexico, mosaic by Diego Rivera, 1953; on the Teatro des los Insurgentes, Mexico City.

Lion fountain, 16th century, Tepeaca, Mexico; in the Museo Nacional Virreinal, Tepotzotlán, Mexico.

Page from the Codex Mendoza (begun 1541) depicting Aztec education of boys and girls.

Syncretistic cross in Acolmán, Mexico (c. 1560s), with the face of Jesus Christ shown at the centre and the crossbar showing foliage representing the world tree connecting the underworld to the heavens.

Vaulting with frescoes, oil on canvas by Juan Gersón, 1562; in the Franciscan church at Tecamachalco, Puebla, Mexico.

Santiago Matamoros (“Santiago the Moor Slayer”), relief by an anonymous sculptor, 1654, on the side portal of the Jesuit church of La Compañía in Arequipa, Peru.

Albán, Vicente: Noble Woman with Her Black Slave

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Latin American art

visual arts

Written by John F. Scott

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Related Topics:: history of Latin America; Native American art; Latin American architecture; art

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Latin American art, artistic traditions that developed in Mesoamerica, Central America, and South America after contact with the Spanish and the Portuguese beginning in 1492 and 1500, respectively, and continuing to the present. This article will not discuss the art of non-Iberian colonial holdings that began late in the 16th century and culminated in the 17th; for these territories, see individual country articles (e.g., Haiti, Guyana, Jamaica). For more technical explorations of media, see individual media articles (e.g., painting, sculpture, pottery, textile). The architecture of the region is treated in a separate article; see Latin American architecture. The European discovery, ...(100 of 18431 words)

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