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I never imagined during my period of infatuation with postmodern theory that I would one day be an advocate for objective truth. But if we’ve learned anything since the 2016 US presidential election, it’s that facts and truth matter. While sensitive to the ways in which data can be manipulated

Can the tools of Chicana/o/x studies decolonize art history? In this short editorial comment—equal parts original research, testimonio , and activist’s call for change—I reflect on being both an art historian and an ethnic studies scholar, positioned in between the rarefied, privileged world

Welcome to Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture , the first peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated to visual and material cultures in Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, the United States, and those in diaspora, published by the University of California Press. Its

We take this opportunity to reflect on the first year of publishing LALVC , plan for the future, and thank all of the contributors, peer reviewers, editorial board members, subscribers, and other supporters. The enthusiasm for LALVC 's content, as revealed by submissions, subscriptions, mentions on

Renaissance Futurities considers the intersections between artistic rebirth, the new science, and European imperialism in the global early modern world. Charlene Villasenor Black and Mari-Tere Alvarez take as inspiration the work of prolific Renaissance artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) and other polymaths, such as philosopher Giulio “Delminio” Camillo (1480–1544), physician and naturalist Francisco Hernandez de Toledo (1514–1587), and writer Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616). This concern with futurity is inspired by the Renaissance itself, a period defined by visions of the future, as well as by recent theorizing of temporality in Renaissance and queer studies. This transdisciplinary volume is at the cutting edge of the humanities, medical humanities, scientific discovery, and avant-garde artistic expression.

Early modern patrons and painters in the Spanish empire, including masters Murillo and Velazquez, prized blue pigments—ultramarine, lapis lazuli, indigo, cobalt blue, and smalt. Blue pigments are notorious, though, for their expense and their instability. As recounted by art theorist Francisco Pacheco and others, many blue pigments were known to degrade, losing their color within decades of use. Why would artists and patrons choose pigments, and smalt in particular, with such a short half-life? This chapter, written by Charlene Villasenor Black, investigates how developments in Arabic science and technology, as well as early modern conceptions of temporality, conditioned attitudes toward blues in Spain. Unique meanings, traceable to the legacies of al-Andalus, and the valorization of Hispano-Moresque ceramics, accrued to blues in Golden Age painting.

Renaissance Futurities considers the intersections between artistic rebirth, the new science, and European imperialism in the global early modern world. Charlene Villaseñor Black and Mari-Tere Álvarez reconsider the work of Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), prolific artist and inventor, and other polymaths such as philosopher Giulio “Delminio” Camillo (1480–1544), physician and naturalist Francisco Hernández de Toledo (1514–1587), and writer Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616). This concern with futurity is inspired by the Renaissance itself, a period defined by visions of the future, as well as by recent theorizing of temporality in Renaissance, queer, and ethnic studies. This transdisciplinary collection is at the cutting edge of the humanities, the sciences, and the arts with contributions in history, art history, literature, media studies, mathematics, and medicine.

This article by the current editor examines the history of Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies , one of the earliest Latina/o studies journals, founded at UCLA in 1970, in terms of its commitment to visual artists, in particular the first cover artist, prominent Chicana artist Judithe Hernandez, creator of Aztlan 's striking, indigenizing covers from 1970 to 1975. It also describes the work of artist Robert Loza, other cover artists, and editor activities.

According to believers, the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared in 1531 to recent indigenous convert Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac, north of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán, an area in the environs of Mexico City. The series of apparitions culminated with the miraculous appearance of her image imprinted on his native cloak, or tilma. This painting, housed in the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the Villa de Guadalupe in northern Mexico City, has been venerated from the 16th century. The Virgin of Guadalupe is considered the patroness of Mexico, and special protector of its native and mestizo populations. She is perhaps the best-known symbol of Mexico, and her image is very common in the fine and popular arts. She has played a number of roles over the centuries—as object of religious devotion, emblem of national pride, symbol of peace and justice, and feminist icon. Similarly, her image has transformed over time, from the original sacred icon of 1531 to controversial contemporary images from the 1970s. Her image is also frequent in the United States, where 20th- and 21st century Chicana/o (Mexican American) artists represent her in community murals, prints, photographs, sculptures, and paintings. Chicana (Mexican American) women artists have transformed her into a feminist icon, generating controversy and provoking censorship in both the United States and Mexico. Held sacred by many Mexican, Chicana/o, and Latina/o Catholics, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe has never been neutral, but instead, represents the mutability and political potential of Catholic sacred imagery.

While in San Francisco, California, in 1930 and 1931 to execute several mural commissions, including The Allegory of California and The Making of a Fresco, the famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera also produced an associated sketchbook. In forty-nine charcoal drawings, plus two additional watercolor landscapes, Rivera sketched the land, industry, and people of Northern California, in particular miners and the mining environment, as well as important patrons of his work. In this article, we contextualize the sketchbook within the history of California, identify several sitters for Rivera’s portrait sketches, and additionally suggest reattributing one of the sketches to the artist’s wife, Frida Kahlo.

This special issue focuses on the new materials that became available as a result of global trade. These new commodities brought great changes to the early modern world, particularly to the arts and crafts. Knowledge about the acquisition of, and trade in, such materials increasingly alters our view of history. Before 1856, natural colorants were the only sources of colors for dyeing and painting; humans were always searching for them. The plants, minerals, and insects of the New World created pigments for painting, colorants for cosmetics, dyes for textiles, and even treatments for medical conditions.

‭This introduction examines the usefulness of Habermas’s “post-secularity” for discussions of religion in contemporary Latin American art, as well as the Náhuatl concept of “nepantla,” or in-betweeness, and Néstor García Canclini’s “multi-temporal heterogeneity.” These terms are examined in relation to the work of artists Delilah Montoya and Francis Alÿs.‬

In seventeenth-century Spain, a number of different paintings and sculptures gave visual form to the subject of the Virgin Mary’s education as a young girl. Scenes of the Presentation depict her at the age of three years, taking leave of her parents and entering the Temple of Jerusalem, where she received instruction until her betrothal to St. Joseph at the age of 14. A number of memorable paintings and sculptures represent the elderly St. Anne teaching or reading with her young daughter. While these are the two best known scenes depicting Mary’s education, several other types were produced by Spanish Golden Age artists. Four paintings by Sevillian artist Francisco de Zurbaran picture Mary as a young girl of about eight years old praying, embroidering, and reading, scenes that, I will argue, represent her childhood education. With the exception of the Presentation scene, all of these subjects seem to appear out of the blue in the early seventeenth century in Spanish art, as demonstrated by tender examples by Sevillian artists Francisco de Zurbaran, Bartolome Esteban Murillo, Juan de Roelas, and Juan Martinez Montanes, and seem to enjoy popularity in Spain. Why were these scenes of Mary’s childhood commissioned and for whom? What visual and textual sources inspired artists and patrons? Are they primarily records of a novel trend in Marian devotion, or can such scenes tell us something of the lives of ordinary girls in early modern Spain?

she isthe first Western artist to include anatomically correct in-terpretations of reproduction within her art, including mito-sis, fertilization, pregnancy, and lactation. Combining ex-pertise in obstetrics and art history, we have analyzed thereferences to human reproduction within the work of FridaKahlo.Kahlo had a remarkable knowledge of medicine, havingcompleted premedical studies at the National PreparatorySchool in Mexico City. At 18 years of age she was involvedin a streetcar accident. A metal handrail perforated herabdomen, exiting through her vagina; additional injuriesincluded pelvic, vertebral, and foot fractures.

Object of desire, symbol of sin and repentance, political icon, attribute of maternal love, food source—the female breast represents all of these concepts. Recent scholars and cultural critics have analyzed the erotics and political potentialities of women’s breasts. The lactating breast, however, has not been the object of sustained meditation. It, too, is a signifier of rich complexity, the inspirational source of allegories of love, nourishment, and creation, as well as poverty, charity, duty, and even intellectual impulse.1 The allegorical potential of the lactating breast surpasses mere physiological function, attracting the attention of moralists, social critics, medical doctors, activists, and others. Today in the United States, nursing and bottle-feeding mothers engage in disputes that implicate issues of maternal obligation, mother-child bonding, career choice, and child development. Amid claims that maternal breastfeeding raises children’s intelligence quotients (and, according to one study, the intellectual capacity of nursing mothers themselves), facilitates parent-child bonding, prevents food allergies, and bestows emotional security on children, the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that all mothers breastfeed their children for at least the first year of life.2