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Puerto Rican Art

Puerto Rican Art

Historically, Puerto Rico is only 512 years old. The island was discovered on November 19, 1493 by Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to the New World. On the island he found Taino Indians living there. Juan Ponce de León came to the island in 1508 as its first governor. In 1521, the city of San Juan was established.

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Puerto Rico was attacked by the Dutch and English, Spain's enemies. The island was struggling to attain economical stability by raising cattle and farming on a small scale. By the end of the nineteenth century, Puerto Rico had grown considerably socially, economically, and politically. The Cédula de Gracias of 1815 offered many incentives and advantages the immigrants of the new Latin American republics. Puerto Rico became a sugar exporting colony. After the Spanish-American War in 1898, Puerto Rico was ceded by Spain to the United States. In 1917, Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens and adopted the Commonwealth state in 1952.

Although Puerto Rico is relatively young artistically, it has gone through major cultural changes, first with the Spanish conquest, and then with the United States and other immigrant groups. The artistic production of painters and craftsmen, through these not yet five hundred years, reflect these cultural shocks.

Puerto Rico, like the United States, is a land of immigrants. It is presently in the process of establishing a cultural statement. Because of the diversity of its inhabitants, no statement of a unified artistic expression can be made. In earlier times, the discovery, the colonization period, and later some stability in the nineteenth century, the artistic production was basically unified, that is, it portrayed Puerto Rico through single statements, its people, its vegetation, eminent politicians, religious beliefs, etc.

The contemporary artists have expressed their ideas in more complex and stylized ways. This is not saying that...