Object Details
Artist
Jorge Soto Sánchez, born New York, NY 1947-died White River Junction, VT 1987
Exhibition Label
In the early 1970s, Soto Sánchez saw Francisco Oller’s El Velorio (1893), an iconic Puerto Rican painting that depicts a baquiné, a folk Catholic custom that commemorates the death of a child. On the island this tradition resonates with African diasporic belief systems. Soto Sánchez’s version takes place in New York City and is populated by figures that sprout heads from joints and other parts of their bodies. These mutating forms are visual manifestations of ritualized spirit possession central to Santeria. Soto Sánchez formed part of a community of diasporic Puerto Rican artists who, unlike many cultural elites on the island, affirmed the importance of Afro-Puerto Rican culture.
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art, 2013
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Copyright
© Hermiñia Ramos
Date
1974, revised 1984
Object number
2013.60.1
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Graphic Arts-Print
Medium
hand-colored screenprint
Dimensions
sheet and image: 25 7/8 x 39 7/8 in. (65.7 x 101.3 cm)
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Graphic Arts
Data Source
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Topic
Figure group
Cityscape\New York
Architecture Interior
Link to Original Record
Record ID
saam_2013.60.1