
MAJOR EXHIBITION
Painted Cloth: Fashion and Ritual in Colonial Latin America
OPENS
August 14, 2022
CLOSES
January 8, 2023
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About the Exhibition
Golden brocades and voluptuous fabrics are a characteristic visual feature of Spanish American art.
Painted Cloth: Fashion and Ritual in Colonial Latin America addresses the social roles of textiles and their visual representations in different media produced in Bolivia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela during the 1600s and 1700s. Beyond emphasizing how aesthetic traditions of European and Indigenous origin were woven together during this period, the exhibition showcases the production, use, and meaning of garments as well as the ways they were experienced both in civil and religious settings.
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This exhibition is organized by Rosario I. Granados, Marilynn Thoma Associate Curator, Art of the Spanish Americas
Members get free admission.
Community Program: Casta
For a limited two-week run, Austin-based Salvage Vanguard Theater will perform Casta. The immersive performance features puppetry, dance, and original music.
Casta is inspired by Mexican casta paintings, which depict the mixing of races that occurred in colonial Latin America. Set in Mexico City in 1785, the play depicts a wealthy patron who commissions an apprentice to paint a casta series. Although the painter tries to please the patron, the portraits come to life and revolt.
Performances will take place in the Rapaport Atrium inside the museum.
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The accompanying catalogue for this exhibition is available for pre-order via The University of Texas Press HERE.
Painted Cloth: Fashion and Ritual in Colonial Latin America
Edited by Rosario I. Granados, Marilynn Thoma Associate Curator, Art of the Spanish Americas
This lavishly illustrated exhibition catalogue focuses on the social role of civil and religious clothing in Latin America during the 1700s.
Photo Gallery
Credits
Painted Cloth: Fashion and Ritual in Colonial Latin America is organized by the Blanton Museum of Art.
Lead funding for this exhibition and accompanying catalogue is provided by the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation and a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom, with additional support from the Scurlock Foundation Exhibition Endowment.


Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Press
Feature Image Credit
Attributed to Pedro José Diaz, Portrait of Rosa de Salazar y Gabiño, Countess of Monteblanco and Montemar (detail), Lima, circa 1770–1780, oil on canvas, 37 x 29 3/4 in., Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Purchase through the generosity of Jeanne and Michael Klein in honor of Marilynn Thoma, 2019; (right) Miguel Cabrera, Doña María de la Luz Padilla y Gómez de Cervantes (detail), Mexico City, circa 1760, oil on canvas, 43 x 33 in., Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund and Dick S. Ramsay Fund