Painted Cloth: Fashion and Ritual in Colonial Latin America

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.

Delve deeper into details featured in the show by reading our blog post The Unusual and Ravishing: Beauty Marks, Cochineal, and Prints Galore by Daniel Ymbong.

Join the conversation on social using #PaintedClothATX

This exhibition is organized by Rosario I. Granados, Marilynn Thoma Associate Curator, Art of the Spanish Americas

Members get free admission.

Upcoming / Past Events

Further reading and additional resources on Casta paintings can be found in this bibliography.

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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

Al Día, Learning From Spanish Colonial Art

Antiques & The Arts Weekly, Painted Cloth: Fashion and Ritual in Colonial Latin America

artnet, A New Exhibition at the Blanton Museum in Texas Is Using Fashion to Explore the Art and Hidden Histories of Colonial Latin America

Austin American-Statesman, 5 things to know about Painted Cloth, the Blanton’s spectacular new exhibit

BBC, The 18th-Century clothing that reveals hidden truths

Hyperallergic, The Complex Fashion History of Colonial America

Sightlines, At the Blanton “Painted Cloth” presents more than the sumptuous clothes of Colonial Latin America

The Daily Texan, Blanton Museum Opens Exhibition on Spanish American Textiles

Texas Monthly, A New Exhibit Wants to Reframe the Atrocities of Colonialism. Are Americans Ready for That Conversation?

Wall Street Journal, Power Dressing in Spanish Colonial America

Women’s Wear Daily, An Exhibit on Fashion and Ritual in Colonial Latin America Weaves Lessons Through Textiles

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