El Velorio de Oller en Nueva York

Jorge Soto Sánchez, El Velorio de Oller en Nueva York, 1974, revised 1984, hand-colored screenprint, sheet and image: 25 ⁷⁄₈ x 39 ⁷⁄₈ in. (65.7 x 101.3 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2013.60.1, © Hermiñia Ramos

Artwork Details

Title: El Velorio de Oller en Nueva York
Artist: Jorge Soto Sánchez
Date: 1974, revised 1984
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: sheet and image: 25 ⁷⁄₈ x 39 ⁷⁄₈ in. (65.7 x 101.3 cm)
Copyright: © Hermiñia Ramos
Credit Line: Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums Description: hand-colored screenprint
Classifications: Graphic Arts
Print
Subjects: Figure group
Cityscape — New York
Architecture Interior
Object Number: 2013.60.1
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2013.60.1

Artwork Description

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

A comienzos de los años setenta, Soto Sánchez vio la obra de Francisco Oller El Velorio (1893), una pintura emblemática de Puerto Rico que representa a un baquiné, la costumbre popular católica con la que se conmemora la muerte de un niño. En la isla, esta tradición está relacionada con los sistemas de creencias de la diáspora africana. La versión de Soto Sánchez tiene lugar en la ciudad de Nueva York y está poblada de figuras con cabezas brotando de varias partes del cuerpo como las articulaciones. Estas formas mutantes son manifestaciones visuales del ritual de posesión espiritual que caracteriza à la santería. Soto Sánchez formó parte de una comunidad de artistas puertorriqueños en diáspora quienes, a diferencia de muchos miembros de las élites de la isla, afirmaron la importancia de la cultura afropuertorriqueña.

Works by this artist (6 items)

View all artworks

Teatro Jurutungo

Artist

Jorge Soto Sánchez

Datelate 1970s

screenprint

Untitled

Artist

Jorge Soto Sánchez

Date1974

screenprint

Primer Festival de Teatro Popular Latinoamericano

Artist

Jorge Soto Sánchez

Date1976

screenprint

Untitled

Artist

Jorge Soto Sánchez

Dateafter 1976

paint, felt-tipped pen and pencil on paper

Exhibitions

Media - 2011.12 - SAAM-2011.12_1 - 77591

Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art

October 25, 2013–March 2, 2014

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art presents the rich and varied contributions of Latino artists in the United States since the mid-twentieth century, when the concept of a collective Latino identity began to emerge.