Europe and the Jaguar

Carlos Almaraz, Europe and the Jaguar, 1982, oil on canvas, unframed: 72 × 72 in. (182.9 × 182.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift from the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Gift of The Friends of the Corcoran), 2020.20.7

Artwork Details

Title: Europe and the Jaguar
Artist: Carlos Almaraz
Date: 1982
Location: Smithsonian American Art Museum
/
3rd Floor
/
East Wing
Dimensions: unframed: 72 × 72 in. (182.9 × 182.9 cm)
Credit Line: Gift from the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Gift of The Friends of the Corcoran)
Mediums Description: oil on canvas
Classifications: Painting
Subjects: Performing arts
Figure group
Object Number: 2020.20.7
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2020.20.7

Artwork Description

A train runs through a cityscape of vibrant pink and blue, chugging past an array of mysterious figures that populate the night sky. Below, a Mesoamerican-looking jaguar with blocky, stylized features holds hands with a nude woman. Their joined arms stretch above a dapper man smoking beneath them.

Carlos Almaraz uses these cryptic characters to suggest larger ideas and to reflect on the complex relationship between the cultures of Mexico, where he was born, and the United States, where he moved as a child. Here, symbols of ancient America, modern Europe, and the contemporary United States are joined. Untethered to a specific time and place, Almaraz's figures frolic across a noirish and dreamlike urban landscape.