Colombian art has 3500 years of history and covers a wide range of media and styles ranging from Spanish Baroque devotional painting to Quimbaya gold craftwork to the "lyrical americanism" of painter Alejandro Obregón (1920–1992). Perhaps the most internationally acclaimed Colombian artist is painter and sculptor Fernando Botero (1932).

Pre-Columbian sculpture

Pottery

There is archaeological evidence that ceramics were produced on Colombia's Caribbean coast earlier than anywhere in the Americas outside of the lower Amazon Basin. Fiber- tempered ceramics associated with shell middens appeared at sites such as Puerto Hormiga, Monsú, Puerto Chacho, and San Jacinto by 3100 BC. Fiber-tempered ceramics at Monsú have been dated to 5940 radiocarbon years

before present Before Present (BP) years, or "years before present", is a time scale used mainly in archaeology, geology and other scientific disciplines to specify when events occurred relative to the origin of practical radiocarbon dating in the 1950s. Becau ...

. The fiber-tempered pottery at Puerto Hormiga was "crude", formed from a single lump of clay. The fiber-tempered pottery at San Jacinto is described as "well-made". Sand-tempered coiled ceramics have also been found at Puerto Hormiga. The Piartal culture (750–1250 AD) in the mountainous region on the Colombia–Ecuador border produced unique methods of producing pottery as well as patterns inspired by animal or snake skin. Vessels were created for use in secondary burial, or the practice of allowing the flesh to decompose and then reburying the bones. These vessels were also used to hold relics and jewelry belonging to the deceased. Poporo by Turista Perene

Goldwork

The earliest examples of gold craftsmanship have been attributed to the Tumaco people of the Pacific coast and date to around 325 BCE. Gold would play a pivotal role in luring the Spanish to the area now called Colombia during the 16th century (See: El Dorado). One of the most valued artifacts of Pre-Columbian goldwork is the so-called ''

Poporo Quimbaya Poporo is a device used by indigenous cultures in present and pre-Columbian South America for storage of small amounts of lime produced from burnt and crushed sea-shells. It consists of two pieces: the receptacle, and the lid which includes a p ...

'', a small (23.5 × 11.4 cm), hollow, devotional object (used to ''mambeo'' or

coca leaf Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. The plant is grown as a cash crop in the Argentine Northwest, Bolivia, Al ...

chewing ritual) made of gold whose aesthetic harmony, simple elegance, and mathematical symmetry are striking and almost modern. The Museo del Oro in Bogotá displays the most important collection of pre-Columbian gold handicraft in the Americas.

Stone

Roughly between 200 BCE and 800 CE, the San Agustín culture, masters of stonecutting, entered its “classical period". They erected raised ceremonial centres, sarcophagi, and large stone

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. For instance, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often ma ...

s depicting anthropomorphic and zoomorphhic forms out of stone. Some of these have been up to five meters high. Related to the San Agustín culture were the inhabitants of ''

Tierradentro Tierra abajo (meaning "Underground" in Spanish for their well-known tombs) is one of the ancient Pre-Columbian cultures of Colombia. It started to flourish around 200 BC in the mountains of southwest Colombia, and continued into the 17th century. T ...

'' (“inner land”, so called because of its inaccessibility) who created over one hundred and fifty underground tombs, or hypogea; their walls and ceilings were richly decorated with geometric forms recalling the interior of palm huts. Also in the tombs were found funeral urns, bowls, and pitchers. File:Tolita-Tumaco gold figure 1st century BC.jpg, Tolita-Tumaco gold figure File:Muisca raft Legend of El Dorado Offerings of gold.jpg, The

Muisca raft The Muisca raft (''Balsa Muisca'' in Spanish), sometimes referred to as the Golden Raft of El Dorado, is a pre-Columbian votive piece created by the Muisca, an indigenous people of Colombia in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes. The pi ...

votive piece, ''

Muisca The Muisca (also called Chibcha) are an indigenous people and culture of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, Colombia, that formed the Muisca Confederation before the Spanish conquest. The people spoke Muysccubun, a language of the Chibchan langu ...

(

Pasca Pasca is a town and municipality in the Cundinamarca department of Colombia located in the Andes. It belongs to the Sumapaz Province. Pasca is situated on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense at a distance of from the capital Bogotá. It borders F ...

, Cundinamarca)'', gold, 600 CE - 1600 CE File:Villa de Leyva el infiernito.jpg,

El Infiernito ''El Infiernito'' (Spanish for "The Little Hell"), is a pre-Columbian archaeoastronomical site located on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense The Altiplano Cundiboyacense () is a high plateau located in the Eastern Cordillera of the Colombian Andes ...

archaeological site File:Parque Arqueológico de San Agustín-Mesita B - Eagle with snake.jpg,

Zoomorphic The word ''zoomorphism'' derives from the Greek ζωον (''zōon''), meaning "animal", and μορφη (''morphē''), meaning "shape" or "form". In the context of art, zoomorphism could describe art that imagines humans as non-human animals. It c ...

San Agustin sculpture File:Parque Arqueológico de San Agustín-Mesita A 06.jpg, Monumental tomb, ''Middle San Agustín period ( San Agustín, Huila)'', 100 BCE - 700 CE

Modern sculpture

The Colombian sculpture from the sixteenth to 18th centuries was mostly devoted to religious depictions of ecclesiastic art, strongly influenced by the Spanish schools of sacred sculpture. During the early period of the Colombian republic, the national artists were focused in the production of sculptural portraits of politicians and public figures, in a plain neoclassicist trend. During the 20th century, the Colombian sculpture began to develop a bold and innovative work with the aim of reaching a better understanding of national sensitivity. File:La_Bachue_de_Jose_Horacio_Betancur-Medellin(1).jpg, Monument to Bachué by Luís Horacio Betancur, Medellín File:TayronaStatue-highlighted-.jpg, Monument to the tayrona deities. Santa Marta File:India01.jpg, Monument to India Catalina in Cartagena File:Monumento pantano de vargas, completo. 2006.JPG, Vargas Swamp Lancers Memorial is the largest sculpture in Latin America File:La Raza-Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt.JPG, '' Monumento a la Raza'', located in La Alpujarra Administrative Center in Medellín File:Museodeantioquia.jpg, Botero Plaza in Medellín with permanent display of several sculptures by Fernando Botero File:Pajarodebotero1.jpg, ''Bird'' ( By Fernando Botero) Was destroyed by a

terrorist attack Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

in 1997, Medellín where 17 people died. The remains of the sculpture are displayed in San Antonio Square as a memorial for the victims File:María_Fernanda_Cardozo.jpg, Ranas bailando. (Dancing frogs) 1990. By María Fernanda Cardoso File:Escultura Negret El Virrey.JPG, Cascada. By

Edgar Negret Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and '' gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, r ...

Painting

Pre-Columbian period

File:Rupestres.jpg, Chimitá petrographs, circa 1300 B.C. Santander Department Colombian colonial art includes altar wood carving masterpieces and the statues for religious processions.

Colonial period

Painting in the colonial period reflected the power and prestige of the Catholic Church and the Spanish aristocracy in Colombia or as it was then known The New Kingdom of Granada (c. 1548-1717) and later The Viceroyalty of New Granada (1717–1819).

Early colonial period

Colombian painting in the early colonial period (1530s–1650) was mostly ecclesiastical in subject and based on

mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...

renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

, and

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

styles, with some minor influence from indigenous culture. Spanish explorers first set foot on Colombian soil in 1499 and established Santa Marta, the first city and government in the territory of Colombia, in 1599. King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabela of Castille had in 1492 year unified Spain and conquered the remaining Moorish stronghold in southern Spain (Granada); expelled Jews with the Alhambra Decree and continued the

Inquisition The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...

; and sent

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

on his first expedition. It is from this context of ''

reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

'' or the Christianizing of the Iberian peninsula that the similarly strongly Catholic colonial project in the Americas might be understood. In this period, Spain and Portugal were the greatest powers in Europe and the most dogged defenders (and enforcers) of

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Workshops in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

produced many of the early paintings sent to Colombia. Colombian artists in this period were mostly considered common tradesmen, like cobblers or coopers. As throughout much of the history of art around the world, these usually anonymous artisans produced work that served the ideological needs of their patrons, in this case the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. The churches and homes of wealthy families in the main towns of Cundinamarca and Boyacá contain some of the oldest extant examples of colonial art in Colombia, mostly in the form of mural painting. The first colonial-era painter to work in Colombia, or as it was then known as, Nueva Granada, was the

native Alonso de Narváez (d. 1583). He is credited with painting an image of the Virgin Mary (

Our Lady of the Rosary Our Lady of the Rosary, also known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, is a Marian title. The Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, formerly known as Feast of Our Lady of Victory and Feast of the Holy Rosary is celebrated on 7 October in the General Rom ...

) that later became itself an object of devotion, known as Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá thanks to, as Catholics believe, a miraculous repairing of the painting's fabric. Trinidad

Baroque period

Baroque art (starting in Rome around 1600), including Latin American Baroque (1650-1750 :es:Gregorio Vásquez de Arce y Ceballos), tended towards emotionalism, an appeal to populism, and large gestures and flowing garments. In line with the Counter-Reformation a generation prior, the Jesuits, an order formed to counter

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

, were the first to embrace the Baroque. The major influences on Colombian artists in this period were Spanish Baroque painters like

Francisco de Zurbarán Francisco de Zurbarán ( , ; baptized 7 November 1598 – 27 August 1664) was a Spanish painter. He is known primarily for his religious paintings depicting monks, nuns, and martyrs, and for his still-lifes. Zurbarán gained the nickname "Spanish ...

(1580–1664), as well as Flemish, Italian, and also Quito and Cuzco influences, through engravings and various original images imported for churches and monasteries. Another Seville native, Baltasar de Figueroa ''El Viejo'' (1629–1667), settled in Bogotá in the early 17th century and set up an artist's workshop. He and his many descendants would be prolific and would invent a kind of creolized Colombian form of Baroque painting that combined the borrowing of forms and subjects from European engravings (mostly religious in nature: saints in various states of mortification or ecstasy, the Virgin Mary, or Christ) with native motifs and decoration. But it would be one of the Figueroa family's apprentices, Gregorio Vázquez de Arce y Ceballos, who would stand out among all painters of the colonial era. Gregorio Vasquez de Arce y Ceballos (1638–1711) is considered the greatest master of the colonial period. In his lifetime he produced around five hundred paintings, mostly devotional, with a technique that juxtaposed figures taken from paintings by European masters using innovative materials found in the New World. His depictions of the Trinity as a single figure with four eyes and three faces, an innovation unique to Latin America, would be later condemned as heretical in part because they resembled Hindu deities. The

Sopo Archangels Sopo may refer to: * Sopó, a town in Colombia * Sopo (structure), a storage or granary structure in Batak Toba culture * Sopo River, a river in South Sudan * Sopo, Portugal, a town in Portugal See also * Korean cannon Cannons appeared in ...

is a series of twelve paintings, each featuring an

archangel Archangels () are the second lowest rank of angel in the hierarchy of angels. The word ''archangel'' itself is usually associated with the Abrahamic religions, but beings that are very similar to archangels are found in a number of other relig ...

(three canonical, plus eight apocryphal, and one guardian) engulfed in a tenebrous (cloudy) background. Their figures are life-sized, clad in rich apparel, full of drapes and folds, and are meant to be "read" through their various iconography. Like many depictions of angels, these ostensibly male figures are depicted with soft, feminine faces and round hips. The origin of this series is unknown, as is the artist. It is considered one of the enduring enigmas of Colombian art. File:San Jose con el nino, by Arce y Ceballos.JPG, '' San José y el Niño'' by Gregorio Vasquez de Arce y Ceballos, oil on wood, ca. 1670 File:File-Los desposorios místicos de Santa Catalina.jpg, ''St. Catalina weddings '' by Gregorio Vasquez de Arce y Ceballos, (Desposorios de Santa Catalina) 18th century. Oil on canvas 176 x 130 cm File:Trinidad.jpg, Holy

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...

, by Gregorio Vásquez de Arce y Ceballos. Oil on canvas.62 x 44 cm File:Coronacion de la Virgen by Figueroa.jpg, "Coronación de la virgen", by Baltasar de Vargas Figueroa (1663) – The catholic influence is very strong in the colonial period File:Arielsopo.jpg, Ariel- Command of God: The archangel of divine war. From the collection

File:Baraquel.jpg, Baraquel- Blessing of God: The archangel of virtue File:Custodiosopo.jpg, Guardian Angel-Company of God: The angel of children File:Esriel.jpg, Esriel-Justice of god: The archangel of divine discipline

The ''Virreinato'' and rococo

The raising of the Viceroyalty of New Granada in 1717 coincided roughly with the ascension of the Bourbons to the throne of Spain. This period marked a period of resurgence and the first sparks of

Enlightenment in Spain The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment ( es, Ilustración) came to Spain in the 18th century with the new Bourbon dynasty, following the death of the last Habsburg monarch, Charles II, in 1700. The period of reform and ' enlightened despotism' u ...

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

, a decadent form, replaced baroque as the dominant style. The new viceroy court in Bogotá led to a surge in demand for portraits of civilians and clergymen. The leading portrait painter of this period was Joaquín Guttiérrez. He depicted members of the aristocracy in frozen forms, surrounded by richly embellished furniture and decoration, and usually printed the subject's name and family title beneath their image.

Republican period

File:Policarpa Mercedes Delgado Mallarino.jpg, Policarpa Salavarrieta portrait by Mercedes Delgado Mallarino File:General Santander.jpg, Portrait of Francisco de Paula Santander (1874) by Martín Tovar y Tovar (1827-1902). Oil on canvas File:JoaquínMosquera2.jpg, Portrait of Joaquín Mosquera by

Ricardo Acevedo Bernal Ricardo Acevedo Bernal (4 May 1867 in Bogotá – 7 April 1930 in Rome) was a Colombian portrait painter, composer and photographer. Biography He attended the "Colegio Mayor de San Bartolomé", where he studied with Father Santiago Páramo, ...

(1867)

20th century and modernism

From 1920 to 1940, Marco Tobón Mejía, José Horacio Betancur, Pedro Nel Gómez, Ignacio Gómez Jaramillo, Santiago Martinez Delgado and Alipio Jaramillo produced several mural paintings influenced by the Mexican muralists, with neoclassic features and influences of Art Nouveau. During the 1940s, a raising international disinterest in the Colombian art caused to the local artis to try new ways of expression such as

post-impressionism Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

and French scholar style. An example of this is the landscape painter Ricardo Gómez Campuzano and his depictions of Cartagena. Several art critics point to the 1950s as the time when Colombian art started to have a distinctive point of view, reinventing the traditional elements under the 20th century concepts. Examples of this are the Greiff portraits by Ignacio Gomez Jaramillo, showing what the Colombian art could do with the new techniques applied to typical Colombian themes. Carlos Correa, with his paradigmathic “Naturaleza muerta en silencio” (silent dead nature), combines geometrical abstraction and cubism in a style still recurrent today in many artists. Pedro Nel Gómez, in his “Autorretrato con sombrero” (1941) (self-portrait with hat) shows influences from

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

and

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

. He also shows a strong influence of José Clemente Orozco in his series about the ''Barequeras'' (women extracting gold from the rivers banks) and his self-portrait (1949) shows strong influences from Cézanne. Alejandro Obregón is often considered as the father of modern Colombian painting, and one of the most influential artist in this period, due to his originality, the painting of Colombian landscapes with symbolic and expressionist use of animals, (specially the

andean condor The Andean condor (''Vultur gryphus'') is a giant South American Cathartid vulture and is the only member of the genus ''Vultur''. Found in the Andes mountains and adjacent Pacific coasts of western South America, the Andean condor is the larg ...

). In his work is noticeable the influences of Picasso and

Graham Sutherland Graham Vivian Sutherland (24 August 1903 – 17 February 1980) was a prolific English artist. Notable for his paintings of abstract landscapes and for his portraits of public figures, Sutherland also worked in other media, including printmaking ...

. Currently, some of the most recognized painters in the international scene are Fernando Botero and Omar Rayo. File:Mural Feria Chicago 1933.jpg, Chicago fair (1933), by Santiago Martinez Delgado File:Santiago_Martinez_Delgado_in_the_colombian_congress.jpg, Mural by Santiago Martinez Delgado in the Colombian Congress File:La Republica de Pedro Nel Gomez-Medellin.JPG, "The Colombian Republic". Mural by Pedro Nel Gómez File:Danza del Cafe de Pedro Nel Gomez-Medellim.JPG, "Coffee dance". Mural by Pedro Nel Gómez File:Contrabajo.jpg, "Painting of a contrabass" by Alvaro Valbuena (1970) File:2019 Santa Marta - Zibebiz (1994), de Omar Rayo - Museo Bolivariano de Arte Contemporaneo.jpg, Zibebiz. Omar Rayo. Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino

21st century

During the 21st century, Colombian artists have focused in the intersection between new media and traditional crafts, as well as narratives that reflect on the

Colombian conflict The Colombian conflict ( es, link=no, Conflicto armado interno de Colombia) began on May 27, 1964, and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups, crime syndicates, and far-left gue ...

and the consequences it has had on Colombian society, territory and bodies. File:NicolasDelaHoz obra01.jpg, "Fourth Circle" by Nicolas De la Hoz, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2005

Film

Theater

Theater was introduced in Colombia during the Spanish colonization in 1550 through zarzuela companies. Colombian theater is supported by the Ministry of Culture and a number of private and state owned organizations. Among the most important organizations are the National Association of Scenic Directors (ANDE), Performing Arts Workers Associations, Antioquia Storytellers Association, Colombian Association of Critique and Theater Research (ACIT), Puppeteers Associations (ATICO), Colombian Corporation of Theater among others. Colombian theater was introduced during the colonization by the Spanish between 1550 and 1810. At the end of the 19th century and beginnings of the 20th century the most important center of theater in Colombia was the Colon theater in downtown Bogota. These theaters were built resembling Italian architecture style. During the 20th century interest for theater had spread all over Colombia and many theater were built in the biggest cities of Colombia. Colombia currently holds one of the biggest theater festivals in the world, properly called the Ibero-American Theater Festival. As in many other parts of the world, future actors and actresses begin their performing experience in theater many of them with the goal of making it to television or film. Theater in Colombia is informally known as "tablas" (woods) because of the wooden stages on which actors perform their plays. Colombia has a mature system of theater companies which reaches an audience mostly in the city of Bogota.

Dance

References

External links

*
Official site
- Gold Museum, Bogotá *
Virtual museum of Pre-Columbian gold in Colombia
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Current information on Colombia´s Art Scene
*
Official site Museo de Bogotá
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Official site Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá
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Digital collection
-

Luis Ángel Arango Library Luis Ángel Arango Library (Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango or BLAA) is a public library located in Bogotá, Colombia. It is one of the largest and most important libraries in the world. It was founded in 1958 as a small library with a few books o ...

*
Official site Directorio Nacional de Arte Colombiano
*
Museum of Antioquia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Art Of Colombia Colombia