In your pursuit of academic saintliness, you may find the UNM Art Museum enlightening.
Ray Hernández-Durán, who gave a talk on the “Saints and Sinners” exhibit, is a colonial scholar who focuses on Pre-Columbian and Colonial Latin American art. He said the featured works in the exhibit range from large paintings to smaller sketches.
“These paintings refer to biblical narratives, but they also have other symbolic functions,” he said. “In the context of the mass or the sermon, people would learn what the image represented. They would learn the content of the Bible, the biblical morals and the tenets of the Christian faith.”
From the 1500s to the mid-19th century, Hernández-Durán said many people were illiterate, so the paintings served a didactic purpose.
“These paintings serve as models for the viewer on how to be a proper Christian, how to properly pray, how to meditate, and in some cases, the images are meant to induce this kind of meditative state,” he said. “They don’t just illustrate stories. They’re meant to illicit responses — mentally, spiritually and emotionally, and sometimes even physically, so they work on multiple levels.”
Sixteen works will be displayed, but most are from secondary, lesser-known artists, Hernández-Durán said.
“We don’t have a Caravaggio, but there’s a work that’s in the style of Caravaggio, and this artist may have trained with Caravaggio or seen his work,” Hernández-Durán said. “It provides the local audience exposure to art of very different periods, and these kinds of works serve a very important function as links to understanding these historical periods.”
“Saints and Sinners”
Runs through Dec. 18
Tuesday through Friday
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday
1 – 4 p.m.
Free, suggested donation of $5
