"…Velasco has added ...nature
and technology in balance…”. Art in Latin America, 107.
José María Velasco, El citlaltépetl, 1879.
We spent time in class discussing the meaning of the train in the paintings of Jose Maria Velasco. I think
after I ponder this symbolism
in his landscapes, that I come to the conclusion that every
work of art does not arise in isolation in
time and space, this corresponds to a particular historical moment,
marked in turn by
different social and political processes. For Velasco, that context was represented by
Mexico's independence formation and
subsequent consolidation.
The artistic production of José María Velasco is the
period of Mexico's history in which liberal ideas were forged, configuring an
economic development model that incorporated the country into an industrialization
process.
The word "landscape"
(paisaje in spanish) is associated with "country"
(país in spanish), which
itself derives from "pact", which is the association of the "heathen" who live together or have chosen to live together in the same place. The heathen are those who have no other gods than the gods of
the place. A landscape would look
like the association of some people
around a place and a covenant. Velasco, was
extremely jealous of the giving image and representation to the gods of the place that inhabit
his lot.
José María Velasco, Bridge at Metlac, 1881.
Although during
the last class it was said that Velasco did not transmit ideals from Mexico
through its landscapes, I definitely think He did. Not only is it spread
through his works the beauty of nature in the Valley of Mexico with an
extraordinary visual ability, but it can also be found in his paintings a representation
of modernity in a young Mexico; representation of progress in a country that
had just separated from the Spanish yoke. This gives us an idea of the things
he possibly felt proud of in his country at
that time.
It is through
this idea of representation of modernism in Mexico amidst the beauty and
wildlife of the environment that I remember the words to the music of the Latin
American song by Calle Trece, thinking about that phrase that says ".. soy
desarrolo en carne viva…” (I'm development in the flesh).
