Magazines - Tribal Art Spring 2011

By Elena Martínez-Jacquet, exhibition curator and freelance specialist in tribal art and its perception in the West.

Introduction
The fact that Spain played a pivotal role in the history of Central and South America needs little explanation. Christopher Columbus left the port of Palos de la Frontera in 1492 and embarked on a journey that led to permanent interaction between Europe and the New World. Hernando Cortez encountered the Aztec emperor Moctezuma at the gates of Tenochtitlán. Francisco Pizarro led the conquest of Peru for Charles V. These events continue to powerfully resonate in the collective historical imagination of Western culture, but Spain also played a notable but much less well-known role in the exploration of the northern part of the American continent.
In the eighteenth century, after having firmly established their presence in Mexico, Spanish colonists extended their influence into what are now the states of Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and California. At the end of the same century, in response to Russian voyages of exploration to the Great North, Spain mounted a series of maritime expeditions to the Northwest Coast in an effort to affirm its influence there. Though basically political in nature, these enterprises, the first of which was undertaken by Juan Peres in 1774, also had scientific objectives typical of the Age of Reason. The coasts of Alaska and Canada were mapped and the indigenous populations were observed and documented both in voyage accounts and through drawings. All manner of artifacts—masks, statues, hats, and utilitarian objects—were also collected. A good num- ber of these objects are currently held by the Museo de América in Madrid and the most beautiful examples are on exhibit, albeit in an ethnographic presentation that detracts from the power of their sculptural qualities.
Various broad and comprehensive exhibitions have been produced in Spain in the last decade to remind the public of this link with North America.