18th Century
Art Gallery
Politcal Resistance throughout history
How does this artwork relate to resistance?
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This work can relate to resistance through the continued preservation of cochineal in today’s society, despite so many Mexican laborers being taken advantage of to fuel Spain’s growing demand for the dye. This especially reminds me of the exploitation of Mexican laborers in the farming industry today, as countless United States produce companies rely on cheap labor that they can find in Mexico and other Latin American countries. However, modern movements for racial equality and better treatment of workers are making advances which strive to one day improve the quality of life for countless Latin American workers. These workers are laboring to provide for their families, to save money for a better life, and some simply because they have no other choice of semi-stable jobs. Their self-discipline and impressive motivation cannot be overlooked as a testament to resistance. These workers are resisting simply through perseverance, in showing the world that they will continue fighting for a better life despite how undervalued their work is by much of society.
Indian Collecting Cochineal with a Deer Tail
José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez, Nahua/Aztec Culture
Colored pigment on vellum
1777
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Cochineal is a dye native to Mexico, “derived from the dried bodies of the insect coccus cacti” (Lee) which produces a brilliant red color unlike any other plant-derived dyes available in Europe at the time. Out of the many types of cochineal available, the highest quality dye came from the grana fina type, whose luxurity was augmented by the fact that it could only yield three harvests per year, while the lower quality grana silvestre could be harvested up to six times in a year.
The insect coccus cacti used to produce cochineal dye is a parasite of the prickly-pear cactus, also called nopal in Spanish. This plant is native to Mexico and South America.
-Cochineal red used as a dye can be traced back in Mexico at least as early as 200 B.C., when it “colored special ritual and ceremonial textiles worn by rulers in both Mexico and Peru,” (Phipps). Unfortunately, there is very little known about Cochineal-dyed fabrics from before the arrival of Spain in America, as few textiles have survived from that time period. However, there do exist examples of Cochineal-dyed featherworks, as well as evidence that cochineal was used “as a pigment in painted native codices, maps, and tribute documents,” (Phipps). This suggests that cochineal as it was used in Pre-Columbian Mexico was held in high regard and reserved for culturally significant documents/textiles. This is supported by the fact that the Matrícula de tributos, a Mexican codex, documents a tribute of Cochineal-producing insects being given to the Aztec Empire in 1520.
Harvesting the insects used to produce cochineal is an extremely labor intensive undertaking, as producing just one pound of finished dye required the collection of over 70,000 dried insects. To harvest the insects, a Mexican laborer could use an animal tail, such as deer or fox, to gently brush the insects off the nopal plant and into a xicalpestle, or a gourd bowl. The insects cling to the tail’s fur and can carefully be collected without harm.
Cochineal was exported from Mexico by Spain for almost 300 years, from the 1500s to the 1800s. Spain held a near-monopoly over cochineal exportation during this time, distributing the dye to all of Europe while demand for such a fine, rich pigment grew. Today, cochineal is largely used to color food and cosmetic products.
How does this work represent resistance?
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Luis de Mena’s Virgin of Guadalupe and Castas challenges traditional gender roles and notions of femininity and masculinity. In the first caste, Mena depicts a Spanish woman with a Chichimeca, the “living image of an uncivilized savage” (Cline, 225). This unusual pairing would have been regarded as offensive as Spanish men, as opposed to women, were the ones to intermix (Cline, 225). Mena therefore portrays a gender and racial role reversal in which the woman attains the status of a matriarch: “By starting his casta set with a Spanish woman on top, Mena undermines the usual assertion of Spanish male dominance” (Cline, 226). Apart from empowering women, this reversal asserts “the importance of Spanish women to the process of whitening their offspring in both race and culture” which could explain why Mena’s women are of a higher racial status than their male counterparts (Cleni, 229).
In the third caste, a Spanish man is depicted cooking, a chore often bestowed on females. Conversely, the woman (which we assume to be the man’s partner due to the nature of casta paintings) leisurely sits on the floor. Clearly, Mena’s depiction contradicts the notion of men “as the embodiment of honor, characterized by assertiveness, courage, authority, and domination of women” (Clein, 235).
Finally, the Virgin of Guadalupe, which seems “so sharply at odds with the secular essence of the genre,” is the embodiment of Mena’s belief that women are responsible for the creation of a multiracial society (Cline, 223). The Virgin, a symbol of mestizaje, credits women for the Mexican state and its peoples. It also negates reminiscences of Spanish religiosity as La Virgen Morena is herself a product of mestizaje and native to Mexico.
Virgin of Guadalupe and Castas
Luis de Mena
oil on canvas
1750
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Luis de Mena’s oil on canvas painting Virgin of Guadalupe and Castas (119 x 103 cm) combines the Virgin of Guadalupe, a reduced casta system, and colloquial scenes of New Spain. The painting is “a portal to understanding an immensely complex colonial society in the midst of significant cultural change” (Cline, 220).
De Mena’s painting features The Dark Virgin of Mexico (La Virgen Morena) and multi-racial family units together
Painting becomes a “celebration of Mexico, its diverse population, its diverse fruits, and its own virgin” (Cline, 221).
Traditional casta paintings lack religious context. Mena’s virgin is “so sharply at odds with the secular essence of the genre” (Cline, 223).
Pairing of Spanish woman with canonical Chichimeca (indio barbaro) would have been regarded as offensive as Spanish men were the ones to intermix with Indian women (Cline, 225).
The nature of their sexual encounters differed, ranging from marriage to rape.
“By starting his casta set with a Spanish woman on top, Mena undermines the usual assertion of Spanish male dominance in establishing the framework of social hierarchy” (Cline, 226).
De Mena mocks social protocol and rigidity of casta system.
Unusual pairing of Spanish woman and Chichimeca “functions as an allegory for the ‘civilizing’ and Christianizing process” of Indigenous populations after Spanish the conquest (Cline, 227).
Mena asserts “the importance of Spanish women to the process of whitening their offspring in both race and culture” which is why he depicts women as the individual of a higher racial status (Clein, 229)
“Mena’s Spanish men do not appear as the embodiment of honor, characterized by assertiveness, courage, authority, and domination of women” (Clein, 235).
According to Mena, women (parallels to the virgin) are responsible for creating New Spain’s multiracial society
Top caste nearest to the Virgin of Guadalupe as they are closest to the divine
To the left of the Virgin spectators see a dance of the Matachines (performed by Indians) and to the right we see a scene of leisure for whites.
Fruit depicted in bottom quadrant is all native to Mexico (except the bananas). Pineapple takes center stage and most fruits are open and labeled for European audiences and therefore “affirming their American identity” (Scott, 78).
Hatian Slave Revolt: Haiti, 1791-1804
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The slave revolt was a successful ant-slavery and anti-colonial insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the nation of Haiti.
It was the only slave uprising that led to the founding of a state which was both free from slavery, and ruled by non-whites and former captives. It also challenged long-held beliefs about black inferiority and about enslaved persons’ capacity to achieve and maintain their own freedom.
Haitian development and slavery was contingent on Europeans’ demand for sugar.
The white planters and their families, along with the petit bourgeoisie of merchants and shopkeepers, were outnumbered by slaves by a factor of more than ten. The largest sugar plantations and concentrations of slaves were in the North of the islands, and whites lived in fear of a slave rebellion.
On April 1791, a massive black insurgency in the north of the island rose against the plantation system, setting a precedent of resistance to racial slavery. Thousands of slaves attended a secret voudou (voodoo) ceremony as a tropical storm came in. Later that night, slaves began to kill their “masters” and plunged the colony in civil war.
Toussaint Louverture’s military and political acumen saved the gains of the first Black insurrection in November of 1791 He first fought for the Spanish against the French; then for France against Spain and Great Britain; and finally, for Saint-Domingue against Napoleonic France. He then helped transform the insurgency into a revolutionary movement. He set the stage for the Black army’s victory.
Jean-Jacque Dessalines was Louverture’s principal lieutenant and led many successful engagements. After Louverture was killed, Dessalines became the new leader.
In cooperation with their former rivals, blacks ended the Revolution in November 1803 when they decidedly defeated the French army at the Battle of Vertieres.
Haiti became an independent country on January 1, 1804, when the council of generals chose Jean-Jacques Dessalines to assume the office of governor-general. In September 1804, he was proclaimed emperor by the Generals of the Hatiain Revolution Army and ruled until his assasination in 1806.
Dagohoy Rebellion: Bohol, Philippines, 1744 - 1829
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Considered the longest rebellion against the Spanish in Philippine history led by Francisco Dagohoy. It lasted 85 years. The rebellion was ignited by forced labor, excessive tax collection and payment of tributes. These were perceived injustices of the Jesuit priests.
Dagohoy called upon his fellow residents to raise arms against the colonial government. The rebellion outlasted several Spanish governor-generals and several missions.
Dagohoy defeated the Spanish forces sent against him. He established the Bohol Republic, an independent government in the mountains of Bohol on December 20, 1745, and had 3,000 followers, which subsequently increased to 20,000. His followers remained unsubdued in their mountain stronghold and, even after Dagohoy’s death, continued to defy Spanish power.
A cave in Danao was the headquarters of Dagohoy. Many passages within Dagohoy’s cave led underwater to dry land, and it is said that every time Spaniards searched the cave, Dagohoy could swim underwater through this passage to hide in the breathing space.
Twenty Spanish governor-generals tried to quell the rebellion and failed, until Captain Manuel Sanz defeated them. Governor Ricafort pardoned 19,420 survivors and permitted them to live in new villages.
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The Rebellion of Tupac Amaru II: Peru, 1780 - 81
The Incan Empire fell to Spanish conquistadors in 1572. For more than a century afterwards, the Indigenous Inca were oppressed by the Spanish corregimiento system which divided Inca territory into jurisdictions, forced labor, and heavily taxed the Native peoples.
Tupac Amaru, Born Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui, the son of a kuraka of three towns, became a leader of a large Andean uprising against the Spanish in Peru. He was both the head of several Quechua communities and a regional merchant and muleteer, inheriting 350 mules from his father’s estate. His regional trading gave him contacts in many other indigenous communities and access to information about economic conditions and other concerns. His personal contacts and knowledge of the region were aided him later during the rebellion of 1780-81.
Amaru II frequently petitioned for improvement of native labor, using his own wealth to help alleviate the taxes and burdens of natives. He began to stall on collecting reparto debts and tribute payments, for which the Tinta corregidor and governor Antonio de Arriaga threatened him with death. Condorcanqui changed his name to Tupac Amaru II and declared his lineage to the last Inca ruler Felipe Tupac Amaru.
On November 4, 1780, Governor Antonio de Arriga, a notorious Spanish landlord known for his cruelty towards Narive people, left an event drunk – Tupac Amaru and several of his allies captured him and forced him to write letters to a large number of Spaniards and governors of territories.
When about 200 of them gathered within the next few days, Tupac Amaru II surrounded them with approximately 4,000 natives. On November 10, 1780, Arriaga was publicly assassinated before a crowd of Indigenous people and a huge insurrection began.
Tupac Amaru led his rebel forces in a successful attack on Sangarara while Spanish troops fled to a near-by church. The church was raised to the ground by the rebels and some 400 Spanich troops were killed.
Due to a betrayal by two of his officers, Amaru II was captured but refused to give up names of his accomplices. Instead he said, “There are no accomplices here other than you and I. You as oppressor, I as liberator, deserve to die.”
Amaru II was ordered to have his tongue cut out after watching the execution of his family and to have his hands and feet tied to four horses who would be driven in different directions. This method failed and he was beheaded.
On May 18, 1781, Incan clothing and cultural traditions and any self-identification as “Inca” were outlawed, along with other measures to convert the population to Spanish culture and government until Peru’s independence. However, even after the death of Amaru II, Native revolt still overtook much of what is today southern Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina.
It Marked the first large scale rebellion in the Spanish colonies, and inspired the revolt of many natives in the surrounding areas.