1 / 23

Casta Paintings

Casta Paintings. Defining Race and Gender Relations in Colonial Latin America. Origins of “ Casta ”. Casta is an Iberian word (Spanish, Portuguese) meaning “ lineage ” , “ breed ” or “ race. ”

patchett
Download Presentation

Casta Paintings

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Casta Paintings Defining Race and Gender Relations in Colonial Latin America

  2. Origins of “Casta” • Casta is an Iberian word (Spanish, Portuguese) meaning “lineage”, “breed” or “race.” • During the Spanish colonial period, Spaniards developed a caste (class) system based on race, which determined a person’s importance and role in society.

  3. Defining castas in Latin America • During the conquest of the Americas, most people fell into four distinct ethnic/racial groups: Peninsular Spaniards, Creoles, Native Americans, and Africans. • By the early 17th century, these categories broke down quickly and new castas (classes) were being defined. Some estimates place the total number of castas in use in colonial Latin America at sixty or more.

  4. Casta paintings generally appear in groups of 16 portraits that trace the complex racial mixing of the people in New Spain.

  5. Casta paintings are part of the 18thcentury artistic tradition of Colonial Mexico. Each painting depicts a couple along with one or two children. An inscription describing the ethnic and racial make up of the mother, the father, and the child(ren) is usually apparent. Casta Paintings

  6. How to Analyze Casta Paintings What Do You See? What Do Observations Mean? Are the males & females doing similar or different things? Do actions depend on race? Do clothing & environments change depending on race & class? • Who is in the painting? • What are they doing? • What are they wearing? • How does their environment look?

  7. #1 - Spaniard & Native Create Mestizo

  8. #2 - Spaniard & Mestiza Create Castiza

  9. #3 - African & Spaniard Create Mulatto

  10. #4 - Mestizo & Indian Create Coyote

  11. #5 - Mulatto & Spaniard Create Morisco

  12. #6 - Spaniard & Morisca Create Albino

  13. #7 - Spaniard & Albino Create Black-Return-Backwards

  14. #8 - African & Indian Create Wolf

  15. #9 - Wolf & Indian Create Zambaiga

  16. #10 – Zambaigo & Indian Create Albarazado

  17. What do the Casta Paintings tell us about race & gender? • Turn & Talk with someone at your table. • Share your observations and analysis of the Casta paintings. • What did you notice about race, gender, & class?

  18. What do Casta Paintings show? Paintings suggest typical clothing for different social classes

  19. Reveal details of buildings, home life, & environments. • Present depictions of everyday objects, native flora and fauna, and foodstuffs

  20. Key Question • Why do you think the Spanish spent so much time and effort defining the different castas? • Write down answer & be prepared to share it!

  21. Maintaining social and political control in Colonial New Spain Although the use and purpose of Casta Paintings remains uncertain, these generally suggest the fascination with race and limpieza de sangre (purity of blood) that characterized colonial mentalities. Spaniards used their elaborate system of classification to maintain social and political control, allowing the “pureblooded” to hold the top position in colonial society.

More Related