Week Three - Casta Paintings

INITIAL THOUGHTS

When I first saw the Casta paintings, I instantly noticed the emphasis on race, color, and economic status. Initially, I was not surprised at the depiction of people of color having less, or appearing that way, as it is a common motif or theme in many historical paintings and pieces of art. However, I was taken by the inclusion of people of color in historical European art as this is not commonplace. This began me questioning the motive and reasoning behind the Casta paintings and their popularity. 

While taking a closer look at the paintings and the different settings in each of the frames, it is clear that the less “white” or caucasian the subjects depicted seem to appear, the less “civilised”, at least in historic European standards, they are shown to be. This began me thinking that maybe, one of the motives behind these paintings was to strengthener the ideology that anyone who was not white or of European descent was less than their caucasian counterparts. This ideology would be in line with what Columbus was saying in his journal when speaking about the indigenous people and how they would make good slaves. The Casta paintings serve as evidence to support the ideology of the time. 

Another reason that the paintings may have been done in this fashion could be to portray the reality of latin america and the evident social and economic differences between the indigenous people and europeans. The paintings clearly show the abundance of wealth that the europeans had at the time compared to people of color. The reason that the indigenouse people may have been shown wearing no shoes or clothed in less fancy dresses may not have been because the artist thought of people of color as lesser than, but because then it was not possible for someone of color to obtain such things because they were given less opportunities than the Europeans at the time.

SELF REFLECTION

When looking at the Casta paintings, I also noticed labels underneath such as “espanol con India. Mestizo” Which translates to spanish with indian results in a mixed race child. These labels put an emphasis on the importance that europeans placed on ethnic makeup. At first I was put off by this idea of labeling people and making assumptions about them and the way the lived solely on their ethnicity until I realised the parallels between modern american culture. Whenever asked where I am from, I always answer with Chilean despite the fact that I was born and raised in Canada and have only been to Chile once. I realised that I myself put great emphasis on my ethnic makeup and how others might make assumptions about me based on my ethnicity.