Art & Art History ETDs
Publication Date
5-1-2008
Abstract
In early nineteenth-century Havana, Cuba, a small commemorative monument was erected on the Plaza de Armas to honor the site of the city's founding. Through academic history painting, Neoclassical architecture, and the appropriation of symbolic urban space, this memorial reconstructed the sixteenth-century history of the city for nineteenth-century audiences. This addition to the plaza could be seen as an extension of the Bourbon Reforms, which aimed to modernize the city by introducing public works and pedagogical methods that would make this Cuban colony function more efficiently in the insterests of Spain. However, upon closer examination, the memorial for the plaza reveals layers of meaning, which indicate the active reconfiguration of Euro-American classicisms by local groups, a visual dialogue between elite and masses, and the polysemic nature of Colonial urban space.""
Project Sponsors
Latin American and Iberia Institute, University of New Mexico; Department of Art, Architecture, and Humanities, Clemson University
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Art History
Level of Degree
Doctoral
Department Name
UNM Department of Art and Art History
First Committee Member (Chair)
Mead, Christopher Curtis
Second Committee Member
Andrews, Justine Marie
Third Committee Member
Burroughs, Charles
Keywords
Cuban, Architectural history, Identity, Creole
Recommended Citation
Niell, Paul Barrett. "'Bajo su sombra': The Narration and Reception of Colonial Urban Space in Early Nineteenth-Century Havana, Cuba." (2008). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/arth_etds/2
