The Spanish Colonial Arts Society is Making Hispanic History with the establishment of the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in Santa Fe. The long-time goal of creating a facility in which to display the Society's 3,000-object collections and a research center for Spanish colonial art and culture has finally become a reality. The grand opening was celebrated on July 21, 2002.
The museum is located in an intimate adobe structure at 750 Camino Lejo, adjacent to the popular Museum of New Mexico complex. Designed by the renowned architect John Gaw Meem in 1930, the 5,000-square-foot building and its surrounding 2.6 acres were given to the Society by anonymous donors in 1998. The gift is ideal because it provides a historically appropriate venue for the exhibition and preservation of the Society's collections as well as lectures, conferences and other educational outreach activities for the advancement of Spanish colonial art.
In addition to the original structure, which has been renovated for exhibition purposes, the site has allowed for the building of a two-story, 6,414-square-foot collections storage, research and conservation center, now known as the Stockman Collections Center. Along with state-of-the-art equipment for the preservation and conservation of the Society's collections, the center features the Hale Matthews Library which houses the Society's 1,000-volume collection of books pertaining to the Spanish colonial art and culture of the world. The center provides researchers, artists and others with access to its many resources and serves as one of the foremost facilities in the world for the study of Spanish colonial art.
Central to the museum's exhibition and research mission are the one-of-a-kind collections that have been acquired by the Society since shortly after the organization was founded in Santa Fe in 1925 by artist/writer Frank Applegate and writer Mary Austin. Today, with objects dating from the sixteenth century to the present, the collections comprise religious and utilitarian artifacts pertaining to the Spanish colonial history of New Mexico and the world, distinguishing the Society's overall collection as the most comprehensive of its kind. Among the many pivotal pieces included are the only signed retablo by the nineteenth-century santero Rafael Aragón in existence; the only panel with the name "Molleno," an eighteenth-to-nineteenth-century santero, written on the reverse; and the only dated retablo by the eighteenth-century santero Bernardo Miera y Pacheco. The collection also features the only New Mexican chair imitating the popular Eastlake style as well as the painted chest that helped prove that New Mexican furniture was painted as early as the late 1700s.
The museum's inaugural exhibition, Conexiones: Connections in Spanish Colonial Art emphasized the building's intimate, homelike atmosphere through innovative displays that give visitors a glimpse into daily life in the colonials, including New Mexico. Objects from Spain, Mexico, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Latin America and elsewhere allowed visitors to make historical comparisons between art from the colonies and other parts of the world. And an extensive collection of works by 20th-century Hispanic artists gave visitors the opportunity to see the stylistic and aesthetic developments between the traditional art of the colonial period and today. All combined, up to one-fourth of the Society's collections will be on display at any one time.
In 1996, public awareness of the depth of the Society's collection was heightened with the publication of Spanish New Mexico: The Spanish Colonial Arts Society Collection, which has since served as the Society's "Museum on Paper." But until now, the development of a museum devoted solely to Spanish colonial art and culture has left this important part of the state's heritage largely inaccessible to the general public.
In January 1999, the Society embarked on a $7 million museum campaign, Making Hispanic History, to raise the funds needed to complete the project. The campaign offered opportunities for individuals, families, foundations and corporations to name various galleries and other spaces of the new museum. Donors chose from an extensive array of sponsorship opportunities that honored both the donor and important designated individuals who have contributed to the Society and its collections.
The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art takes visitors to the heart of Hispanic culture. In bringing this exciting educational experience to people of all cultures, the Society will continue its mission to further the Spanish colonial legacy of New Mexico and the world.
For more information
please contact us at 505/982-2226 or by email
or write to us at P.O. Box 5378, Santa Fe, NM 87502-5378
Making Hispanic History
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