#Art #Museum | The hub of Hispanic American culture in Manhattan, New York, known as The Hispanic Society Museum & Library, is undergoing a significant renovation under the direction of Guillaume Keintz. Keintz, an expert on Spanish art who previously served as a curator at the Louvre Museum, aims to take this 119-year-old space “into the future.”
Founded in 1904 by scholar and collector Archer Milton Huntington, The Hispanic Society houses more than 18,000 pieces including ancient documents, books, prehistoric objects, and works of art from Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. With Keintz at the helm, the museum and library are expected to undergo a significant renovation and continue to be an important part of Hispanic American culture in New York.
In this collection there are works by artists such as the Spanish Joaquín Sorolla, Pablo Picasso, the Venezuelan Jesús Rafael Soto, as well as sketches by Jose Clemente Orozcowhich were recently donated by the Wornick Collection.
The collection of 20 drawings by the Mexican muralist will be presented in the exhibition Anatomy of a Fresco: Drawings of José Clemente Orozco from the Wornick Collection”, which opens in March. The curators are Orlando Hernández-Ying and Niria Leyva-Gutiérrez.
In an interview, Hernández-Ying explains that these sketches are studies that Orozco made for murals found in the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, as well as those he did in the United States.
“Here we are going to see a different dimension of Orozco, it is not the magnanimity or the giant formats that we see in the murals, but the process behind the creation of some of these murals, his academic training,” says Hernández-Ying.
The curator explains that in this exhibition Orozco’s work on paper and charcoal is not only observed, but also his skill in lithography and engravings. That is why these drawings will be in dialogue with engravings by José Guadalupe Posada, which belong to the collection of The Hispanic Society.
“Orozco will help us tell more about the history of his murals and the relationship between Mexico and the United States. It is a great ground for Orozco’s work to land here”, adds Keintz, recalling that the artist also painted in the US.
A 21st century museum
The Hispanic Society went from being a site reserved for researchers only, to a museum and library open to the general public.
“What we’re doing is leaving the 20th century and moving into the 21st to renew ourselves and make an exemplary museum and library for the future,” says Keintz.
The restoration of the space was carried out by the Annabelle Selldorf Architects studio and after six years of work, the venue finally reopened its doors to the public.
In addition to celebrating the centenary of Sorolla and de Soto, and the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death, there will also be a retrospective of the Spanish designer Luz Camino, an exhibition, in conjunction with the Metropolitan Museum of New York, of the artist Juan de Pareja, as well like another by the artist Marta Chilindron.
“The cultural geography of New York has changed and now is the time. It is not that we are inventing the wheel, but that we are revealing the wonderful secrets and treasures that we house in the collection”, adds Keintz.
The director assures that this reopening also returns to The Hispanic Society as an agent of change for the community, since the nature of the collection involves them in debates about colonization and immigration.
“As a 21st century museum, our mission is not to tell a single story, but to create the conversation and make the material accessible,” says Keintz.
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