The Lowe Art Museum Shows a Gift of Mexican Retablos From Joseph and Janet Shein

Written by Sarina Valentina Saturday, 29 October 2011 22:26

Miami, Florida.- The Lowe Art Museum is pleased to present "Saintly Blessings: A Gift of Mexican Retablos from Joesph and Janet Shein", on view at the museum through September 23rd 2012. Painted devotional images of saints and other holy persons, called retablos, are used primarily by Mexican peoples as objects of veneration and to seek favors. A splendid collection of twenty-eight retablos, painted on tin, has been graciously donated to the Lowe Art Museum by prominent Philadelphia and Miami art collectors, Joseph and Janet Shein. The gift is an important addition to the Lowe’s collection of santos (2 and 3 dimensional depictions of saints and other Catholic religious icons). When the Spanish came to the New World, they brought significant changes, one of the most lasting of which was their religion, Catholicism. As the desire to possess a sacred object that would ensure health, fertility, and abundance of crops led to a transfer of beliefs from pagan images to those of the Church, religious imagery appeared. They are on view for the first time at the Lowe Art Museum.

In the 19th century, as the Spanish colonial population increased in and around what are today Mexico and New Mexico, imported religious ornaments were not plentiful enough to satisfy the needs of these people, who very pious and dedicated to the church. Retablos responded to the demand for devotional objects of worship used in every home, as well as in churches. For believers, retablos are much more than images. They are imbued with a saint's spirit, which can be invoked through devotion and prayer. Retablos are intermediaries between heaven and earth who can communicate with God on behalf of their devotees. Saints may be asked to help cure an illness, bring consolation for a loss, avert a disaster, or otherwise provide for the physical and psychological well-being of believers and their loved ones. A saint's power arises from his/her ability to perform requested favors or miracles. Devotees are responsible for keeping the saint satisfied through acts of devotion, and by acknowledging publicly any favor received. Although retablos were hung and placed in churches, colonists also installed them in their homes, especially in the sala or living room, where they could be venerated daily. This tradition continues today, even as retablos are recognized as an original and true folk art form, in demand by museums and collectors all over the world.

From its origins in three classrooms in 1950, the history of the Lowe Art Museum reflects an unswerving commitment to fulfill its mission to serve the University of Miami as a teaching resource, and the residents of and visitors to greater Miami as its major general art museum. The Lowe's success in fulfilling its mission is confirmed by an extraordinary and ongoing outpouring of support for the museum and its collections. With the gift in 1950 by philanthropists Joe and Emily Lowe, a free-standing museum facility opened to the public in 1952, the first art museum in South Florida.

It's 17,500–object collection is one of the most important in the southeast, with strengths in Renaissance and Baroque, American, Ancient and Native American, and Asian art.The development of its highly regarded collection is traced through sustained support from Miami and winter resident patrons who, from its beginning, have supported the Lowe with major gifts of art and funding. A 1956 donation by Alfred I. Barton brought one of the country's finest collections of Native American art. In 1954, the Lowe was designated the only Florida recipient in a national distribution of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation collection, and, in 1961, constructed a 2,100 square foot gallery to house the 41 Renaissance and Baroque paintings and sculptures that are the backbone of its Western collection.

The Americas Collection includes 2,000 works surveying art in the Americas during the 19th and 20th centuries. The Lowe's Ancient American collection was begun in 1958 but achieved international stature with the gift of 531 works by Robert M. Bischoff in 1984. The Lowe's important Asian collection was built over twenty years with superb Chinese, Korean and Japanese ceramics, painting and sculpture, donated by Stephen Junkunc III, a Chicago native and Miami winter resident. The Lowe achieved AAM accreditation in 1972, the first university art museum in Florida to do so, and was reaccredited in 1987 and 2000. Also in 1987, the Lowe was designated a “Major Cultural Institution” by the State of Florida.

In 1990, the Lowe was elected to AAMD, one of only three Florida university art museums awarded this honor. The European Collection encompasses more than 1,500 paintings, sculptures, and works on paper from antiquity through the nineteenth century, and includes works by Thomas Gainsborough, Henry Raeburn, Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, and Paul Gauguin. The art of North and south America and the Caribbean Basin comprises a growing collection, presently numbering some 3,000 works. These include paintings, sculptures, and works on paper from the nineteenth through the twenty-first centuries, by luminaries such as Rembrandt Peale, Thomas Sully, Albert Bierstadt, Jasper Francis Cropsey, George Inness, John French Sloan, Roy Lichtenstein, Fernando Botero, Andy Warhol and Deborah Butterfield. Given its location in south Florida, the Gateway to the Americas, the Lowe boasts a growing collection of art from Cuba and Haiti. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www6.miami.edu/lowe/index.html

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