This exhibition is a fine introduction to a 19th Century painter who is well-known in Mexico, but who has been under-appreciated outside of his native country. The academic style of José María Velasco fell out of favour in Europe with the growing influence of the Impressionists, and his reputation was also eclipsed by the great Mexican muralists who followed him. This current display of his work does justice to the subtlety and genius of this artist and is a wonderful invocation of his country at a turning point in its history. Velasco celebrates the natural world while he hints at the changes to be wrought by the oncoming industrial reality. We are moving from an agricultural society with humans living in harmony with nature to an industrial model and the subjugation of the natural world. Velasco lived in a world that was not only on the cusp of enormous social change however. It was one that was also facing a profound reassessment of its values. The artist himself was both a man of faith and a man of science. He is fascinated by the science of geology and becoming aware of the theories of Darwin which are putting human history into an ever larger context and questioning the spiritual verities that Velasco grew up with. The three anchors of this exhibition which really demonstrate this changing and widening natural and philosophical landscape that Velasco engages are The Valley of Mexico from the Hill of Santa Isabel (1875), View of the Valley of Mexico from the Hill of Santa Isabel (1877) and The Great Comet of 1882 (1910). The 1875 work shows the style of the academy and the people in foreground are in harmony with nature, although there is a sense of urbanisation in the background. In the 1877 work the people have disappeared and we have a meditation on a vaster passage of time reflected in remnants of the pre-Hispanic past, the faith-based colonial period and the emerging modern world. And finally, with the painting of the comet, we have events and evolution cast in a cosmological perspective. It is a profoundly moving development, and this exhibition gives overdue exposure both to an important artist who deserves international recognition, and to his beautifully articulated vision.
Rated: ★★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Image: José María Velasco, The Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, 1878, Colección Pérez Simón, Mexico © Colección Pérez Simón, Mexico. Photo: Oliver Santana
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