Luis Cadena
Spinning Peasant (Campesina hilandera)1852

On view:

Geffen Galleries, Indigenismo in Latin America

Oil painting of a young woman seated on the floor spinning thread with a drop spindle, a white dog at her feet, interior setting with dim warm lighting

Detail of an oil painting's lower corner showing a dark, muted floor surface with a painted inscription in cursive script and the date 1852.

Artist or Maker: Luis Cadena
Ecuador, 1830-1889
Title: Spinning Peasant (Campesina hilandera)
Date Made: 1852
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Unframed: 35 13/16 × 25 3/16 in. (91 × 64 cm); framed: 45 1/4 × 34 1/4 × 3 1/4 in. (114.94 × 87 × 8.26 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number: M.2014.205
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: This intimate depiction of an hilandera (woman spinning) embodies Luis Cadena’s interest in the depiction of local types that gained currency in South America in the mid-nineteenth century. Set in a dark interior, the figure of the spinning peasant is foregrounded and rendered with a notable degree of decorum. Cadena gave special attention to the tactile quality of surfaces, including the embroidered details of the woman’s blouse and mantle. There is a palpable contrast between the softness of the dog (a traditional symbol of fidelity) and the rug on which the hilandera sits and her stern expression. Another apparent dichotomy is the presence of the pen, inkpot, and book resting on the shelf in the back, placed between the hanging spurs and the wool saddle. These elements might hint at the intense literacy campaigns that the Ecuadorian government undertook in the mid-nineteenth century to educate the Indigenous population.

Cadena promoted the introduction of academic art in Ecuador through his work and teachings. He was an apprentice of the renowned Ecuadorian painter Antonio Salas (1790–1860), and in 1852 he traveled to Chile, where he met the French painter Raymond Monvoisin (1790–1870), who had a decisive impact on his pictorial style. Cadena received a government grant to study in Rome, and after returning to Quito in 1860, he opened an arts academy to educate the local youth. By 1872, he was named director of the newly established Escuela de Bellas Artes (School of Fine Arts). Motivated by nationalistic ideals, Cadena drew on his European training to render the great local subjects of the day with a fully modern visual vocabulary.

Ilona Katzew

2024

Luis Cadena
Spinning Peasant (Campesina hilandera)1852

On view:

Geffen Galleries, Indigenismo in Latin America

Artist or Maker: Luis Cadena
Ecuador, 1830-1889
Title: Spinning Peasant (Campesina hilandera)
Date Made: 1852
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Unframed: 35 13/16 × 25 3/16 in. (91 × 64 cm); framed: 45 1/4 × 34 1/4 × 3 1/4 in. (114.94 × 87 × 8.26 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Bernard and Edith Lewin Collection of Mexican Art Deaccession Fund
Accession Number: M.2014.205
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: Latin American Art
Curatorial Notes: This intimate depiction of an hilandera (woman spinning) embodies Luis Cadena’s interest in the depiction of local types that gained currency in South America in the mid-nineteenth century. Set in a dark interior, the figure of the spinning peasant is foregrounded and rendered with a notable degree of decorum. Cadena gave special attention to the tactile quality of surfaces, including the embroidered details of the woman’s blouse and mantle. There is a palpable contrast between the softness of the dog (a traditional symbol of fidelity) and the rug on which the hilandera sits and her stern expression. Another apparent dichotomy is the presence of the pen, inkpot, and book resting on the shelf in the back, placed between the hanging spurs and the wool saddle. These elements might hint at the intense literacy campaigns that the Ecuadorian government undertook in the mid-nineteenth century to educate the Indigenous population.

Cadena promoted the introduction of academic art in Ecuador through his work and teachings. He was an apprentice of the renowned Ecuadorian painter Antonio Salas (1790–1860), and in 1852 he traveled to Chile, where he met the French painter Raymond Monvoisin (1790–1870), who had a decisive impact on his pictorial style. Cadena received a government grant to study in Rome, and after returning to Quito in 1860, he opened an arts academy to educate the local youth. By 1872, he was named director of the newly established Escuela de Bellas Artes (School of Fine Arts). Motivated by nationalistic ideals, Cadena drew on his European training to render the great local subjects of the day with a fully modern visual vocabulary.

Ilona Katzew

2024