Recreating Puerto Rican Art: A Personal Journey

At the beginning of the pandemic, the Getty, Met Museum, and others called for the public to “be the art! “ and recreate famous artworks from their collections. I was thrilled and up for the challenge. Since there were enough European painting recreations, I decided I wanted to highlight classic Puerto Rican paintings, a collection of work that is often invisible to the general public, especially here in NYC. As I took on the protagonist’s persona in each work, I also forgot myself, which is a good thing from time to time. 

Goyita, 1957 by Rafael Tufiño

This painting, for many considered Rafael Tufiño’s masterpiece – the Mona Lisa of Puerto Rican Art -depicts his Mother Doña Gregoria Figueroa, affectionately called Goyita. She’s a mother, she’s black , she’s a worker (she was a tobacco worker). She is also humble, strong, and determined. A warrior. May we all be like Goyita!

Rafael Tufiño (October 30, 1922 – March 13, 2008) was a Puerto Rican painter, printmaker and cultural figure in Puerto Rico, known locally as the “Painter of the People

This painting, for many considered Rafael Tufiño’s masterpiece, the Mona Lisa of Puerto Rican Art, depicts his Mother Doña Gregoria Figueroa, affectionately called Goyita. She’s a mother, she’s black , she’s a worker (she was a tobacco worker). She is also humble, strong, and determined. A warrior. May we all be like Goyita!

I am not going to lie, sometimes I get weary. Although I have a sunny disposition there have been times  when the days up ahead looked bleak,  Goyita sees it too. 

But as I considered this painting and recreated it, it gave me life and I felt hopeful. I was reminded of the scripture in Isaiah 40:31, “those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Goyita looks like she’s soaring, rising from the ashes with determination like so many of our ancestors did in the past. 

My Artwork Recreation Process

Someone asked me why I left my glasses on when I did this recreation.  To re-create is not to simply imitate, it is to take the elements of the artwork and make it your own. I feel most myself these days with my glasses, I like them, they’re like jewelry, I don’t change them up as much as I would like to (it’s complicated to buy cheap bifocals online, ha!) But they’ve become a part of how I see myself.

I saw myself in this strong woman who, for me, seems to be rising above her situation. And I saw myself with glasses. 

El Pan Nuestro, 1905 by Ramón Frade

This is an iconic Puerto Rican painting! 

Ramón Frade (1875-1954) was one of the first active painters in Puerto Rico in the early 20th century.

Frade painted Puerto Rican personalities that he felt were threatened by Americanization and industrialization. El Pan Nuestro, 1905 presents the image of the rural Puerto Rican, the jibaro, whose sustenance is dependent on the land. El pan nuestro, reminiscent of the Lord’s prayer, reminds me what sustains me…my faith.

A Peak into my Process

Here I give you my Nuyorican version of this work. I didn’t have brown pants or plátanos! But I used what I had at the moment, an exercise in resourcefulness. Sometimes we don’t realize that we have all we need. 

La Espera, 1933 by Juan Rosado

Artist Juan Rosado was born in 1891 in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico.  Although he was a prolific painter, painting mostly landscapes and island dwellers of his day, many of his works have disappeared. La Espera (The Wait)  is one of the few “portraits” that remain.

Painted in 1933, the backdrop of La Espera,  is Puerta de Tierra,  a working class neighborhood located in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  The site of government buildings, Puerta de Tierra was also home to Rosado’s art studio where many renowned 20th century Puerto Rican artists trained.

Longingly looking out at this subbarrio, is our subject, a woman standing under the door frame, her outfit perfectly put together, her back to the viewer. With her curvy graceful figure, her arms form an s-curve, one hand leaning on the door post and the other traveling back to herself, on her hip. Here she waits, patiently, in a play of light and shadow.

Reflection

At one time or another we have all been pulled into a dress rehearsal for a play we didn’t audition for. However, this woman’s readiness and sense of expectation is what speaks to me the most about this painting. She’s standing by…not in her pajamas or sweats, but fully dressed, herself in transition. With her fancy billowing sleeves and secretary pencil skirt, she’s perched between party and work wear, ready for either or both, or whatever role awaits her when she is called.

La Promesa, 1928 by Miguel Pou

Miguel Pou (1880-1968) was a Puerto Rican painter who depicted island traditions. His work, distinguished by his realistic style (though with impressionist influences) is known for recreating the landscapes, characters and customs of early 20th century Puerto Rico. Pou also founded a school of art in Ponce where numerous Puerto Rican artists developed their talents.

One of his best known portraits is titled La promesa (1928) and depicts a sad and resigned-looking rural worker dressed in a “habit,” an outfit used in that era in popular religious practice when making a promise to a Catholic saint as part of a request that the saint intervene on the petitioner’s behalf. 

I did not grow up in the Catholic tradition but I have been enjoying learning about the various saints and their encounters with God. Although they had this intimate connection with the divine, they were also human and vulnerable. I can relate to saints the same way I can relate to this woman; resigned , requesting, praying to God that He help us through this time. 

Also a big shout out to my artist friend Lourdes Bernard. I bought this beautiful small piece while visiting her studio at the end of 2018. During the pandemic, it was propped in my office area where my older son did his schooling by day and I did my work at night. It gave me hope, reminding me of my artist friends, and pointing me to the divine . 

Why make recreations?

These reconstructions weren’t easy. I began using my tripod to take the photos but that led to inaccuracies in the remakes. I then enlisted my teenage son, a  reluctant assistant, to take the photos. At first…complaints, “you’re doing another one? Why are you doing this?”  But as we embarked on one recreation after the other, his complaints turned to curiosity giving me an opportunity to share Puerto Rican art and history with him.  

But his question resonated. Why was I doing this during a pandemic? With so much suffering and lives lost, why am I merely recreating paintings? The answer came quickly. As I lost myself in this recreation process it revealed the power that art has to reveal who I  could be. 

I didn’t realize it then but the works I chose portray mostly women emerging from or preparing to enter a space,  each revealing a different quality that I can aspire to. I can be strong like Tufiño’s Goyita, I can hold on to my faith like the woman in Pou’s La Promesa,  what I have can be my sustenance, as in Frade’s  El pan nuestro,  and I can wait patiently for this whole thing to blow over  like the women in Rosado’s La espera. Hiding in these subjects birthed a new self, one that is emerging stronger, more clear in her own story. 

As you get lost in a work of art today, what hope can it reveal for your life?

Mini Course Coming

Did you like learning about painters from Puerto Rico?

I am working on a Puerto Rican Painters mini course. You will learn about painters from 18th-early 20th century. Sign up for my email list, in the box below, to get updates!

Talk soon!

Nellie