
Culture and the People: El Museo del Barrio, 1969-2019
On View April 11 – September 29, 2019
Curated by Susanna V. Temkin, El Museo’s Curator, and co-organized by Noel Valentin, El Museo’s Permanent Collection Manager
In celebration of its 50th anniversary, El Museo del Barrio presents Culture and the People: El Museo del Barrio, 1969-2019, a two-part exhibition featuring selections from the Permanent Collection and a timeline contextualizing the history of the institution with related archival materials. The exhibition will reflect on the institution’s activist origins and pioneering role as a cultural and educational organization dedicated to presenting and preserving Latinx and Latin American art and culture. The exhibition borrows its title from an essay penned by one of the Museum’s founders and its first director Raphael Montañez Ortíz, who outlined his concept for the institution in a 1971 article published in Art in America.
PART I | Selections from the Permanent Collection
In direct response to the Museum’s activist origins, the section devoted to Resistance includes artworks related to protest, gestures of solidarity, dictatorship, and exile. Created in homage to national heroes and fallen martyrs, as well as commemorating specific events, these pieces address historical political grievances and relate to contemporary events such as the ongoing border crisis.
The final section, Resilience, recognizes El Museo’s ongoing commitment to its mission. In this section, works related to the construction and expression of self- identity will be displayed, alongside images that reflect a sometimes subversive or humorous method of survival. This section will culminate with a presentation of artworks that speak to personal and collective resilience, as well as the continuation of cultural traditions.
Each section will feature artists of diverse cultural backgrounds and generations, and will range from indigenous art and artifacts to contemporary paintings and installation art. A number of the pieces on view will relate to multiple sections, inviting audiences to recognize echoes and dialogues between the pieces on display. The exhibition will feature new acquisitions as well as artworks that have never been publicly presented, in addition to artworks familiar to El Museo audiences.
PART II | An Institutional Timeline
WORKS ON VIEW

FRANCISCO MANUEL OLLER Y CESTERO
Francisco Manuel Oller y Cestero (b. Bayamón, PR, 1833 – d. San Juan, PR, 1917), Plátanos amarillos [Yellow Plantains], ca. 1892, Oil on wood panel Gift of Carmen Ana Unanue, Collection of El Museo del Barrio.

ARNALDO ROCHE-RABELL
Arnaldo Roche-Rabell (b. Santurce, PR, 1955 – d. San Juan, PR, 2018), Peek-A-Boo, 1991, Oil on canvas, Museum Purchase, Collection of El Museo del Barrio.

CHARLES BIASINY-RIVERA
Charles Biasiny-Rivera (b. Bronx, NY, 1930), Benjamin Franklin H.S., NYC from En Foco Documentation Portfolio No. 1: The New York Puerto Rican Experience [Escuela Superior Benjamín Franklin, NYC del portafolio de documentación no. 1 de En Foco: la experiencia puertorriqueña en Nueva York], 1973-1974, Gelatin silver print, Gift of En Foco, Inc., Collection of El Museo del Barrio.

JUAN SÁNCHEZ
Juan Sánchez (b. New York, NY, 1954) Bleeding Reality: Así estamos [Realidad Sangrante: As We Are], 1988 Oil, laser print, mixed media on canvas, Museum Purchase, Collection of El Museo del Barrio.

RICHARD A. LOU
Richard A. Lou (b. San Diego, CA), Border Door [Puerta de la frontera], May 28, 1998; 2008 Digital print, Gift of the artist, Collection of El Museo del Barrio.

TAÍNO CULTURE
Taíno Culture Puerto Rico, A.D. 1200 – 1500, Three-Pointer (Trigonolito) Stone, Deposited in perpetuity by Dr. Ricardo Alegría, Collection of El Museo del Barrio.

RODRÍGUEZ CALERO
Rodríguez Calero (b. Arecibo, Puerto Rico), Barrio Boogie Movement, 2006, Collage, Anonymous gift, Collection of El Museo del Barrio.

HIRAM MARISTANY
El Museo del Barrio, Photo: Hiram Maristany, ¡Nosotros somos El Museo del Barrio!: Primer aniversario, c. 1972, Poster, El Museo del Barrio Archives

DOMINGO GARCÍA
Domingo García (b. Coamo, Puerto Rico, 1932–active in New York, NY and Puerto Rico) Felicidades – El Museo del Barrio [Congratulations – El Museo del Barrio], 1977 Serigraph commissioned by El Museo del Barrio.

PAPO COLO
Papo Colo (b. Puerta de Tierra, PR, 1947), Superman 51, 1977, Gelatin silver print, Gift of the artist with additional support from “PROARTISTA: Sustaining the Work of Living Contemporary Artists,” a fund from the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust, Collection of El Museo del Barrio.
INSTALLATION IMAGES
Photos by Martin Seck.