... The Beginnings of Painting ...
by Infocostarica Staff

Remember the classic depressing story of the starving artist? Well, as in many countries, this story was (and to some extent still is) a common one in Costa Rica. This small country was not considered important by the Spaniards who conquered it, and because of this, it was left alone and exposed to poverty and to a position of insignificance in the eyes of the Spanish Empire. In this indigent setting, Costa Rican cultural and artistic growth was practically nonexistent, even during the beginning of the nineteenth century.

In the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Costa Rican elite had their portraits painted by famous foreigners when they went on their vacations or when the painters came to Costa Rica to work for a few months. There were several Central American painters -Guatemalan and Honduran- who were hired by the upper class for this luxury. However, the elite from this period didn't encourage the arts by supporting artists or artistic events, and was limited to purchasing portraits purely as signs of their status.

The only places that concentrated large and important works of art were the churches. There, realistic statues glared down with their glass eyes and human hair and eyelashes at fearful believers. Even then, most of the statues were manufactured outside of Costa Rica, in places like Quito, Cuzco and Honduras. Painting and the arts in general were born in Costa Rica when important portrait artists settled down here. Bigot, Henry Etheridge, Santiago Paramo and others were hired to paint portraits, but more importantly, they started teaching Costa Rica students several techniques in drawing, oil painting and sculpture. These great teachers influenced local and foreign artists who lived in Costa Rica, such as Jose Maria Figueroa Oreamuno, Faustino Montes de Oca, Felipe Valentinini and Lorenzo Fortino. Oreamuno painted important local realities, such as scenes of Indians and of peasants. Fortino painted large historical scenes, including some of the conquest and of some battles. Most of these artists were still being hired by the only people who could afford to- the elite. The coffee oligarchy used portraits and historical paintings to emphasize and enlarge their status and even to invent their "heroic" and epic origins. Thus, painting and art in general continued to be a social and political tool and not something which had a value of its own.

At the end of the nineteenth century, visionaries such as educator Mauro Fernandez, proposed and fought for the establishment of important educational and cultural institutions. In 1887 and 1888 the following establishments were inaugurated: Liceo de Costa Rica (boys high school), Liceo Superior de Senoritas (girl's high school), Biblioteca Nacional (library), and the Museo Nacional (museum). During its beginnings, the National Museum was mostly a small collection of preserved animals and of archaeological "curiosities" (Indian artifacts), but it didn't possess any works of art that weren't precolumbian in nature. In 1890, only 30% of the population was literate, fact which explains why painting and art hadn't fully developed.

Even in this relatively barren setting, some local artists managed to flourish under the guidance of the painters and sculptors that were previously mentioned. The most significant Costa Rican painters of the late nineteenth century were: Ezequiel Jimenez Rojas, Wenceslao de la Guardia and Enrique Echandi. These and other young artists were encouraged and supported by the establishment of the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes (National School of Arts) in 1897, which was under the charge of Tomas Povedano, a renown Spanish painter.

After its painful beginnings, Costa Rican painting produced many more artists and works in the early twentieth century. The painters of the past century had to walk along a rocky and narrow path, but their stumbling and difficulties enabled their successors to receive an education in Art and to enjoy a larger and more generous audience for their work. Some of the early twentieth century artists were: Darienne Vanston, Francisco Zuniga, Luisa Gonzalez de Saenz, Teodorico Quiros, Francisco Amiguetti and Margarita Berthau. Their work didn't just imitate European models- Costa Rican art finally had a life of its own, free of its dependence on the elite and of the rejection from the rest of the population.