Archaeology
Several archaeological sites have allowed us to reconstruct the culture of the first inhabitants of Central America. The oldest, the Guayabo National Monument, has revealed precious engraved rocks between its aqueducts and tombs. Among the motifs incised on the stones, remarkable animals including a jaguar and a crocodile. The remains discovered in the 66 sites spread along the banks of the Reventazón River offer a unique testimony of what life was like 12,000 years before us. The advancement of civilization on the Atlantic coast is shown through everyday utensils, traces of habitation and funerary objects. Some objects were left in situ, others are preserved in the Museo Nacional de San José.
Other exceptional testimonies, the 465 rocks engraved in the open air, scattered on the site of Pedregal, in the northwest of Costa Rica. Not far from Nicaragua, the multitude of petroglyphs shows that this graphic practice was a local tradition. We find simple and complex geometric motifs (spirals, crosses and concentric compositions), as well as figurative motifs: human faces, dressed silhouettes and animals (lizards, crocodiles, snakes). The oldest date back to 500 BC.
The diversity of the representations attests very early to a mixing of the indigenous populations, enriched by multiple contributions from South and North America.
Pre-Columbian art
The pre-Columbian period ended with the arrival of the Europeans. The Museo del oro precolombino offers the broadest overview of the culture of the indigenous peoples in Central America. In addition to its 1,600 gold pieces, the collection traces the emergence of metallurgy and its cultural impact in the region. For the indigenous people, gold is spiritually charged. Used in the making of all sorts of objects, this unalterable metal plays a key role in sacred rituals.
The hundred or so megalithic spheres of the Diquis, discovered in the jungle in the south of the country, are the work of a people from the Rio Grande valley, the Diquis. Carved in limestone or sandstone, these Bolas are of variable size, from 5 centimeters to 2 meters. Their functions remain unknown to this day. Some of them can be seen at the entrance of the Parque nacional Corcovado, around the Museo Finca 6 de Sierpe dedicated to the development of pre-Columbian civilizations.
One of them stands in the courtyard of the Museo Nacional de Costa Rica. Inside, a collection of varied objects evokes the evolution of successive cultures. One can admire ceramics and jade sculptures. Prized by the pre-Hispanic civilizations, jade has a variety of colors. From 1200 B.C. to the 13th century, the Olmecs, the Mayas and then the Aztecs mastered the work of jade perfectly. With a value superior to gold, this rock symbolized water, thus the harvest and the abundance of corn. This is why many masks and statuettes were carved in jade. To see, the Museo del Jade and the pre-Columbian culture, established in a modern building built especially in San José.
Traditional art
The arrival of the conquistadors marked a radical change in the visual arts. However, even today, native peoples continue to perpetuate ancestral traditions. The Chorotegas, originally polytheistic, continue to produce remarkable pottery decorated with clever decorative and animal motifs.
The masks of the Borucas remain spectacular to say the least. Worn during ritual dances, these high colored masks carved in wood seduce by their exaggerated features. Their function is to be worn for several days by actors. During these ceremonies, the wearers tell the great national story, as well as that of one of the last indigenous populations. The more frightening masks, the diabolitos, are intended to narrate the Spanish invasion. The bright colors favored by the Borucas have a spiritual connotation. Also used in painting, they exalt the relationship of a people to the environment. Today, these masks are the main source of income for the Borucas.
Mixed influences
The indigenous peoples have received a mixture of influences from America, Africa and Spain. The African contributions were more in music, dance and food than in the visual arts.
European culture entered Costa Rica through Spain. In the pictorial field, a classical genre, inspired by popular paintings prized by the Spanish nobility, was quickly adopted by the elite. Sculpted busts appeared in the country's squares. These commissioned portraits accompanied the construction of houses and palaces.
In the traditional arts, hand-painted ox carts are one of the symbols of Costa Rica. A splendid collection of popular art is gathered at the MADC - Museo de Arte Costarricense.
Cultural boom
The 20th century saw an explosion of innovations and artistic trends. Several talents emerged, some of them reaching international fame.
The painter and architect Teodorico Quiros (1897-1977) proposed a modern look at the traditional landscape in the 1920s. Considered one of the major painters of Costa Rica, he participated in the construction and decoration of many public places. The Museo de Arte Costarricense named a floor of its building in his honor. He also painted murals, including a famous one in 1932 in the Colegio Superior de Señoritas.
Modern sculpture
José de Jesús Francisco Zúñiga Chavarria (1912 -1998) made his artistic debut at the age of fifteen. Both his parents were sculptors, his father being specialized in religious art. This painter and sculptor is quickly acclaimed throughout the world. At a very young age, Francisco Zúñiga moved to Mexico City where he joined the local artistic community. He then became a teacher in the most prestigious art schools in the country. His refined treatment of the human figure, which is a contemporary vision of pre-Hispanic art, became his signature. He copied the models in museums. Attached to figurative art, the human body is for him the most important aspect of the world around him. He created more than thirty-five public sculptures on all continents. He has been awarded sculpture prizes around the world, including the Kataro Takamura Prize of the Third Biennial of Sculpture in Japan, and the Elías Sourasky Prize in Mexico.
At the Museo de Arte Costarricense, in San José, we discover the work of his contemporary with indigenous influences, the sculptor Juan Manuel Sánchez Barrantes (1911-1990). His mineral sculptures with a modernism close to Rodin are full of romanticism. His human or animal forms, and his subjects of religious inspiration stand out from the block of stone, carved with apparent spontaneity.
Trained as an economist, José Sancho (born in 1935) turned to sculpture in the late 1960s. With an international culture, he merges the most diverse influences (Tinguely, Brancusi, etc.). His organic pieces are inspired as much by industrialization as by biomorphism. He uses recycled materials, stone and metal. The career of this tireless modernist was the subject of a retrospective in 2011, at the Central Bank of Costa Rica, in San Jose.
Modern painting
Undoubtedly one of the major figures of the contemporary Costa Rican scene, Amighetti was born in San José in 1907 to an Italian family. An engraver and painter, he was inspired by surrealism and abstraction to break the codes. Among his favorite themes, Francisco Amighetti represents rural scenes and religious processions.
His contemporary Cesar Valverde Vega gave up his legal career to start painting. He treated the female figure, his main subject, in stripes, in the spirit of Picasso.
Born in Cartago in 1928, Rafael Ángel Felo García Picado first made a name for himself in the soccer world. After becoming a painter and architect, he made several trips to Europe and developed an abstract expressionist style. An acclaimed art teacher and fervent defender of Costa Rican culture, he was ahead of his time. He founded the group Nueva Vision, with the aim of exchanging ideas and mounting collective exhibitions. He is a keen experimenter and recycles and transforms resin, nuts and wood. He is hailed as the public figure who gave a new dimension to the country's culture.
Post-Columbian" art
In Costa Rica, the search for indigenous roots is very present in the art of the 20th century. These issues are particularly reflected in the work of Rolando Castellón. A representative of the neo-conceptual trend and indigenous activism, he presented an installation at the 2011 Venice Biennale made up of textile, paper and plant fragments that appear to be archaeological remains. In 1968, he founded the La Raza gallery in San Francisco to promote the art of Latin minorities.
Back in Costa Rica, he participated in 1995 in the creation of TEOR/éTica (at the corner of Calle 7 and Av. 11). This place is dedicated to the promotion of national contemporary art.
He likes to apply the term "post-Colombian" to his works to evoke the encounter between indigenous expression and contemporary energy.
Contemporary art
Housed in a former liquor factory, the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo represents the most current trends in its four exhibition halls and outdoor space.
An emblematic figure of Latin American contemporary art, Priscilla Monge imposes her talent in a context governed by patriarchy. Born in San José in 1968, her career took off in the 1980s. She expresses herself through video art, installations and photography. In her work, she questions femininity, in particular the discipline imposed on the female body. Priscilla Monge participated in the Venice Biennale in 2001 and 2013.
Street art
Thearte urbano unfolds in the center of San José. The most popular graffiti artist, Negus started painting at a very young age. Decided to spread art in everyday life, Negus develops an ultra colorful urban style. It must be said that in San José, the authorities tolerate the murals as long as they are a plus. In addition to his spray-painted designs, Negus has recently turned to tattooing, and opened his studio, Arte Vida.
Enthusiasts will venture out of the center, into the small streets of barrios la California, Amón, Otoya or Aranjuez. Projects such as De mi barrio a tu barrio, supported by the graffiti artist Diego Fournier, offer spaces dedicated to creativity in the neighborhoods. Both the municipality and individuals appreciate street art so much that they willingly give up their walls to street artists.
Vivo Graff took his first steps in San Ramón, before painting portraits and geometric shapes on public walls. Another urban artist, Gussa, spreads his brightly colored faces to Europe and the United States.
In Costa Rica, the red carpet is rolled out for street art. Carrying the voice of the people, it transmits their fights, their ideals and their aspirations... the soul of a nation is spread out in the public space for our greatest pleasure!
