Reframing a Master: Race & the Artistic Legacy of José Campeche

• In Event: Black Creation: Lessons for Living under the Shadow of Slavery and Empire

Abstract

In 1854, the white cultured elite of Puerto Rico celebrated their first ‘Exposition of Industry, Agriculture, and Fine Arts,’ where native painter José Campeche was positioned as the founder of the island’s art canon. Through this process of memorialization, and active effort of nation-building, Campeche’s posthumous constructed historical persona was consciously curated to celebrate his singular artistic genius while carefully omitting his African ancestry. This selective representation of Campeche found its most potent visual expression in Ramon Atiles’ painting Retrato de José Campeche, which materializes and mediates Campeche’s stance in colonial Puerto Rico as it serves as a visual commentary on the artist’s role. It demonstrates how his African heritage did not disqualify him from this position, but rather, that he was respected because of his value as a figure relevant to the construction of Puerto Rican identity. Under the shadow of the Spanish Empire and the imminent threat of U.S. imperial aspirations, Puerto Ricans used Campeche’s persona to assert their own distinct cultural character and legacy – one that celebrated artistic excellence while strategically silencing colonial racial hierarchies in ways with significant implications for contemporary Afro-Puerto Ricans.

Author

• Camila Aguayo, Tulane University