San Juan Views: 500 years
Panoramic view of a historic city through the eyes of Puerto Rican emblematic artists
This selection of paintings presents elements of economic and military forces from an early moment in the city’s history, mutating to a more urban, modern–oriented reality that began to take shape in the second part of the 20th century.
Vista de San Juan desde la muralla (19th Century) by Isador Laurent DeroyInstituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña
Vista de San Juan desde la muralla
San Juan has iconic fortifications that extend along its defense lines, built from the 16th century by the Spanish, until the early 19th century.
Its military importance provided the basis for the development of a leading city in the Caribbean, at an economic and cultural level, becoming a reference in architectural preservation and conservation.
Simultaneously, it was a hot spring for the generation of philosophical and visual ideas that stemmed from the island's intellectuals and artists.
Iglesia San Jose by Leoncio ConcepciónInstituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña
Iglesia San José
Located in Old San Juan, the Iglesia de San José is the second oldest Catholic temple in the Americas and one of the few examples of Spanish Gothic architecture from the 16th century still standing on the continent.
Iglesia San Jose II by Leoncio ConcepciónInstituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña
Iglesia San José II
In Leoncio Concepción's paintings, we appreciate a city rich in history and social dynamics that he figuratively freezes at some point in the 19th or early 20th century.
With his "naive" visual style, he elaborated accessible narratives of life in the city, whose imaginary of the imposing architecture of the capital city was of utmost importance.
La Catedral by Leoncio ConcepciónInstituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña
La Catedral
Concepción's paintings speak to the historical significance of plazas and churches in a city's development.
La Caleta by Leoncio ConcepciónInstituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña
La Caleta
Public spaces were the epicenter of community that we can appreciate in the representation of ladies walking, children playing, and people working in different trades.
Unlike the landscape artists who portray nature, the urban landscape of this author reflects an appreciation of the natural in coasts and skies framed by the city, its walls, and defense lines.
Calle San Sebastián by Luis Germán CajigasInstituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña
La Calle San Sebastián
Luis Germán Cajigas, with his illustrative painting of high graphic richness, shows us an Old San Juan in the first half of the 20th century with its characteristic merchants and people working as expected of a port city.
Revendón by Luis Germán CajigasInstituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña
Revendón
The author portrays daily life full of color and community relations in a time that is highly important, since it precedes the real estate and tourism boom that took off shortly after the historical moment represented by the author in his images.
La Perla by Luis Germán CajigasInstituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña
La Perla
Later, the government project Manos a la Obra and the hotel boom of the 60's, the walled city and its bordering areas mutated towards other objectives and novel forms of commerce that gave a more modern sense to San Juan, thus the historical started taking the form of a print.
La Puerta de San Juan (1972) by Luis Germán CajigasInstituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña
La puerta
This critical juncture was captured by Cajigas thanks to its chromatic diversity and elaborated drawings, which allowed him to formulate images that became a Creole reference of nostalgia that Puerto Ricans treasured as a record of a picturesque past longed for by it simplicity.
