Rediscovering the Treasures of The Hispanic Society – The Artsology Blog

I lived in New York City for ten years and have been in close proximity to the city for over 30 years, and thought I was pretty familiar with all of the museums. I guess that is a foolish notion, are there really many people who can say they’ve been to every museum in NYC?

I received a press release today for a museum that I was not previously familiar with: The Hispanic Society Museum & Library, which is located on the Upper West Side at 155th Street. They are announcing their new exhibition, “Nuestra Casa: Rediscovering the Treasures of The Hispanic Society,” which opens February 17th and runs through April 17th, 2022. Organized by curator and art historian Dr. Madeleine Haddon, the exhibition will feature a number of hidden gems from the expansive, permanent collections of the museum that comprise more than 750,000 objects. The objects featured in “Nuestra Casa” present an artistic, literary and historical panorama of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America from antiquity to the modern age.

Please note: The Hispanic Society is undergoing a comprehensive renovation of the Museum’s Main Building, but this exhibition will launch their first ever temporary exhibition space, the East Building Gallery, which features a 3,000-square-foot gallery space.

According to the curator, one of the goals of this exhibition is to reassess the traditional art historical hierarchies to fully incorporate a more-diverse range of art and artists, showing that the HSM&L’s collection extends much beyond the well-known artwork of El Greco, Goya and Sorolla. The exhibition will include masterpieces by relatively unknown Latin American artists, some of whom are still unidentified, and who have previously received little recognition. The origin of these art works come from Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Peru and beyond, and range in date from the 10th to the 20th century.

This sounds like a great reason for me to have my first introduction to this museum! I look forward to seeing the exhibition, and if you’re in the New York area and want to attend, you can get more information about visiting the Hispanic Society Museum & Library here.

You can also learn about the history and mission statement of the Hispanic Society Museum & Library here.