July 26, 2022

The Getty Center | (Re)Inventing the Americas: Repeat. Erase, Construct

by Sofia Lieblein

The Celebration of the Lizard. 2022. Denilson Baniwa (Amazonian and Brazilian, b. 1984). Digital intervention based on “Columnam à Praefecto Prima Navigatione Locatam Venerantur Floridenses”, from Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues (French, ca. 1533–before 1588), Brevis Narratio Eorum Quae in Florida Americæ Provincia Gallis Acciderunt (Frankfurt, 1591), pl. 8, Getty Research Institute, 87- B24110. Courtesy the artist. © Denilson Baniwa.

The Getty Center remains the leading heritage and culture institution in Los Angeles, providing residents with an amazing hub of opportunities to seek out celebrated art and exclusive information. Its astounding architecture, vast fine art collection, and educational programs draw in visitors from all over the world. Already garnering attention for its modernist take on a centuries-old thesis, it is no surprise that The Getty Center’s newest exhibition, (Re)Inventing the Americas: Repeat. Erase, Construct, is highly anticipated.

Trees and Fruits Grown in Brazil. Etching and engraving in Johan Nieuhof, Gedenkweerdige Brasiliaense Zee-en-Lant-Reize, 1640–1649 (Amsterdam, 1682), between pp. 200 and 201. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (84-B22312).

(Re)Inventing the Americas: Repeat. Erase, Construct, debuts on August 23, 2022, and stays on view through January 8, 2023. The exhibition radically explores the emergence of mythologies that surfaced during the conquest of the American continents, along with divulging the power these legends and paradisal concepts had in defining the Americas.

Through a series of engraving, etchings, lithographs, and woodcuts, “This exhibition reframes the colonial and 19th-century materials in the Getty Research Institute collections, challenging European representations of the American continents,” says Mary Miller, director of the Getty Research institute. “It proposes that the Americas were reinvented utilizing European conventions and imaginaries.”

Chimborazo Seen from the Plain of Tapia. Louis Bouquet (French, b. 1765–1814) and Jean Thomas Thibault (French, 1757–1826). Engraving in Alexander von Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, et monumens des peuples indigènes de l’Amérique (Paris, 1810), between pp. 200 and 201. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (85-B1535).

Chief Bororo. Hand-colored lithograph Comte [Francis] de Castelnau, Expédition dans les parties centrales de l’Amérique du Sud (Paris, 1850), pl. 12. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (91-B21393).

In order to erect an image that doesn’t solely illustrate a perception of the Americas from the European perspective, this exhibition shatters the notion of the European view by introducing contemporary Brazilian Indigenous artist Denilson Baniwa. Baniwa’s collaboration in this exhibition represents modern disputes, examinations, and opinions diverging from obsolete beliefs. His urban interventions represent the Indigineous people, as they question America’s colonial past and stereotypical representations of their culture. His artistic practice adorns this exhibition with bold and fiery graphic design and drawing.

No More America. 2022. Denilson Baniwa (Amazonian and Brazilian, b. 1984). Digital intervention based on “Allegory of America,” from Philippe Galle (Flemish, 1537–1612), with verses by Cornelis Kiliaan ([Belgian?], 1528–1607), Prosopographia ([Antwerp?], 1600s), pl. 43, Getty Research Institute, 94-B3364. Courtesy the artist. © Denilson Baniwa.

Divided into five thematic sections, the exhibition displays the following: the allegorical construction of America, the natural wealth of the Americas, the construction of archetypes, political images of conquest, and the work of European travelers.