Indochristian art

Indochristian art (Spanish: arte indocristiano), is a type of Latin American art that combines European colonial influences with Indigenous artistic styles and traditions.

During the Spanish colonization of the Americas, Franciscan, Dominican, and Augustinian monks extensively converted indigenous peoples to Christianity, introducing them to European arts and aesthetics. The arts of this period reflect a fusion of European and indigenous religious beliefs, aesthetics, and artistic traditions.

The term Indochristian art was coined by Constantino Reyes-Valerio, a scholar of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture and arts, in his book, Indochristian Art, Sculpture and Painting of 16th Century Mexico. Reyes-Valerio's work focused on the painting and sculpture of churches and monasteries in New Spain, but had broader implications for the analysis of art throughout Latin America.

Origins of the term

Coinage of term Indochristian Art

The term indochristian art was coined by Constantino Reyes-Valerio in his 1978 work, Arte indocristiano: escultura del siglo XVI en México. This work was followed by an analysis of indochristian mural painting, and the two books were re-published in combined form in 2000. In this work, Reyes-Valerio defines indochristian art as art that is indigenous in its production but Christian in its themes, using the term as a designation for artwork that blended symbolic elements of Christian and pre-Hispanic cultures. An expert in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican sculpture, Reyes-Valerio focuses his studies on art produced in monastic settings in New Spain, primarily examining sculptures and paintings that ornament monasteries and convents, and identifying iconographic connections to earlier indigenous works.

Reyes-Valerio's coinage of the term indochristian art was based on his 45 years of experience studying pre-Columbian and colonial monuments throughout Mexico.