Art History Lecture Series
Today a portrait of Don Feliciano Ramos, a former slave turned successful merchant, hangs in the sacristy of the church he commissioned in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán: the Sanctuario de Guadalupe (1832). Ramos’s life, commission, and portrait all speak to Mexico’s racialized landscape, and both the portrait and church argue for Afro-Mexican belonging in Mexico, beyond the tropics.
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Dr. Jennifer Jolly, Charles A. Dana Professor of Art History, teaches courses on art in the Americas at Ithaca College. She researches modern Mexican art, from the art and politics of the 1930s, to race and representation in the 19th century. Recipient of multiple Fulbright-García Robles Fellowships, Jolly completed her prize-winning book, Creating Pátzcuaro, Creating Mexico: Art, Tourism, and Nation Building under Lázaro Cárdenas, with the support of a NEH Fellowship.