Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Thesis Format

Monograph

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Hispanic Studies

Supervisor

Suarez, Juan Luis

2nd Supervisor

Rodríguez Ortega, Nuria

Affiliation

University of Málaga

Co-Supervisor

Abstract

Spanish art has traditionally been associated with specific artists, mainly the Spanish Old Masters. When scholarly publications studied the construction of this traditional concept of Spanish art, they based their studies on historiography and other texts that contribute to the elaboration of this artistic concept. However, historiography is not the only variable that influenced the creation of artistic concepts: the art market and museum collections also contribute to these concepts. This thesis aims to add another layer of complexity to the study of the consolidation of the concepts of Spanish art by examining exhibitions in which Spanish artists were displayed from 1800 to 1939. Aiming to discover patterns and the evolution of exhibition dynamics when displaying Spanish art, this study focuses on three countries: Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

After collecting 336 exhibitions, using one of the few official primary sources—catalogues—the analysis consists of a combination of traditional and computational methodologies. This has allowed me to move from local to global perspectives. This means that, instead of only discovering general patterns, it also allows an understanding of the different local contexts. The type of analysis chosen for this study is network analysis, specifically a graph model based on co-exhibition, which allowed me to map and visualize the invisible connections generated when artists were displayed in the same exhibition. Adding to that, statistical analysis based on network theory, this research approached the analysis in three dimensions: general, chronological, and local.

The conclusions drawn from this analysis not only contribute to understanding how the concept or concepts of Spanish art were crafted and built in exhibitions, such as maintaining the traditional concept of Spanish art based on the Old Masters practically untouched by a large part of the nineteenth century but also how the application of network analysis, particularly co-exhibition networks, as an effective tool for revealing patterns and analysing exhibition dynamics.

Summary for Lay Audience

When you are asked to think about examples of art from a specific culture, some come to mind easily; many of these examples will be shared among people, and it seems that organically, as a society, we have decided that some artists are more representative of a specific culture than others. But why is that? Is it an organic process? In this thesis, a case study is used to focus on these questions for Spanish art. Until now, permanent collections in fine arts museums worldwide fill their Spanish art collections with artists such as Murillo, Velázquez, or Goya, while countless other Spanish artists are less represented. How did this concept crystallize? And why? To investigate further, this thesis analyses exhibitions as the object of study. Exhibitions are made at a specific moment and for a specific audience, and they can thus be used as a window to a specific time and society. Exhibitions only have limited room; therefore, a selection of artists was needed. To study the concepts of Spanish art built in exhibitions, I decided to explore the very first temporary exhibitions connected to art institutions, and for that, I focused on the nineteenth century. Moreover, to get a better understanding of the dynamics shown in exhibitions across cultures, I selected three different countries: Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

I collected the data from 336 exhibitions from archives, often by visiting in person when information was unavailable. To be able to analyse and map the information in all these exhibitions, I opted to mix two approaches: a data-driven methodology based on network analysis, which allowed me to study all the exhibitions collected at a glance, and a traditional approach, analysing each one of these exhibitions in depth. The analysis conducted by mixing both approaches contributes to understanding how exhibitions offered a broader concept of Spanish art, including more contemporary artists. Furthermore, this study demonstrates how the display of Spanish artists in exhibitions evolves over time and varies from country to country, eventually leading to a more complex scenario where esteemed Spanish artists from previous centuries are exhibited alongside painters from the nineteenth century.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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