Smart Scholars Research Talk

The Feitler Center for Academic Inquiry at the Smart Museum of Art and El Cafecito present a research talk by Smart Scholar and UChicago College student, Amanda Chacón.

Amanda has spent this academic year investigating the “Pre-Columbian influence” in Ecuadorian artist Estuardo Maldonado’s 1963 painting Personaggio in the Smart Museum’s collection. Her research has involved a comprehensive analysis of the iconographic references present in the artwork, leading to new ideas regarding Maldonado’s potential sources and inspirations. This Spring, Amanda traveled to Quito, Ecuador, where she had the opportunity to study more works by the artist and a range of important Pre-Columbian artifacts in person.

Please join us in the Smart Museum’s Study Room to view the painting and engage in a lively discussion about Maldonado’s oeuvre, the question of “influence” in Latin American Modernist art, and the practice of conducting international archival research.

The talk will be followed by a brief reception with Ecuadorian cuisine and open conversation.

FREE, but space is limited. Please register in advance. 

Image: Estuardo Maldonado, Personage (Personaggio) (detail), 1963, Oil on canvas. Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Lester Guttman, 1994.28.