Oswaldo Guayasamín: A Study Of The Ecuadorian Artist’S Mid-Twentieth Century Reinterpretation Of Indigenismo

In this thesis, I investigate Andean indigenismo ([indigenism] and its potential as a politically and socially radical movement. By examining Oswaldo Guayasamín’s shift in avant-garde, indigenista [indigenist] work to a more muted, state-controlled position, we can trace the trajectory of indigenismo over time. As a framework for such trajectory, I discuss indigenismo as defined by José Carlos Mariátegui in the 1920s, indigenista works by Guayasamín in the 1940s, and state- sponsored indigenista works by Guayasamín from the 1950s. I focus on Guayasamín’s early works La Huelga [The Strike] (1940), Los Trabajadores [The Workers] (1942),4 and Niños Muertos [Dead Children] (1942). In these artworks, rather than portraying somber and stoic indigenous peoples as seen earlier in the twentieth century, Guayasamín portrayed indigenous peoples engaged in their community. In doing so, he depicted indigenous peoples in a modern setting, inserting them into a modern reality from which they were often excluded. However, as I argue, these works also foreshadow Guayasamín’s problematic tendency to use indigenous peoples as symbolic figures defined by their socio-political situation. In his first series, Huacayñán [The Way of Tears] (1946-1952), I argue that Guayasamín pushed these negative stereotypes further due in part to the Ecuadorian government’s role in commissioning his art and using indigenismo to rebuild national identity. By examining the trajectory of indigenismo through this specific lens, I demonstrate the variability of indigenismo over time. In particular, I discuss the negative and positive aspects at each stage, illustrating how the limits of indigenismo changed with each new iteration.