DOS Models of Representation: the Afromestizo in Battle Paintings in Chile in The Mid-XIX Century

Abstract

This research focuses on the analysis of paintings of battles for the independence of Chile registered in the accounts of the national constitution of the mid-nineteenth century, works that will allow us to reflect not only on the models of representation of blackness and the Afromestizo in terms of place socially assigned, but also to analyze its mode of representation in local plastic production. That is to say, revealing the figurative treatment and the ideological substratum that sustains it in a context of nation building. Although it is possible to recognize Afromestizo subjects in visual representations of types and customs that portray the daily life system during the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, here we situate the research in those visual representations that respond or (re) they produce a public and national(ist) will regarding what is represented. That is to say, works that, through their circulation and inscription, come from pedagogical and ideological images whose discursive function promotes the elaboration of imaginaries and national memories for the incipient Chilean state. Through the visual works presented on this occasion, it is possible to hint at certain representational problems in terms of pictorial genres and modes of display, taking into consideration the problem of portraiture, types, and stereotypes in the configuration of images of blackness.