A still life can be a humble arrangement of everyday forms or it can stand as an allegory of an entire culture. In these two large oils the artist excludes all else from view but the fruit, which he renders in loving detail, celebrating the luscious flora, and by extension, the land that produced it. Altar de Dolores from 1943, by Mexican Mar a Izquierdo, incorporates assorted fruit and folk art cut-papers, recording the personal religious offerings that continue to be an important part of everyday life to Catholics in Latin America. And these are only a few of the pieces with fruit.
Death shows up frequently and in many guises in Latin American art.
A wonderful early Fernando Botero oil, The Butcher's Table, tackles corruption and violence in his native Colombia. It dates to 1969, before the artist developed his more gently satiric pneumatic style of representation. Ana Mendieta's slides of her 1973 site-specific installations are impressive, especially her Mutilated Body on Landscape, featuring a very large, very still heart atop what looks like a bloody, wrapped corpse. It's gory but beautiful. A shower cap is a witty addition to this traditional table-top piece.