ENCUENTRO

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In 1519, Europe saw in Antwerp the first exhibition of pre-Columbian art, dispatched from Mexico by Cortez to Charles V as a good-will gesture on the occasion of the Spanish monarch's coronation as Roman Emperor. "All the days of my life I have seen nothing that has gladdened my heart so much as these things, " recorded Albrecht Durer, "For I saw amongst them wonderful works of art, and I marveled at the subtle ingenia of men in foreign lands." (Characteristically, all the objects were lost, presumably melted to provide material for decorating Europe's churches.).

 

Zdenka Gabalova, curator at PS1 Museum, New York, 1992 from the exhibition catalogue "Encuentro"