Exploring Mexican Hybrid Baroque: New Perspectives on Colonial Architectural Sculpture

This thesis speaks to an alternative analysis of the cultural consequences of colonialism and how Indigenous and Mestizo styles that emerged in Mexico had a global cultural impact. These architects and sculptors created a different artistic product that enabled them to represent Christian symbols in their own way. While the Spanish were physically and intellectually removed from current European artistic developments, they were drawn by Tequitqui architecture because it was not only a new style but it also exuded a different identity. Written testimonies by Spanish individuals demonstrate that the result of cultural hybridity made an impression on the European's visual culture. Tequitqui art is often neglected in art history books. Most literature discusses Spain shaping Mexican culture, but the opposite notion is nonexistent. This study aims to challenge the Western discourse and propose that Tequitqui art and the artists who created it deserve acknowledgment in Baroque art history.