Art Review: Hispanic Society of America Collection

I count my visit to the Hispanic Society of America on Thursday as a Christmas present to myself. Part of it’s open — for the first time since 2017 — for an exhibition called Gilded Figures: Wood and Clay Made Flesh. It shows the museum’s collection of lifelike Spanish and colonial painted polychrome sculpture from around 1500 to 1800. It’s a beautiful show.

I write about the Hispanic Society whenever I can. It’s fabulous, with the best collection of Spanish art, rare books, and manuscripts outside Spain. After as much muddling through and endowment draining as a great institution could do, its board remade itself about ten years ago. It’s raising money and fixing its building, on West 155th Street in Manhattan, which previous generations of trustees allowed to crumble.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

I count my visit to the Hispanic Society of America on Thursday as a Christmas present to myself. Part of it’s open — for the first time since 2017 — for an exhibition called Gilded Figures: Wood and Clay Made Flesh. It shows the museum’s collection of lifelike Spanish and colonial painted polychrome sculpture from around 1500 to 1800. It’s a beautiful show.

I write about the Hispanic Society whenever I can. It’s fabulous, with the best collection of Spanish art, rare books, and manuscripts outside Spain. After as much muddling through and endowment draining as a great institution could do, its board remade itself about ten years ago. It’s raising money and fixing its building, on West 155th Street in Manhattan, which previous generations of trustees allowed to crumble.