Paul Niell
Florida State University, Art History, Faculty Member
On the revival, multiple uses, and multivalence of the Greco-Roman classical tradition in late colonial and early national Latin American contexts, this co-edited anthology (with Stacie Widdifield, University of Arizona) presents a... more
On the revival, multiple uses, and multivalence of the Greco-Roman classical tradition in late colonial and early national Latin American contexts, this co-edited anthology (with Stacie Widdifield, University of Arizona) presents a revisionist view of the neoclassical phenomenon in the art and architecture of this period by examining the discourse of buen gusto (good taste) in societies from New Spain/Mexico and the Caribbean to South America. In these contexts, good taste appears as not only an aesthetic reference, but also a modality of perception and a socio-cultural dynamic of self-creation.
Research Interests:
Urban Space as Heritage in Late Colonial Cuba: Classicism and Dissonance on the Plaza de Armas of Havana, 1754-1828 considers the commemoration of Havana’s foundational site in the late colonial period as a heritage process. According to... more
Urban Space as Heritage in Late Colonial Cuba: Classicism and Dissonance on the Plaza de Armas of Havana, 1754-1828 considers the commemoration of Havana’s foundational site in the late colonial period as a heritage process. According to national legend, Havana, Cuba, was founded under the shade of a ceiba tree whose branches sheltered the island’s first Catholic mass and meeting of the town council (cabildo) in 1519. The founding site was first memorialized in 1754 by the erection of a baroque monument in Havana’s central Plaza de Armas, which was reconfigured in 1828 by the addition of a neoclassical work, El Templete. Viewing the transformation of the Plaza de Armas from the new perspective of heritage studies, this book investigates how late colonial Cuban society narrated Havana’s founding to valorize Spanish imperial power and used the monuments to underpin a local sense of place and cultural authenticity, civic achievement, and social order.