Behind Closed Doors: Art in the Spanish American Home, 1492-1898 Hardcover - 2013

Media reviews

“Obsessions with race, bloodline and birthplace—some particular to the Spanish colonies, others more widespread—haunt Behind Closed Doors. It leaves us in the strange position of marveling at the opulence of domestic life in the Spanish colonies while pondering some of the ugliest aspects of colonialism. These glimpses of the good life—and enough decorative installations to fill many an interior designer’s inspiration board—are what we expect from a show on the homes of the wealthy. But the severity of colonial subjugation is just as visible and, in the end, more affecting.”
—Karen Rosenberg, The New York Times

“Behind Closed Doors promises geographical and cultural scope as well as a gorgeous array. Its 160 paintings, sculpture, prints, textiles and decorative art objects will serve as signifiers of faith, status and taste, perhaps proving that the rich, while not like you and me, may often be very much like one another regardless of time or place.”
—Roberta Smith, The New York Times

“Old things that astonish and enlighten keep emerging from the shadows. Focused on Hispanic imperialists who flaunted wealth and influence, Behind Closed Doors explores how European conquerors and members of native ethnic groups intermarried and then furnished their homes with Chinese export porcelain and Flemish tapestries. Commissioned portraits show the families slathered in pearls that had been harvested along a desolate stretch of Venezuelan coast. A recently purchased Mexican screen about nine feet long is encrusted with mother-of-pearl scenes of victorious Hapsburg soldiers, and a Peruvian painting depicts masters and slaves dancing by a riverbank.” —Eva Kahn, The New York Times

"Behind Closed Doors provides an excellent birds eye view on how Spanish American households were run, social rituals and often connects the collection of major objects to the owner’s Spanish roots. —Hispanically Speaking News