People of Cusco / Cuzqueñas

Between the 1920s and 1950s, Argentine artists often travelled to the less urbanised north of the country and to other Andean countries, where they could still encounter indigenous people who had preserved their old traditions. The Nativist movement promoted the study of the region’s ancestral cultures, while major archaeological discoveries, such as the sacred site of Tiahuanaco in Bolivia (1903), and the historic city of Machu Picchu in Peru (1911), were widely publicised in the press. These broad cultural trends also motivated Jonas Rimša, who was an avid traveller. During his journeys through the Andean region, he visited Cusco, the legendary capital of the Inca Empire, located at an altitude of 3,500 metres, and painted its inhabitants. In his painting People of Cusco, he captures a moment of palpable tension in a family scene, where the glances and gestures speak louder than words. The mother’s fingers, sliding gently over her son’s clothing, express a silent plea. The son meets her with a firm and unyielding gaze, his defiant stance emphasised by the taut muscles of his neck. The composition is confined, and the emotional charge is heightened by the presence of a young woman in a widebrimmed hat, possibly the sister of the young man, who watches intently as a witness to the unfolding drama.

Text author Laura Petrauskaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album MORE THAN JUST BEAUTY (2012). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, ARTISTS ON THE MOVE (2025). Compiler and text author Laura Petrauskaitė
Expositions: “Tropic Scream: Argentina–Bolivia–Tahiti“, 10 June – 5 September 2010, Vilnius Picture Gallery, Vilnius

Between the 1920s and 1950s, Argentine artists often travelled to the less urbanised north of the country and to other Andean countries, where they could still encounter indigenous people who had preserved their old traditions. The Nativist movement promoted the study of the region’s ancestral cultures, while major archaeological discoveries, such as the sacred site of Tiahuanaco in Bolivia (1903), and the historic city of Machu Picchu in Peru (1911), were widely publicised in the press. These broad cultural trends also motivated Jonas Rimša, who was an avid traveller. During his journeys through the Andean region, he visited Cusco, the legendary capital of the Inca Empire, located at an altitude of 3,500 metres, and painted its inhabitants. In his painting People of Cusco, he captures a moment of palpable tension in a family scene, where the glances and gestures speak louder than words. The mother’s fingers, sliding gently over her son’s clothing, express a silent plea. The son meets her with a firm and unyielding gaze, his defiant stance emphasised by the taut muscles of his neck. The composition is confined, and the emotional charge is heightened by the presence of a young woman in a widebrimmed hat, possibly the sister of the young man, who watches intently as a witness to the unfolding drama.

Text author Laura Petrauskaitė

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album MORE THAN JUST BEAUTY (2012). Compiler and author Giedrė Jankevičiūtė, ARTISTS ON THE MOVE (2025). Compiler and text author Laura Petrauskaitė
Expositions: “Tropic Scream: Argentina–Bolivia–Tahiti“, 10 June – 5 September 2010, Vilnius Picture Gallery, Vilnius