Please join us for a talk with Senior Curator Emeritus Dr. Marcus Burke about his recently-opened exhibition The Colorful World of Pancho Fierro, Afro-Peruvian Painter. Dr. Burke will discuss Fierro’s vivid depictions of Peruvian society, highlighting the extraordinary upward social mobility that was possible in nineteenth-century Lima, as well as the trans-Pacific networks of exchange that carried Fierro’s watercolors across the globe. The talk will also examine the scientific studies of these works recently completed by a team of scientists from Nottingham Trent University in the UK, casting Fierro’s watercolors in a new light.

This exhibition presents works from the Hispanic Society’s permanent collection, which is the single largest repository of works by Pancho Fierro. In over fifty years of artistic production, Fierro worked in watercolor, painted murals, and made portraits in oil and pastel, not to mention undertaking commercial work such as billboards and shop signs. This period coincided with Peruvian independence and the opening of Lima to international commerce, mainly with England and France, which triggered a high demand for Fierro’s colorful depictions of Peruvian life.

Doors open for this event beginning at 10am with light refreshments and an opportunity to visit the exhibition. The talk will start at 10:30am.

This event is organized by The Drawing Foundation in partnership with The Hispanic Society Museum & Library, and in association with Master Drawings New York 2025.

Special thanks to Hubert and Mireille Goldschmidt for their generosity in supporting research on the watercolors of Pancho Fierro which led to this exhibition.

Image: Pancho Fiero (1807/9–1879), Dance of Devils on the Day of Quasimodo (detail), 1830-1860. Watercolor on paper. Hispanic Society Museum & Library.