The Puerto Rican educator Luis Quero Chiesa titles this section, “Malezal.” He believes that the North American invasion of Puerto Rico was “the most profound cultural tragedy of the New World.” In his opinion, everything that was accomplished in the arts of the nineteenth century has been diminished. At the time of writing, the two dominant factors in Puerto Rican life were: the living conditions of the people under colonial rule, and the Island’s geographical position (its insularity). Quero Chiesa believes that both these conditions affect the Puerto Rican way of life, which is why its art is a hybrid expression that appears confused, rootless, fatalistic, and tame.

Luis Quero Chiesa (Ponce, 1911–New York, 1994) went to the Big Apple in 1929, where he studied painting and design at Parsons School of Design. He returned to Puerto Rico in 1934, and began getting to know the island as well as he could. He later returned to New York, where he spent the rest of his life. In 1941 he exhibited his work at the University of Puerto Rico. At that time his production had a regional quality. Indeed, he painted typical scenes of Puerto Rican life, such as wakes, coal merchants, sugar cane cutters, and so on.   Quero Chiesa gave a lecture titled “Arte Nacional Puertorriqueño” [Puerto Rican National Art] at the New York Public Library at the opening of an exhibition of his work. The lecture was published in seven installments in the Revista Alma Latina [Latin Soul Magazine], and in the Revista del Café [Coffee Magazine] in 1945. This issue, dated December 29, 1946, is the fifth in the series.   The other issues that carried the installments were as follows: December 1, 1945 (see doc. No. 823757); December 8, 1945 (doc. No. 823742); December 15, 1945 (doc. No. 823725); December 22, 1945 (doc. No. 823709); January 5, 1945 (doc. No. 823694); and January 12, 1946 (doc. No. 823664).