Transformaciones en las urbes modernas del Ecuador. Obra pública del escultor Luis Mideros

Abstract

In the final decades of the nineteenth century, and the first of the twentieth century, the city of Quito and other important cities of Ecuador such as Cuenca and Guayaquil, began to be populated with sculptures and monuments of a social-historical nature in a way never before seen. Works in marble and bronze were erected to adorn streets, squares, avenues and walkways, giving a new meaning to the "modern" cities within the framework of the configuration of the nation. This research work outlines the origin and development of the creation of sculptural monuments that contributed to the myth of "The Historical Nation" in the urban landscape, based upon the recording, meaning and transformation of public spaces where some works of the renowned Ecuadorian sculptor, Luis Mideros (1898-1970), were erected. Mideros was one of the most renowned plastic artists of the first decades of the 20th century and was heavily influenced by the techniques and ideas of the National School of Fine Arts. This institution marked the guidelines and legitimacy of the sculptors assigned to the political project of urban transformation.