The Jaime Andre Collection

When, in about 1964, Jaime began modestly to form his own collection, his taste turned, in particular, to pre-Columbian art and also to contemporary Spanish and Latin American art, especially the art of Ecuador. One might say, as with many dedicated collectors, that his collection formed around his contact with and appreciation for the artists themselves. The Pan-American Union regularly sent visiting Latin American artists to Herbert and Jaime, who assumed the status of unofficial cultural liaisons in New York. Both were forthcoming in facilitating contact with galleries and collectors, and even in effecting private sales.

Among the first Ecuadorian artists Jaime met and collected were Felix Arauz (b. 1935), Estuardo Maldonado (b. 1930), Luis Enrique Tábara (b. 1930), Manuel Ugarte (b. 1945), and Manuel Velasteguí (b. 1946). He has since encouraged and supported the careers of three generations of Ecuadorians, many of whom he has collected in depth. And his collection includes not a few works that were given to him over the years, in gratitude for his help and support.²

Jaime is now widely acknowledged as a veritable ambassador of Ecuadorian culture, and in 2010 was presented the Fondation Gonzalo Rubio Award by the Instituto Otavaleño de Antropología for his contribution to the diffusion of Ecuadorian culture. Not only has he been the cultural host to generations of Ecuadorians visiting New York, he has also gone to great lengths to host Americans in Ecuador, including multiple visits by David Herbert, William Draper, Richard Brown Baker, the artist Reeve Schley, and others, all of whom, as a result, developed deep appreciation for Ecuador and its culture. William Draper also documented his trips with an extensive series of paintings and sketches of the Otavalo landscape—particularly the Andrade family farm, “La Magdalena”—all of which were left to Jaime when the painter died in 2003. In 2010, in cooperation with QCC Art Gallery, Jaime organized an exhibition of twenty-five of Draper’s Ecuador paintings, which was presented at the Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana in Ibarra.

Jaime’s legendary generosity extends to institutional munificence. Artworks from his collection have been exhibited worldwide. Major pre-Columbian artifacts from his collection were included in the 1997 exhibition, Prehispanic America—Time and Culture (2000 BC–1550 AD), at the Auditorio de Galicia, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. In 1991, Jaime was a lender to Ecuador: Arte y Tradición, at QCC Art Gallery; and in 1998, works from his collection were included in Zero Latitude: Contemporary Ecuadorian Artists, the first of a series of exhibitions on the art of Ecuador at New Jersey City University. He has donated paintings by Hugo Bastidas to the Gyeongnam Art Museum, Korea; to the Museo del Barrio, New York; and to Rogers University, Newark, New Jersey. Since 1997, he has been a donor of works by contemporary Latin American artists, as well as pre-Columbian art, to QCC Art Gallery. As executor of the Estate of David Herbert, he has made important gifts of archival documents to Harvard University Art Museums; to the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; and to Queensborough Community College. A permanent installation of the QCC Art Gallery’s Pre-Columbian Collection is planned, to be installed in a space dedicated as The Jaime Andrade Pre-Columbian Collection.

More than a life in art, one may say of Jaime Andrade that his has been a life truly lived for art. We are profoundly grateful to Jaime for the present exhibition, and for his singular role as a steadfast friend and benefactor of Queensborough Community College Art Gallery.

Faustino Quintanilla, Executive Director

Notes:

1. Coincidentally, William Draper had been an artist exhibited at Knoedler Gallery, in 1948.
2. It is perhaps not without interest to note that Knoedler & Company had its own early and rather interesting history with Hispanic art, including a 1945 group exhibition of contemporary Mexican artists; a 1947 group exhibition of artists of Latin America; and solo exhibitions of Josep Maria Sert (in 1949) and Salvador Dalí (in six exhibitions from 1943 to 1974); the Spanish-born Mexican, Arturo Souto (in 1941); the Spanish-exile, Luis Quintanilla (in 1944); the Uruguayan, Pedro Figari (in 1946); and the Mexicans, Xavier Guerrero (in 1947) and Rufino Tamayo (in six exhibitions from 1950 and 1962). In addition, in 1978 the gallery hosted the blockbuster, Treasures of Mexico.