The Muses of Santurce

Late February 2019

Introduction

The Greeks believed the Muses – nine of them – were the sources of inspiration for their artistic endeavors. Each muse had a particular domain. For example, Clio inspired the Greek historian Herodotus when he wrote his histories; Calliope inspired Homer as he wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey.

I was thinking about them because there are nine representations of the Muses in the plaza in front of the Center for Performing Arts here in San Juan. I found the sculptures intriguing and wanted to match each to the appropriate muse. This was more difficult than I had imagined. The sculptor has created new Muses that don’t relate directly to their Greek heirs. You’ll see them in a bit.

There was some debate in the ancient world as to the number of Muses. Some authorities claimed there were three; others nine. Diodorus Siculus, writing in the first century BC, seems to have put the matter to rest when he wrote:


Writers similarly disagree also concerning the number of the Muses; for some say that there are three, and others that there are nine, but the number nine has prevailed since it rests upon the authority of the most distinguished men, such as Homer and Hesiod and others like them.

(See Notes and Sources)

The Muses, daughters of Zeus by Mnemosyne, are considered minor gods in the Greek pantheon. Mnemosyne was the Titan goddess of memory. Zeus created the Muses to celebrate the victory of the Olympian gods over the Titans and to allow his followers to forget the past. Apollo, the god of music, art, and poetry, taught them their skills..

Representations of the Muses

Over the centuries, the Muses have become associated with symbols of their artistry. Here is a list, adapted from Owlcation, describing the Muses and their paraphernalia.

  • Calliope, the superior Muse, inspires poetry, rhetoric, music and writing. She is often depicted with laurels in one hand and Homeric poems in the other.
  • Clio, the muse of history, is portrayed with a clarion in one arm and a book in another.
  • Erato inspires love poetry and is shown with a bow, love arrows, and a lyre.
  • Euterpe created musical instruments to help provide inspiration for songs and poetry of love, war, and death. She holds a flute and is surrounded by other instruments.
  • Melpomene, depicted with a tragic mask, inspires rhetoric and tragedy.
  • Thalia inspires comedy and is shown with a comedic mask.
  • Polyhymnia created geometry and grammar. She is shown wearing a veil and looking upwards to the heavens.
  • Terpsichore inspires dance. She also created the harp and education. She is shown with a laurel wreath and dances with her harp in her hands.
  • Urania created astronomy and is shown with stars, a celestial sphere, and a compass.

One depiction of the Muses is on the walls of the Palace of the Vatican. Rafael’s Parnassus shows various figures from Greek history. Here are two excerpts from that fresco.

The Muses Calliope, Clio, Thalia, and Euterpe, with Statius. See Notes and Sources.
Terpsichore. See Notes and Sources

The Muses of Santurce

If you have read my previous blog entries on street art here, you would already know that Puerto Rican artists have their unique blend of Caribbean and European influences. This is certainly true of the Muses of Santurce. (If you haven’t read my blog entries on street art, shame on you. Click here and here and here and here and here and here to get caught up.)

The Performing Arts Center in Santurce opened in April, 1991. The Center consists of four performance venues and two restaurants, surrounding a central plaza. The plaza, the Juan Morel Campos Plaza, is home to nine life-size statues of the Muses created by the sculptor Annex Burgos, in 2005. He used local artists as models, many of them practitioners of the arts depicted. While inspired by the Greek Muses, Burgos was not constrained by them. His Muses show Caribbean influences and relate to art forms unknown to the Greeks.

A view of the Juan Compos Morel Plaza of the Center for Performing Arts in Santurce, San Juan. Five muses, sculptures created by Annex Burgos, are shown.

I tried to relate Burgos’s version of the Muses with the descriptions of the Muses given above. My efforts are documented below.

The Muse of Literature

Burgos depicts his Muse of Literature holding a book. Perhaps she relates to Calliope since, among other things, she is the Muse of writing.

The Muse of Literature, as interpreted by Annex Burgos. Burgos named her after the Puerto Rican author, poet, novelist, professor of literature, essayist, and literary critic Mayra Santos,

The Muse of Theater

The two Greek Muses, Thalia (comedy) and Melpomene (tragedy), are often paired. Burgos transforms them into one Muse.

The Muse of Theater as created by Annex Burgos. She is loosely based on the Puerto Rican actress Kisha Tikina. Note she is wearing one tragic and one comedic mask.

The Muse of Corporal Movement

One of the Santurce Muses seems as if she were captured while performing an elegant dance. If I’m right, she is Burgos’s representation of the Terpsichore, the Muse of Dance, or as he says, corporal movement.

The Muse of Dance. Burgos based this sculpture on Dolores Pedro, an actress born in Cuba and active in Puerto Rican television and film.

The Muse of Music

Euterpe is associated with music. Burgos’s Muse of Music is making music with a conch shell.

The Muse of Music as created by Annex Burgos. She is based on the Puerto Rican musician Yarimir Caban.

The Muse of Vocal Music

I can’t easily relate the rest of the Santurce Muses to their Greek counterparts. Again, Burgos was inspired by the nine muses of the Greeks, but not constrained by them.

The Muse of Vocal Music. Burgos based her on Yaraní Del Valle, a Puerto Rican singer and activist.

The Muse of Architecture

Burgos depicts this Muse presenting a model house for review, perhaps by a client.

The Muse of Architecture is based on Maria Rossie. I could not find any information about her.

The Muse of Design

This Muse is holding a caliper as in implement in her artistry.

The Muse of Design as realized by Annex Borgos. She is based on Catherine Vigo. I could find no information about her.

The Muse of Plastic Arts

The plastic arts involve modeling or molding various materials in three dimensions, e.g. sculpture and ceramics, or art involving the representation of solid objects with three-dimensional effects.

The Muse of Plastic Arts shown holding the tools of her trade. She is based on Annex Borgos.

The Muse of Cinema

This art form was clearly unknown to the Greeks. Burgos shows her with reels used to hold film.

The Muse of Cinema, based on Selva Rivera. I could find no information on her.

So there are the nine Muses of Santurce. They greet visitors to the Center for Performing Arts in fine style.

By the way, Burgos has other public art in Santurce. He created three larger than life avocados for the Plaza de Marcado in Santurce. I think, but I’m not sure, he is also responsible for sculptures of sea shells at a park in Condado. I will have to check that out.

Notes and Sources

See the Wikipedia entry for the Muses here. It has the complete citation for the quote by Siculus.

Some of the introductory material is from Owlcation, a site celebrating the humanities with several pages on Greek history. Click here to go to that site.

The two excerpts from Rafael were taken from the Wikipedia entry for Parnassus. Click here for the site.

The images are all mine, edited and otherwise tweaked with Adobe Lightroom and/or Photoshop.

4 thoughts on “The Muses of Santurce

  1. Otto

    An amusing piece. Didn’t know San Juan was so well endowed. So glad you’re keeping abreast of things and striving to remain a well rounded retiree.

    Reply
  2. ellen anderson

    Thank you for that treat! If ever I get to Puerto Rico, the sculptures will be #1 on my list of places to visit! The figures are evocative, voluptuous, interestingly half-garbed and well coiffed. The close-up photos are superb! I used to give my Latin students classical names, and all the muses were represented. When I hear their names, I have particular faces to match each!
    Thank you Burgos; thank you James Hassett!

    Reply
  3. Rob French

    I found the combination of tragedy and comedy in the muse of theater (and the use of the related masks on the figure) to be a very clever solution.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.