Resumen de From "Byobu" to "Biombo": the transformation of the Japanese folding screen in colonial Mexico
This essay considers the introduction of the Japanese folding screen (byobu) to Mexico in te seventeenth century and its translation into a local artistic idiom. The "byobu" and its Mexican counterpart known as the "biombo" were indispensable in both interior and exterior spaces. Folding screens were quintessential examples of Japanese art and thus were often included among the diplomatic gifts from Japanese emperors to foreign rulers, moving across vast geographical spaces. In the service of the samurai or the New Spanish elite, painted, movable screens were used as political signifiers to demonstrate the wealth and good taste of their owners. Many of the "biombos" made in Mexico City were transported back to Spain as visual reminders of the New World. The translation of the "byobu" to the "boimbo" and the cross-cultural references of the folding screen are examined in this essay.
