Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

The painter Diego Rivera requested an interview with composer Carlos Chávez through Alejandro Gómez Arias, the representative of INBAL; Rivera wished to resolve the matter related to his confiscated mural— Pesadilla de guerra y sueño de paz [ [...]

This article reports on the scandal prompted by the confiscation of Pesadilla de guerra y sueño de paz [Nightmare of War and Dream of Peace], the mural painted by Diego Rivera for the exhibition Arte mexicano: desde tiempos precolombinos hasta [...]

In this article, painter María Izquierdo again decides to express her viewpoint without the use of intermediaries. She had done so one month before and here she again declares her disapproval of the monopoly created by the Comisión Nacional de [...]

This is a typewritten draft, with several corrections, of a discussion on mural painting. Fernando Gamboa describes it as an explanatory identity document, and acknowledges the great importance and significance—in the history of Mexico and the [...]

In this article, Rufino Tamayo forges ahead in his controversy and confrontation with the so-called Mexican School of painting. He addresses David Alfaro Siqueiros, who had publicly defended José Clemente Orozco. Tamayo ironically refers to [...]

The exhibition at Perls Gallery in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, presented Rufino Tamayo as one of the four great Mexican artists. His works were part of the great modernism and, unlike those of his colleagues, no Communist symbols could be found in [...]

In this interview, David Alfaro Siqueiros states that in the exhibition Arte mexicano: desde tiempos precolombinos hasta nuestros días [Mexican Art: From Pre-Colombian Times to Our Days], contemporary Mexican painting had generated both supportive [...]

Carlos Chávez tells the press that he had received an order not to exhibit the painting Pesadilla de guerra y sueño de paz [Nightmare of War and Dream of Peace]. As such he had only two choices: remove the painting or close the museum; he opted for [...]

This text by art critic Rosa Castro reports on her conversation with curator Fernando Gamboa, who had just arrived from Europe in order to thoroughly implement an exhibition of Mexican art that would take place in Paris. Gamboa comments on the great [...]

Eager to cultivate Mexico’s good name abroad, President Miguel Alemán made every effort to obtain the best results for the presentation in Paris of artwork created by his Mexican countrymen. Alemán wanted to make sure that this exhibition— [...]

Justino Fernández provides a roundup of the exhibitions going on in Paris at the same time as the Mexican exhibition in France. Comparing European painting with Mexican, he argues that from the beginning, Mexican painting developed its own language [...]

In this letter, Fernando Gamboa tells José (his last name is illegible) that the exhibition has been received positively. According to Gamboa there are those who have discovered an authentic pictorial path in Mexican painting, a possible escape from [...]

This interview consists of fourteen questions regarding the reception that the Mexican art exhibition experienced from the Parisian public. Fernando Gamboa believed that the event was a great opportunity for the Mexican people, and also was a great [...]

The questionnaire consists of six questions concerning the importance of social art in Mexico. The questions are as follows: Do you believe that the function of art in our time is to deliver an eloquent message of social content to the people? Do you [...]

In a brief interview, Carlos Chávez, director of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL, 1947), gives a detailed explanation of the efforts put forth to portray “the interior development of the country and to promote the nation [...]

This article reports on the success of the exhibition of ancient and modern Mexican art that was presented in Paris and then shipped to Stockholm. In Fernando Gamboa’s opinion, the exhibition was a revelation. The Parisian press described it as the [...]

Carlos Chávez announces the opening of the Mexican art exhibition organized by the governments of Mexico and France, in which a very carefully selected collection of masterpieces would be presented, beginning with the pre-Cortés era and continuing [...]

Fernando Gamboa, deputy director of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA), responds to Tamayo by stating that the Instituto has always used a criterion of equality and reminds the artist that his painting has had all possible official support [...]

The Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL, 1947) invited Rufino Tamayo to participate in the Mexican Art Exhibition that would take place in Europe. The Oaxacan painter responded that he could not give them an answer until “he knew [...]

The Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes [INBA, National Institute of Fine Arts] invited all painters, regardless of their trend, to take part in the first Salón Anual de Pintura [Annual Painting Salon]. The selection of works and the awarding of [...]

Following a trip through South America, José Luis Cuevas published this article to announce that in many countries there was no longer any interest in the “rubble” of the Mexican School of painting and its nationalist inclinations. In Venezuela [...]

The author of this article criticized Rufino Tamayo’s œuvre, comparing it to Picasso’s Cubism and remarking that the artist was “a servile imitator of the Paris School.” According to MacGregor, Tamayo’s contributions were for this “ [...]

José Luis Cuevas was in Caracas when he received his invitation to the Bienal Interamericana de Pintura y Grabado [Inter-American Biennial of Painting and Printmaking] and he declined it when he learned of the control exerted by the members of the [...]

Both Jorge Juan Crespo de la Serna and Luis Cardoza y Aragón agreed that the deliberations of the International Jury’s Panel (which had established the parameters for awarding the prizes) for the Bienal Interamericana de Pintura y Grabado [Inter- [...]

With regard to the events surrounding the first Bienal Interamericana de Pintura y Grabado [Inter-American Biennial of Painting and Printmaking], Juan O’Gorman published this article in response to the painter Cordelia Urueta. In a previous article [...]

Art critic Jorge Juan Crespo de la Serna believed that it was unfair to lodge harsh criticism against an international art competition like the first Bienal Interamericana de Pintura y Grabado [Inter-American Biennial of Painting and Printmaking], [...]

In a short article published on May 31, Miguel Álvarez Acosta, the director of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA), stated: “The fact that the best paintings by Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros did not appear in the Biennial was Carrillo Gil [...]

The Argentine art critic, Raquel Tibol, interviewed three painters, asking them for their opinions about the organization of the first Bienal Interamericana de Pintura y Grabado [Inter-American Biennial of Painting and Printmaking]. In order to have [...]

On the occasion of the first Inter-American Biennial of Painting and Printmaking, Miguel Salas Anzures, chair of the Visual Arts Department of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA), interviewed the art collectors Inés Amor and Dr. Alvar [...]

The art critic Jorge Juan Crespo de la Serna was very disappointed that Rufino Tamayo had not participated in the Bienal Interamericana de Pintura y Grabado [Inter-American Biennial of Painting and Printmaking], and felt it was a capricious decision [...]

Art critic Ceferino Palencia identified the advantages of contests such as the one held within the context of the Inter-American Biennial of Painting and Printmaking. In the first place, he said, such contests gave painters the possibility of [...]

While he was in Paris, Rufino Tamayo received a second invitation to take part in the Mexican Biennial that was being organized by the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (INBA).This time, in an attempt to persuade him, Miguel Salas Anzures told him [...]

In this interview, Rufino Tamayo insists that his painting is not part of the abstractionist trend; however, the Italian art critic Giambattista Vicari believed that he could see a reliance on abstract motifs in the work of the painter from Oaxaca. [...]

After spending two years in several European countries, Rufino Tamayo returned to Mexico. He said that his European stay had helped him to clarify a few matters. One of them, perhaps the most important, was that—contrary to the opinion of Mexican [...]

In this article, Luis Cardoza y Aragón reviews the events of 1957, and laments the deaths of Diego Rivera and Miguel Covarrubias. He lists the various exhibitions taking place in Mexico City, including different murals, such as the Fanny Ravel in [...]

HOY magazine thought that the long-running controversy between mural painters and abstract painters was old news. The simmering dispute had, however, recently boiled over into an open argument between Tamayo and Siqueiros, so the magazine asked both [...]

The author of this article states that Rufino Tamayo is the only one of de los Cuatro Grandes [the Big Four] who will not be taking part in the 1st Inter-American Biennial of Paintings and Prints in 1958. Before he left for Europe, Tamayo refused to [...]

Rufino Tamayo’s wife wrote a letter to Mr. Rodrigo de Llano, the director of the Excélsior newspaper, to clarify a few points concerning MacGregor’s article, “Ecos de una exposición” [Echoes of an Exhibition], published on August 19. Olga [...]

Diego Rivera thought the name “Tres Grandes” [The Big Three] was ridiculous. He also did not think that Rufino Tamayo should be included in the “trio” because his work was very different from theirs. Though Rivera considered Tamayo to be a [...]

The XXV Venice Biennale was held in 1950. The event has been held every two years since the beginning of the twentieth century. The prizes were established by the Presidency of the Ministers’ Council: one for a foreign painter and another for an [...]

Rufino Tamayo believed that Mexican painting was dead because, “the vitality that nourished and strengthened it during its youthful period is now old; this premature aging is a result of painting’s laziness and static condition.” Tamayo [...]

In artistic circles in those days, according to Rufino Tamayo, anything that was not purely Mexican was roundly rejected, and works that reflected our own experience and personal expression were lavishly praised. This had its positive aspects, but it [...]

José Chávez Morado thought Mexican painting was in a crisis brought on by abstract art, which was becoming a fad though it was not brand-new to Mexico. It had once interested Diego Rivera when he was exploring geometrical ideas in search of formal [...]

Rufino Tamayo expressed his ideas on the need to protect freedom of expression in the creative process. He explained that he did not belong to any group; on a personal level, however, he expressed his support for one of the “inalienable rights of [...]

Antonio Rodríguez thought there had been a campaign to convince the world that Rufino Tamayo was the best painter in Mexico; but there were some who didn’t agree. Rodríguez acknowledged that Tamayo was a good painter, particularly in his command [...]

The art critic Juan Climent thought that Rufino Tamayo’s painting was caught in the crossfire of conflicting opinions. Some thought that his œuvre represented the decadent formalism of the School of Paris, but others saw it as the dawn of a new [...]

In spite of the campaign of negative criticism against him, Rufino Tamayo said he was pleased with the way he had been received by the people of Mexico. He also said that a Mexican’s success was always a source of great satisfaction. Tamayo was [...]

Rufino Tamayo believed that he had the moral authority to speak out and deny what Siqueiros was saying about his failure at the Venice Bienniale. Tamayo pointed out that, although he did not win any prizes, the Italian government bought one of his [...]

Antonio Rodríguez Luna was invited to sit on the jury of the I Bienal Interamericana de Pintura y Grabado [First Inter-American Biennial of Paintings and Prints] a few days after the exhibition opened. He was picked as the arbiter who would cast the [...]

According to Alvar Carrillo Gil, Abstract Expressionism in the United States was in direct competition with the School of Paris. Though it was promoted as an authentically American trend, the collector and art critic believed it had European roots. [...]