Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In this article, Argentine art critic, Jorge Romero Brest, establishes a dialogue with the viewer unfamiliar with abstract art to explain the central ideas of that movement and of Concrete Art. In so doing, he emphasizes the prejudice that abstract [...]

This article reports on the participation of Marc Chagall, Jackson Pollock, Ben Nicholson, and Giorgio Morandi in the special galleries of the IV São Paulo Biennial in 1958, as well as the large Brazilian delegation that included works by Lithuanian [...]

This article reports on the opening ceremony of the XXXIX Salón Nacional de Artes Plásticas, where the minister of education, Dr. Oscar Ivanissevich, gave a speech attacking abstract artists. The Peronist official stated that abstract art—which [...]

This review of the opening of the XXXVIII Salón Nacional de Artes Plásticas contains a transcript of the speech given by Dr. Oscar Ivanissevich, minister of education during Juan Domingo Perón’s first presidency. In it, Ivanissevich calls Cubism [...]

This interview focuses on the dispute between advocates for figurative art and those for abstract art; Raquel Forner represents the figurative contingent and Lidy Prati, a member of the new generation associated with Concrete Art, represents the [...]

This text argues that the viewing public must change its attitude in order to appreciate the expressive and emotional power of abstract art, a power once believed to be the sole terrain of figurative art. In this respect, Dégand states that the [...]

This is a review of a lecture given by Juan Zocchi, director of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, during the exhibition, De Manet a nuestros días [From Manet to Our Times]. Rather than defend or attack abstract art, Zocchi indicates his interest [...]

After attending the Primer Encuentro de Plástica Latinoamericana [First Latin American Visual Arts Encounter], which took place at the Casa de las Américas in Havana, Cuba, Julio Le Parc and Brazilian artist Sérvulo Esmeraldo undertook the task of [...]

This is the Manifesto in which Edgar Bayley discussed both the crisis in representative art and the emergence of an art of “invention” that would accompany the arrival of both innovative forms of organization and the progress of productive forces [...]

This article summarizes the protest initiated against the authorities by the students at the Escuela de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredón [Prilidiano Pueyrredón National School of Fine Arts] in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It argues that the [...]

This article reviews the state of art education in the wake of the Argentine student protests in 1955 that demanded changes in the syllabus that were finally implemented in 1958. It also reports that the teacher commissions that were supposed to have [...]

Statement by a group of professors of their concern about the events that took place at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredón [Prilidiano Pueyrredón National School of Fine Arts] [ENBAPP] and the Escuela Nacional de Bellas [...]

This article reports on the judicial proceedings against the detained students, all of whom were affiliated with both Escuelas Nacionales de Bellas Artes [National Fine Arts Schools], the Prilidiano Pueyrredón and the Manuel Belgrano (Buenos Aires, [...]

The article reports the arrest of 139 students from the two arts education centers, the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredón [Prilidiano Pueyrredón National School of Fine Arts] and its counterpart, Manuel Belgrano, both in Buenos [...]

This article reports on the peaceful occupation by student groups of the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredón and its counterpart, Manuel Belgrano, both in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Manuel [...]

This article reports that students at both Schools of Fine Arts—Manuel Belgrano and Prilidiano Pueyrredón—had decided to join forces and resist any form of intervention. Their first joint action targeted the opening of the Salón Nacional; a [...]

This article reports on the inauguration of the Salón Nacional de 1971 (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and the presence of the authorities who delivered speeches and awarded prizes. The article likewise points out that while the Subsecretario de Cultura [ [...]

This article reports that students are back in class at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredón [National School of Fine Arts] in Buenos Aires after the interruptions caused by student protests that were supported by many teachers [...]

This article reports that, though the Ministerio de Educación y Cultura de la Nación [Ministry of Culture and Education] announced that it was intervening in the crisis at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredón [National School [...]

The article reports on the deepening crisis at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredón [National School of Fine Arts] in Buenos Aires, Argentina, circa 1971. It also mentions that students—who are publicly challenging the [...]

The flyer states that Alberto Prebisch, an architect and mayor of the City of Buenos Aires, seeks to evict the Sociedad Estímulo de Bellas Artes [Association to Promote the Fine Arts] from its headquarters on the corner of Avenida Córdoba and Maip [...]

Within the context of the historic reparation received by Gabriela Bocchi—who created Celda [Cell] in tandem with Jorge de Santa María (deceased)—and by Hugo Pereyra—who in turn conceived Made in Argentina with Ignacio Colombres (deceased)— [...]

In this open letter, Hélio Oiticica writes against the 1969 São Paulo Biennial and expounds on the situation of strict censorship prevailing in Brazil. He considers that it is reason enough for France not to participate either. In addition, [...]

Daniel Gutman points out that the Argentine Government apologizes to the artists censored in the II Certamen Nacional de Investigaciones Visuales[Second National Competition of Visual Research] and, although it will not return the amount of the [...]

This article points out that the Contrasalón [Counter-Salon] of 1972, held on the premises of the Sociedad Argentina de Artistas Plásticos[Argentine Society of Visual Artists], contains over two hundred fifty works of art; among them, one may find [...]

The text reveals the topics discussed at the II Encuentro de Intelectuales por la soberanía de los pueblos de nuestra América [Second Encounter of Intellectuals for the Sovereignty of the Peoples of Our America] (Havana, Cuba, 1985) regarding the [...]

This text by Julio Le Parc addresses the artist’s problems within the social context, posing a series of questions about the myths that continue to surround and affect a work of art. In general terms, it questions those who maintain the idea of [...]

Julio Le Parc presents a brief explanation about a situation in which he was not permitted to include a pamphlet with his works in the Denise René L’intrépide exhibition. Due to this situation, which he considered to be censorship, Le Parc [...]

Under the title “Basta de mistificaciones” [Enough with the mystifications] the Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel (GRAV) [Visual Arts Research Group] signed a manifesto that would become the basis of the present-day relationship between [...]

Analysis of the exhibition Arte Abstracto, del arte figurativo al arte abstracto [Abstract Art, from Figurative Art to Abstract Art], organized by French critic Léon Degand and presented at the Instituto de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires, in July of [...]

This article explains that the Federación Argentina de Entidades de Artistas Plásticos [Argentine Federation of Visual Arts Groups] became active again, after a long break. One of the projects on the group’s agenda is to review modifications to [...]

This article explains that the Sociedad Argentina de Artistas Plásticos [Argentine Society of Visual Artists] called a meeting at which they decided not to participate in the National Salon (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1971). Instead, they agreed to [...]

This article explains that, eight days after the opening of the II Certamen de Investigaciones Visuales [2nd Visual Research Contest] in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1971, the public was informed about Decree 5696, which partially acknowledged the [...]

This article describes how, on December 7, 1971, the Sociedad Argentina de Artistas Plásticos [Argentine Society of Visual Artists] issued a statement to vigorously protest the situation provoked by the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes, the [...]

This article explains that the Argentine Association of Art Critics, whose president at the time was Basilio Uribe, circulated a statement disagreeing with the decision taken by the Ministry of Culture regarding the II Certamen Nacional de [...]

While the law governing the theater was under official consideration, the Argentine Actor’s Association expressed its concern regarding the confusion and uneasiness that was caused when the Certamen de Investigaciones Visuales [Visual Research [...]

The article points out that the artists invited by the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes (Argentina) to the Primer Premio de Grabado “Facio Hebecquer” [First “Facio Hebecquer” Prize for Engraving] (1971) communicated their refusal to submit [...]

This letter from Gyula Kosice to Blanca Stabile explains that Tomás Maldonado was not a member of the board of directors of Arturo magazine, and refers to certain sources that document chronological details concerning the origins of the Argentine [...]

Sent from Morocco, this is a collaboration of poet and painter Diyi Laañ in which she proposes the consideration of the stage as a dramatic construction, that is, as the creation of a dramatic architecture instead of a mere literary drama. The [...]

Jorge Glusberg’s open letter clarifies that, when Francisco Matarazzo invited him to organize “Arte como Idea [Art as an Idea” and “Arte Cibernético [Cybernetic Art]” at the Eleventh São Paulo Biennial (1971), he had some initial doubts [...]

After discussing the origins of the São Paulo Biennial and the earliest incidents of censorship imposed by Brazilian authorities on artists who submitted their work to the Paris Biennale, Matta points out that an injustice had occurred in [...]

Horacio Safons’s response to the summons to side against the 1971 São Paulo Biennial. In his answer, Safons uses self-criticism, saying that to carry out a contra-biennial is to force himself to fight in his adversary’s field. Likewise, he [...]

Response made by Juan Carlos Romero to the summons to side against the 1971 São Paulo Biennial. In order to illustrate his view, Romero cuts out news pieces from the local papers, referring to kidnappings and torture, then centering on the matter of [...]

César Paternosto’s response against the 1971 São Paulo Biennial. His emphatic response stresses: “…Simply NO to the Biennial [...]

Abraham Haber responds to the summons to carry out a counter-biennial with his contribution, in spite of making it clear that he has received an invitation intended for the artists. He is however a professor of art history and a member of the [...]

Américo Castilla’s response to the summons to side against the 1971 São Paulo Biennial. He does it through an image that centralizes the silhouette of the Brazilian territory, in which a face melts with several vertical lines in reference to jail [...]

Questioning the pertinence of the 1971 São Paulo Biennial, a letter inviting artists to participate in the Contrabienal [Counter-Biennial] was promoted and signed by artists and intellectuals who belong to both Museo Latinoamericano and the MICLA [ [...]

An invitation to participate in theExposición La América del Che [The America of Che Exhibition], to be held in honor of the fifth anniversary of the death of Ernesto “Che” Guevara. The invitation provides the necessary guidelines for [...]

A statement concerning the agreements arrived at by the participating artists at the II Encuentro de Plástica Latinoamericana [Second Gathering of Latin American Visual Artists], held in Havana in October 1973, immediately after the military coup d [...]

This list contains information about the artists who donated works to the Museo de la Solidaridad in Santiago, Chile. It gives their name, country of origin, and a description of the works that, at the time of publication, were already in the museum [...]