Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In this 1997 catalogue essay, the Cuban-Mexican curator Osvaldo Sánchez attempts to characterize the emerging generation of Mexican artists, who came onto the artistic scene following the eruption of neo-mexicanismo [Neo-Mexicanism] in the 1980s. S [...]

This short essay by the French-Mexican critic, curator, and writer Olivier Debroise grapples with the phenomenon of neoexpressionist figurative painting in Mexico in the mid- and late-1980s. The author interprets appropriations of the official [...]

In this 1992 conversation, artists Guillermo Gómez-Peña and Coco Fusco discuss the notion of Latino identity and the possibility of an intercultural dialogue between U.S.-born Latino artists and Latin American artists. As a Mexican who emigrated to [...]

According to the Mexico-based Cuban curator Osvaldo Sánchez, kitsch is a constant trope in the visual culture and art of Cuba. His text traces the evolution and diverse historical reiterations of kitsch on the island, which leads him to parody the [...]

Written by César Augusto Martínez, one of the most active members of the Chicano art movement of the 1970s, “Arte Chicano” discusses the implications of the term “Chicano” (in Part One) and the status of Chicano art in the mainstream art [...]

“Brown Paper Report” is the manifesto of the Tejano [Texan-Chicano] San Antonio-based art collective Con Safo, written by artist Mel Casas in 1971. This short text presents the concepts of Chicano and “Brown Vision,” as well as the etymology [...]

In “The Pachuco and Other Extremes,” the Mexican poet, writer, and diplomat Octavio Paz grapples with the issues related to the search for the national identity in post-revolutionary Mexico and, more broadly, the existential relationship [...]

In this essay from 1983, art historian Aracy Amaral responds to ongoing debates on the pertinence of regionalism as a framing paradox for Brazilian art. She calls attention to the excesses of internationalism in certain of Brazil’s larger cities [...]

In this short newspaper article, written on the occasion of the Extraordinary International Congress of AICA (International Association of Art Critics) held in Brazil in 1959, the chief advocate of Brazilian Modernism, critic Mário Pedrosa, [...]

In this essay, Venezuelan architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva argues that the goal for Latin American architects should be “to identify the functional elements of colonial architecture and their possible application to contemporary architecture.” [...]

Signed by Nicaraguan poet José Coronel Urtecho (1906–1994) and eight other writers, including Joaquín Pasos Argüello (1914–1947) and Pablo Antonio Cuadra (1912–2002), this document is the first manifesto of the Anti-Academia Nicaragüense [...]

El Nuevo Indio by the Cuzco-born historian and sociologist José Uriel García (1894–1965) outlines an astute proposal for the Peruvian national project. Rejecting forcefully any nationalist framework based solely on race or “blood,” Uriel Garc [...]

The speech by the Cuban poet and essayist Juan Marinello records his position on Cuban vernacular art at a breakthrough moment in the consolidation of the island’s avant-garde. Marinello raises concerns over the country’s environment, which he [...]

Despite the title “Del patrioterismo en el arte,” in this article the Argentinean painter Martín Malharro rejects the idea of a narrowly prescribed and defined national art school. He partially does so in opposition to the influence of the [...]

The Brazilian writer and art critic Luis Gonzaga Duque Estrada presents a strong critique of the notion of an escola brazileira, [Brazilian school] promoted by the Academia Imperial de Belas Artes.  Since its origins, he argues, the escola [...]