Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

The writer of this article claims that José Sabogal’s exhibition “will shake our art milieu out of its inertia,” referring to a previous review he wrote about the Peruvian indigenist painter’s exhibition in Buenos Aires in 1928. In his [...]

In this essay Mirko Lauer discusses two approaches to the contemporary interpretation of the visual arts during the pre-capitalist period. Lauer uses the latest ideological definition of creative expression as an umbrella term under which he includes [...]

In this article, the indigenist Peruvian anthropologist Luis E. Valcárcel pays tribute to José Sabogal, following his death in 1956. In the author’s opinion, Cuzco (where the painter lived after spending several years studying in Europe) was [...]

In this article about the indigenist painter José Sabogal’s relationship with Peru’s tradition arts, José María Arguedas explains that Sabogal was a member of the movement led by the thinker José Carlos Mariátegui, which was devoted to the [...]

This introductory essay appeared in the exhibition catalogue for the retrospective of the painter Alicia Bustamante at the Museo de Arte y de Historia de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Lima, 1974). The essay was written by the historian [...]

The author, José María Arguedas, discusses the work of the late Alicia Bustamante, recently deceased, explaining that she “came of age as an artist in Lima during the years of [José Carlos] Mariátegui’s influence and the repercussions of the [...]

In this newspaper article, Winston Orrillo announces the death of the painter Alicia Bustamante, and above all, acknowledges her contributions to a greater appreciation for traditional Peruvian art. She traveled all over the country collecting work [...]

This essay was written by Elvira de Gálvez on the artist Alicia Bustamente on occasion of her death. The author highlights above all Bustamante’s work in the promotion and defense of Peruvian Popular Art. The author states that Bustamente “found [...]

This document is the letter sent by eminent Peruvian intellectuals, writers, and artists to Benjamín Roca Muelle—president of the Corporación Nacional de Turismo—upon learning that the property that houses “Pacho Fierro,” a folk music venue [...]

This article by Alfonsina Barrionuevo was written on the occasion of the celebration of twenty-five years of “Pancho Fierro,” a folk music venue in Lima that the author describes as a “corner of Peru in its purest form embedded in the great [...]

In his article, Carlos Raygada clarifies that Alicia Bustamante’s growth as a painter is not based solely on the development of the technical skills she learned at the ENBA (Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes); that growth also demonstrates a “ [...]

In his critical review of Alicia Bustamante’s 1944 exhibition, Fuentes Ibáñez explains that the artist manages to harness “emotional and harmonious moods” to express “the feelings inspired by her surroundings.” He explains that Bustamante [...]

In this newspaper article José Eulogio Garrido describes his impressions on first meeting José Sabogal in the city of Trujillo (where he was born), and admits to having been one of the few people who were able to recognize an outstanding artist [...]

This essay by writer and thinker José Carlos Mariátegui formed part of the “Peruanicemos al Perú” series published by Mundial magazine. In this text on the problem of art education in Peru, the author criticizes the neglect of art in public [...]

This essay by José Carlos Mariátegui formed part of the “Peruanicemos al Perú” section of Mundial magazine. In this third and final text in the series on Indianist literature, the author asserts that Indianism is not the same thing as [...]

This essay by José Carlos Mariátegui formed part of the “Peruanicemos al Perú” section of Mundial magazine. In this second text in the series on Indianist literature, the author analyzes the phenomenon of literary criollismo, explaining that [...]

This essay by José Carlos Mariátegui formed part of the “Peruanicemos al Perú” section of Mundial magazine. In this first text in the series on Indianist literature, Mariátegui argues the extensive repercussion of Indianist literature on new [...]

This essay by writer and thinker José Carlos Mariátegui formed part of the “Peruanicemos al Perú” section of Mundial magazine. In it, Mariátegui questions the conservative position that sees the country’s tradition as colonial, Lima-based, [...]

This essay by writer and thinker José Carlos Mariátegui formed part of the “Peruanicemos al Perú” section of Mundial magazine. On the basis of developments in literature and art, Mariátegui underscores the nationalist bent of the avant-garde [...]

This essay by Peruvian writer and thinker José Carlos Mariátegui formed part of the “Peruanicemos al Perú” series published by Mundial magazine. Mariátegui asserts that an avant-garde movement has taken hold in the new generations in Peru, [...]

This document contains a transcription of the speech given by Luis E. Galván, an official at the Peruvian Ministerio de Educación Pública, on the occasion of the opening of a show of indigenous art. He explains that education is fundamental to “ [...]

In this text, José Sabogal contextualizes his description of the Sunday market in Huancayo, where inhabitants of villages in Junín and Ayacucho go to sell their crafts. He remarks on the work of Mariano Flórez, his engraved gourds in particular, [...]

In this fourth chapter of his book El Nuevo indio, José Uriel García defines the concepts of “Incanity” and “Indianity.” With the advent of the Spanish, the author explains, “the history of the Incas came to an end, and with it Inca life [...]

This text is the prologue that José Uriel García, an intellectual from Cuzco, wrote to his book El nuevo indio. In it, he proposes the category of “the new Indian” (the English translation of the book’s title) to designate, in physiological [...]

Carmen Saco describes Julia Codesido’s 1929 exhibition “as a process, the radical dissolution of a dying world in which one race withdraws and others rise triumphant along with a way of perceiving long-established art as distinct from art that is [...]

This essay is a biographical sketch on the life and work of architect Manuel Piqueras Cotolí after his passing. His firm convictions and talent was considered an irrecoverable loss in the Peruvian art scene. His “Peruvianism” was not archaic but [...]

Franklin Urteaga conducted this lengthy interview with Julia Codesido on the occasion of her recent exhibitions overseas. Referring to the first of these, at the recently inaugurated Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City, 1935), Urteaga notes the [...]

Published in Lima-based newspaper La Prensa, this document is a compilation of reviews published in New York newspapers on the Julia Codesido exhibition held at Delphic Studios gallery, also in New York, in 1936. Howard Devree of The New York Times [...]

Carmen Saco, the Peruvian sculptress and essayist, believes that the roots of Julia Codesido’s painting can be found in “blocks of stone that have been overwhelmed and penetrated by life and pain.” She believes that Codesido’s art expresses [...]

This review considers Julia Codesido’s work within the context of art and literature produced by women, noting that this genre “is uniquely attuned to feeling and expression.” Though historically recognized solely in terms of family or social [...]

After explaining that the exhibition includes recent works as well as others that have been shown on previous occasions, the reviewer states that the artist “captures a clearer and broader view of Peruvian landscapes, people, and customs than other [...]

This newspaper article discusses the opposing points of view expressed by Peruvian artists in the debate over the 1975 National Culture Prize. Speaking in favor of the decision, Ciro Palacios states that the award acknowledges “an urgent need to re [...]

This critical review suggests that “art” is not an expression of the human spirit—as philosophical idealism would have us believe—but something created by culture and class; it is therefore a historically determined phenomenon that is [...]

In this article the art historian Alfonso Castrillón looks back at the debate over the jury’s decision to award the 1975 National Culture Prize for art to Joaquín López Antay, the altarpiece artist from the Andean region of Peru. There is a [...]

Gustavo Buntinx interviews Mirko Lauer on his social perspectives on the analysis of visual arts when applied to “the cultural structural order” currently in Peru. Lauer, commencing from a theoretical point of view, discusses the situation of the [...]

In this article the art historian Alfonso Castrillón looks back at the debate over the jury’s decision to award the 1975 National Culture Prize for art to Joaquín López Antay, the altarpiece artist from the Andean region of Peru. Following the [...]

In this article the artist Félix Oliva reviews the debate sparked by the jury’s decision to award the 1975 National Culture Prize for art to Joaquín López Antay, the altarpiece artist from the Andean region of Peru. Following the latter’s [...]

In this review Mirko Lauer discusses the Peruvian visual arts during the two decades spanning the 1960s to the 1980s, challenging the traditional classist view that the different aesthetic fields within the country’s cultural universe should be [...]

In this essay the artist and researcher Juan Manuel Ugarte Eléspuru discusses the differences between “handcrafts” and “art.” In his opinion, the former term refers to traditional community works that were produced in response to local needs [...]

This is an interview with the Peruvian artist Ciro Palacios, who at the time led the newly formed SUTAP (Sindicato Único de Trabajadores de las Artes Plásticas). Ciro Palacios explained that the union was formed on the sociopolitical commitment of [...]

In this article about the 1975 Premio Nacional de Cultura [National Culture Prize], the painter Teodoro Núñez Ureta recognizes the legitimacy of the award and praises the winning altarpiece artist, but also deplores the controversy sparked by the [...]

This review, which appeared in the Lima magazine Oiga (February 27, 1976), discusses the different positions adopted by ASPAP (Asociación Peruana de Artistas Plásticos) [Peruvian Association of Visual Artists] and SUTAP (Sindicato Único de [...]

In this interview the painter Leslie Lee discusses the reasons behind the founding of SUTAP (Sindicato Único de Trabajadores en las Artes Plásticas) [Sole Visual Arts Workers Union], explaining the group’s disagreements and subsequent break with [...]

For the second time, the writer and journalist Luis Freire weighs in on the debate sparked by the jury’s decision to award the 1975 National Culture Prize for art to Joaquín López Antay, the altarpiece artist from the Andean region of Peru. In [...]

This is the journalist Juan Gargurevich’s second article about the debate sparked by the decision to award the 1975 National Culture Prize for art to Joaquín López Antay, the altarpiece artist from the Andean region of Peru. Gargurevich supports [...]

This is the founding statute, filed in Lima, Peru, of SUTAP (Sindicato Único de Trabajadores en las Artes Plásticas) [Sole Visual Arts Workers Union], an organization devoted to the recognition of the social function of art. The document states [...]

In this newspaper article Félix Álvarez, the Spanish historian who lived in Peru, discusses the divide between popular and elite culture from the perspective of Marxist social theory. He explains that this dichotomy is not a capitalist invention, [...]

In this article the visual artist Carlos Bernasconi discusses the meaning of the terms “art,” “traditional art,” and “handcrafts” based on the definitions agreed upon at the 1st World Congress of Craftsmen held in New York in 1964. Noting [...]

The visual artist Gastón Garreaud weighs in on the debate over the decision to award the 1975 National Culture Prize for art to the Andean altarpiece artist Joaquín López Antay. Garreaud points to parallels he sees between this decision and Pablo [...]

In this interview the painter Milner Cajahuaringa expresses his profound disagreement with the decision to award the 1975 National Culture Prize for art to the Andean altarpiece artist Joaquín López Antay. Quoting from the dictionary of the Real [...]