Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

Juan [sic, Josep] Renau begins by pointing to the contradictions inherent in an art criticism that examines an artist’s work armed with scant understanding of the difficulties involved in creation. In the first place, an artist’s production does [...]

By evoking Córdoba, Spain, Antonio Rodríguez Luna’s native city, Daniel Tapia approaches the work of this painter by playing with the terms: “from what is lived to what is painted.” The tragic aspect of living in exile is what his works most [...]

In the late 1940s, Margarita Nelken reflects on the difficulties facing artistic creation during a period marked by a “lack of poise and harmony.” The new art must not distance itself from society: “The individualist formula that has lasted [...]

Josep Renau believes that, to fully understand a work of art, one must know something about the artist’s chronological evolution, the artist’s work, and the artist’s milieu. He states: “a work of art should be . . . the latest expression of [...]

The author of this text provides a detailed description of the mural—consisting of four panels painted by José Renau for the Casino de la Selva in Cuernavaca—and says that, "The project’s general theme is Spain and Mexico." Palencia then [...]

Drawing on the recollection of his childhood home in Malaga, author José Moreno Villa seeks to trace his identity and his destiny. The room where his father died faced the sea, while his mother’s room faced the cathedral. Moreno Villa speaks of [...]