Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

The presentation of the Premio Torcuato Di Tella 1964, written by the French critic Pierre Restany, states that art should be de-mystified. In his judgment, the divorce between art and myth was emphasized during the Renaissance and easel painting, [...]

In this article, Roger Plá refers to Contrapunto magazine’s strategy of inviting artists to discuss the future of painting. The survey asked the following questions: 1. In your opinion, what is the material future of painting (as regards its [...]

Response given by Manuel Espinosa in the survey presented by the Contrapunto [Counterpoint] journal. In it he confronts the defenders of figuration by explaining that realist work is not that which copies, but that which asserts the material reality [...]

This is Tomás Maldonado’s response to the survey conducted by Contrapunto magazine. He is sanguine, not only about the future of the visual arts — “one of the most effective lubricants for revolutionary tension” — but about the future of [...]

This document relates the response of Uruguayan artist Vicente Martín to the survey regarding abstract or non-figurative art, in which he states that abstract values also exist in representational painting. With regard to the future of painting, [...]

This document relates the response of artist Tomás Maldonado to the survey regarding abstract or non-figurative art, in which he considers the term “abstract” to be both appropriate and inappropriate; it is appropriate when it is used to [...]

Manuel Mujica Láinez replies to the survey on abstract and nonfigurative art, noting his inclination to use the terms “abstract” and “concrete” interchangeably, insofar as the trend does not cease to be what it is because of the label it [...]

This document relates the response of critic Córdova Iturburu to the survey regarding abstract art or non-figurative art, in which he leans toward the expression “non-figurative art” because it permits the inclusion of not only the geometric [...]

This document relates the response of Spanish critic Eduardo Westerdahl to the survey regarding abstract art or non-figurative art, in which he considers it opportune to carry out a revision of terms used in these cases. Westerdahl also proposes to [...]

This document relates the response of Spanish sculptor Ángel Ferrant to the survey with regard to abstract, or non-figurative art, in which he indicates that the word “abstract” is inappropriate when it does not acknowledge a visual model. [...]

This document relates the response of artist Mathias Goeritz to the survey regarding abstract, or non-figurative art, in which he indicates that he prefers “abstract art” as the general and popular term, although he agrees with the possibility [...]

This is Hans Platschek’s answer to a survey on abstract and nonfigurative art, in which he suggests that signs could be used for didactic goals. But he doesn’t agree with the terms “abstract” and “nonfigurative” because the former is art [...]

This document relates the response of artist Gyula Kosice (1924-2016), to the survey regarding abstract or non-figurative art, in which he states that Madí adopted, in principle, the name "non-figurative" because it corresponded to the nature of [...]

This document relates the response of painter and sculptor Juan Del Prete to the survey regarding abstract or non-figurative art, in which he considers all such nomenclature conventional. In addition, Del Prete believes that this type of discussion [...]

This document is an open letter in which Julio E. Payró declares his difference of opinion with Guillermo de Torre regarding the application of the term “abstract.” This letter responds to the concepts discussed by Torre in the catalog for the [...]

In response to the absence of artists, such as Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris at the Contemporary Spanish Art Exhibition shown at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in December 1947, the Argentinian artists expressed their disagreement by signing a [...]

This article is a review of the Premio Torcuato Di Tella 1966 [The Torcuato Di Tella Prize of 1966]; it describes the panorama and points out that on this occasion the Pop artists have rediscovered the attitude of creation; within it the personal is [...]

Tomás Maldonado reflects on the role of the artist in society, given that it is the career-like class that enjoys success and acclaim. Maldonado fully identifies with the concept of rebellion, and says that he is prone to subvert the taste of the [...]

Federico Peralta-Ramos, in eight quite simple verses, defines what art is; primarily from the art-life nexus which is implicit [...]

Juan Carlos Paz defines New Music and that which contributes efficacious elements and solutions and points out the importance of the rise of dodecaphony for these new proposals. He stresses that dodecaphony is responsible for the experimentation [...]

The article discusses the constant attacks that the newspaper Martín Fierro receives and all the conflicts and difficulties that result from these attacks. It also explains the attitude that will be assumed with regard to the situation created by [...]

This introductory text for Guilio Carlo Argan’s exhibition analyzes the relationship between ideology and technique in order to inquire into the position and destiny of art within that context of ideas. Keeping in mind the self-directed nature and [...]

Julio Rinaldini criticizes the leaflet with the manifesto of the Seven Artists (Antonio Berni, Lino Enea Spilimbergo, Horacio Butler, Ramón Goméz Cornet, Héctor Basaldúa, Aquiles Badi, and Emilio Pettoruti) who participated in the exhibition at [...]

The poet, Enrique Molina wrote a literary essay on the exhibition on Arte Destructivo [Destructive Art] in which he states that its power is in the unveiling of what is hidden and prohibited. Observed with Surrealism in mind and the imprint of [...]

The article points out the importance of the activity brought forth by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in “our milieu” as a “very valuable collaboration to the renovation movement,” started—long ago—by the group involved in the publication Mart [...]

This short news item was prepared as sketchy materials for press release  shortly after the inauguration of the Tucumán Arde [Tucumán Is Burning] exhibition at the CGT (Confederación General del Trabajo) in Rosario. The circumstances of the [...]

The author reveals a certain openness when he suggests that the experience created by the avant-garde of Rosario, Argentina, that led to Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning] could be a potential bridge to what he considers the only valid “ [...]

León Ferrari writes a detailed evaluation of Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning], framing it within the previous events (Itinerario del ’68) [Timetable for 1968]. In it he points out that “its purpose was to make art into a revolutionary tool, [...]

Antonio Berni introduces Rodrigo Bonome’s exhibition of landscape paintings at the Galería Velázquez in Buenos Aires (1961) with a formal discussion on order in composition, and on color [...]

Julio Marsagot—the nom de plume used by Julio Porter—describes and reviews the work presented by Liliana Porter at the Liliana Porter exhibition at the Galería Colibrí, in San Juan (January 12–31, 1974). The writer discusses how Porter plays [...]

This document relates the response of Spanish critic Ricardo Gullón to the survey regarding abstract art or non-figurative art, in which he points out that it might be time to revise the use of the term abstract with regard to non-figurative works [...]

Néstor García Canclini, the anthropologist, professor, and cultural studies theoretician, interprets León Ferrari’s blue-printed and photocopied works, using the “aura” concept that was proposed by Walter Benjamin. He also underscores the [...]

In a short statement, written in 1960, Libero Badii renounces any form of salon exhibition, in keeping with his other disengagements from, for example, academic continuity, material progress, and official teaching [...]

León Ferrari sketches his idea for the Christ mounted on a fighter jet for the piece he submitted to the Torcuato Di Tella Institute’s 1965 National and International Prize. This work would be known as Civilización Occidental y Cristiana [Western [...]

Jorge López Anaya writes about the rapid emergence of Grupo Sí [Yes Group] in the city of La Plata. He analyzes the use of chromatic saturation as a trait typical of the group’s artists. The critic states that the chromatic geometry represents, [...]

Léon Degand, the French art critic, delivers a lengthy review of figurative painting in order to explain that abstract art is not the one that is constantly subordinating input from external sources to the demands of plastic expression, but rather [...]

By means o a poetic prose, art critic Jorge Romero Brest states that he fearfully admires the huge sculptures and lovingly cares about the drawings and small sculptures made by Líbero Badii. He analyzes the relationship between art and life, from [...]

Ignacio Pirovano presents Enio Iommi’s exhibition (Galería Bonino, September-October, 1969) with a thorough analysis of the different periods involved: his background, the Concrete Art period, the phase begun in 1950 since the dissolution of the [...]

This foreword by Aldo Pellegrini indicates the changes of direction produced in the period of five years separating the first Arte Nuevo [New Art] exhibition and this sixth show, which he characterizes as a passage from the intellectual to the vital [...]

Vicente Caride presents Ferruccio Polacco’s exhibition (Galería Rubbers, Buenos Aires, May 1965), emphasizing his preferences for working with the geometric embodiment of images taken from archaic civilizations. Likewise, he points out the austere [...]

Invitation to Alfredo Londaibere’s exhibition (Buenos Aires: Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas, June, 1991 [...]

This article, published in the young newsmagazine Boom (Rosario, Argentina, November 1968), narrates what happened during the “lock-up” action carried out by Graciela Carnevale at the “Ciclo de Arte Experimental” [Experimental Practices of [...]

Manifesto included in the catalogue of the Primera Exposición de Pintura Perceptista [First Exhibition of Perceptivist Painting] carried out in Galería Van Riel in Buenos Aires, in October of 1949. Raúl Lozza states that Perceptivism inaugurates a [...]

Juan Grela speaks about painting in the city of Rosario at his lecture, beginning with the Mutualidad [Society]. He refers to his respect for the university and his long-standing relationship with Amigos del Arte [Friends of Art]. The author tells [...]

Rafael Squirru presents the exhibition that conmemorates the first 15 years of Madí Art (Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, 1961), highlighting the overt opposition that these dedicated artists must have faced in their research of experimental [...]

Ernesto B. Rodríguez analyzes Líbero Badii’s portrait sculptures. He claims that the visual arts strive to suggest the invisible by searching for its hidden laws, inventing new forms, and attempting to reveal a variety of sensitive spaces. [...]

This text was written to explain that—due to the rising cost of paper, printing, and stamps—the Centro de Arte y Comunicación [Art and Communication Center] would no longer be mailing the (free) newsletters that kept recipients informed about [...]

Luis Felipe Noé writes a letter directed to the viewer containing ironic commentary on exhibition catalogs. He supports art as a permanent adventure in revelation and man as the instrument of new quests. Noé proposes “chaos”as the only truth of [...]

William Sandberg writes about the impact he experienced when he got to know the cultural life of Buenos Aires. He mentions the solidarity of the artists who worked in groups, using as an example the artists from Otra Figuración [Another Figuration [...]

The image of a mask was used as a prop in the happening called La Cultura de la Felicidad [The Culture of Happiness], which was staged as part of the Arte de Sistemas [Systems Art] exhibition (Buenos Aires: Museo de Arte Moderno, July 1971). The [...]