Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

The text “¡Pare de sufrir!: Decálogo de autoayuda para espectadores intimidados por las exposiciones de arte,” written by artist and critic Lucas Ospina was initially published on the website http://esferapublica.org on July 15, 2007. It was [...]

The article “¡Que viva ‘La novia’ que viva!” was published in the Culture – Entertainment section of the Bogotá newspaper El Tiempo on September 16, 1997 on the occasion of the performance of La novia ( [...]

The article “¡Que viva Manrique!” [Hooray for Manrique!], written by the editorial team at the Bogotá newspaper El Espectador and published on April 16, 1996, referred to Pedro Manrique Figueroa. Precursor del Collage en Colombia [Pedro [...]

The text, “¿Arte joven?” [Young Art?] by art critic Eduardo Serrano Rueda introduces the exhibition Nombres nuevos en el arte de Colombia [New Names in Colombian Art] held at the Museo de Arte Moderno [Museum of Modern Art] in Bogotá in March [...]

In this document, Eduardo Ospina, a Jesuit priest, humanist, aesthete and director of the art pages section of the Revista Javeriana (Bogotá), wrote a review discussing the authorship of St. Jerome, [presumed to be] painted by the German painter, [...]

This article expresses the official point of view on the controversy that was sparked by the decision to award no prizes at the XXIII Salón de Artistas Nacionales [XXIII National Artists’ Salon] (1972). The article is written by Germán Rubiano, [...]

Juan Acha examines the rationale advanced by those who, in line with the “new pictorial awareness” of the middle of the century, see greater relevance in abstract painting than in the outdated values of the figurative ideal. The main idea [...]

The article “¿Feliza Krugman or Irene Bursztyn?” is the transcription of two texts read by Álvaro Medina on the program Orientación Plástica aired on Radio Nacional de Colombia on April 27 and May 3 (both Fridays), 1974. Medina accuses [...]

This document is the catalogue for the exhibition Tres pintores argentinos (1963), featuring the work of Antonio Berni, Carlos Alonso, and Carlos Uria. In addition to a text written by art critic Marta Traba that presents the artists and works—and [...]

This article published in the “Lecturas Dominicales” or Sunday Readings section of the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo (April 1962) evidences the polemic surrounding abstract and figurative art in Colombia at the time. In the introduction to the [...]

In this article, poet and critic Luis Vidales expresses his position on the debate surrounding abstract and figurative art, a polemic central to Colombian art at the time. First, Vidales argues that certain concepts have been poorly defined in [...]

With this text, Colombian poet and essayist Juan Gustavo Cobo Borda introduces the exhibition of works by painter Manolo Vellojín held at Galería Garcés Velásquez in Bogotá in 1978. In Cobo Borda’s view, Holy Week (a Spanish religious [...]

In this article, published in November 1963, the Colombian journalist Gloria Valencia Diago interviews the Spanish artist Juan Antonio Roda, in connection with the exhibition of his oil painting series, Tumbas,at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Bogot [...]

This is the introduction to the catalogue for the Salón de Artistas Jóvenes Latinoamericanos [Young Latin American Artists Salon]—held at the Pan-American Union in Washington, DC in 1965. It was written by José Gómez Sicre, director of the [...]

Pedro Nel Gómez, creator of the controversial frescos of the old city palace in Medellín, which at the time of this writing (2009), houses the Museo de Antioquia—explains his reasons for undertaking that major pictorial series. He also provides [...]

In this essay, which is the introduction to the book Ciudad–Espejo [City–Mirror] (2009), the Colombian critic Natalia Gutiérrez bases her review of Colombian contemporary art on the works presented at the 39 Salón Nacional de Artistas [39th [...]

The synopsis and the annotations in English are coming soon.                                However, our bilingual readers can click on “Español” to access this information in Spanish [...]

Theater director Juan Monsalve wrote the monologue Ondina (1983) specifically for María Teresa Hincapié, who was an actor at the time. This text, which is influenced by the Japanese theater of fragmentation that emerged after World War II, is a [...]

By way of a brief interview, this text announces the opening of Bernardo Salcedo’s exhibition, Un mes de desahogos pasionales, at UD gallery in Parque de la Independencia in Bogotá. It explains that once the show is over, the works in it will [...]

Under the title “‘¡Ay, si yo fuera pintor!’: Crítica, texto y traducción”, the artist and critic Lucas Ospina wrote a timely essay. It was published in the second issue of the journal Cuadernos Grises, issued by the Arts Department at the [...]

This is the record of the interview granted by the artist and researcher Rosario López Parra to UN medios (Centro de Medios de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia–Bogotá) [UN Media (Media Center at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia–Bogot [...]

In 1981, Eduardo Serrano, the director of the Museo de Arte Moderno of Bogotá at the time, wrote a profile introducing to the Colombian public the life and work of young artist Miguel Ángel Rojas, which in Serrano’s view are intrinsically bound [...]

The text “He aquí, pues, mis citaciones a la audiencia” by Natalia Gutiérrez is the eleventh chapter of ciudad-espejo (2006), a theoretical research project that focuses on artists whose work—mostly in the medium of photography—attempts to [...]

This 1978 interview with Enrique Grau by artists Álvaro Herazo and Delfina Bernal provides insight into how Grau viewed the art world. In it, Grau discusses his aesthetic concerns and beliefs as a painter, as well as his inclinations and points of [...]

This is an article written by the editorial staff at the weekly Magazine Dominical about the life and work of Alicia Tafur, the Colombian artist. It was written on the occasion of the “first large exhibition for Bogotá” at the Banco de la Repú [...]

The artist, agent, and art critic Leonel Estrada discusses a series of paintings by Armando Villegas that were exhibited at the Chamber of Commerce in Medellín. These works, in Estrada’s opinion, reveal a departure from the artist’s earlier [...]

This is a card bearing the letterhead of the Museo de Arte Moderno in Bogotá and a handwritten message. It was sent to Casimiro Eiger by Alejandro Obregón to introduce José Gómez Sicre, who is very interested in the plan for a modern art [...]

In this text, Polish art critic Casimiro Eiger praises Luis Alberto Acuña’s art. He specifically mentions the artist’s use of color, the monumentality of his painting, the severity of his sculptural volumes, and his controversial approach to [...]

This document reproduces the speech given by priest and historian José Manuel Marroquín Osorio at the opening of the exhibition of fine arts on the occasion of the celebration of the centennial of Colombian independence—Celebración del Primer [...]

The artist Marco Ospina begins by criticizing Colombian painters who value volume over content and as a result produce totally insignificant work. According to Ospina, there are substantial theoretical lapses in these paintings, which he dismisses as [...]

This text presents the exhibition Dibujantes y grabadores colombianos held at theMuseo de Arte at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in May 1975. Historian Álvaro Medina asserts that the exhibition brings together figurative artists representative [...]

The text, ¡Al Fin Pintura! (1976) [Painting, at Last!] was an introduction to the exhibition with the same name at the Galería Belarca in Bogotá, organized by Eduardo Serrano. This art critic emphasizes the acceptance of the drawing and the print [...]

Darío Ruiz Gómez introduces the exhibition Darío Jiménez: Obras 1942-1979 [Darío Jiménez: Works 1942-1979] at the Galería Belarca in Bogotá. In this essay Ruiz Gómez states that Colombian art lives off “institutionalized aesthetic truths [...]

In the catalogue for the first edition of the Salón Atenas exhibitions, Eduardo Serrano Rueda explains the project’s goal of supporting local emerging artists and promoting their work. After stating the rules that were developed to ensure the open [...]

This is the text for Otras Miradas = Other Glances, written by the historian and art critic Carmen María Jaramillo Jiménez for the exhibition that was organized with the help of the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2004. The [...]

The Colombian artist Víctor Laignelet discusses the ability in painting to expand its range of action—what he calls its antropofagia [anthropophagy]—as it absorbs “new visual expressions” such as “installations,” exposing the roots of [...]

The curator and cultural representative Jorge Jaramillo Jaramillo—who at the time was the director of the Galería Santa Fe at the Planetarium in Bogota—discusses several matters regarding the first edition of the Premio Luis Caballero [Luis [...]

In 1954, journalist Gloria Valencia de Castaño interviewed sculptor Hena Rodríguez on HJCK, a Bogotá radio station with a cultural orientation. This text is a transcription of a simple conversation in which the artist describes her art education, [...]

In this prologue to the catalogue of the 3rd Coltejer Art Biennial, held in Medellín in 1972, the president of the sponsoring company, Rodrigo Uribe Echavarría, explained what he considered to be the double significance of the Biennial, the most [...]

This text by Carmen María Jaramillo discusses the exhibition, Colombia, años 70: Revista al arte colombiano (2002), curated by artist John Castles. Jaramillo presents the idea that some of the pioneering works of contemporary art in Colombia must [...]

In this text, Maritza Uribe de Urdinola, director of the Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia, in Cali, presents the II Bienal Americana de Artes Gráficas of Cali. She states that it was due to the Cali Festivales de Arte that the graphic arts took [...]

This manuscript was created by Óscar Muñoz, with photographs of his major works for his presentation at the Tate Gallery in London, as part of the Global Photography Now: Latin America conference held on November 10, 2006. Muñoz provides an [...]

In this notebook, which is one of several kept by Colombian artist Carlos Rojas, the author writes down thirty-two points essential to his art.  Written like a manifesto, this particular manuscript contains ideas that Rojas considers innate to his [...]

Isadora de Norden—who was president of the Colombian-French Alliance’s Cultural Committee in Bogotá—wrote this introduction to the first publication of “Nuevas propuestas: arte colombiano 1999-2002” [New Works: Colombian Art 1999-2002]. [...]

This essay was written by the artist Rosemberg Sandoval as the introduction to the exhibition catalogue Dibujos sobre lona, video e instalación, Rosemberg Sandoval that was organized by the Galería Casas Riegner in 2009. In his essay, Sandoval [...]

In this manuscript, Polish critic Casimiro Eiger, who lived in Colombia, discusses the work in the first solo exhibition of painter Marco Ospina, held at Galerías de Arte in 1949. In Eiger’s view, the merit of Ospina’s work lies in its order. [...]

This text is a section of the catalogue to the exhibition of photography that accompanied the Simposio de Justicia Restaurativa y Paz en Colombia held in Cali in 2005. In it, art critic and curator María Iovino introduces the work of Colombian [...]

In this essay—that appeared in the leaflet for the exhibition En la Trama personal [In the Personal Web] that was presented at the Alonso Garcés Gallery in Bogotá in June-July 2004—the art critic Carmen María Jaramillo discusses the latest [...]

The book Artistas colombianos: Epifanio Garay, which was written by Colombian artist Coriolano Leudo Obando at an unknown date, is divided into two parts: a brief introductory essay on the life of academic artist Epifanio Garay Caicedo and twenty-one [...]

In the introduction to the catalogue of the exhibition Pintura abstracta de Colombia (Biblioteca Luís Ángel Arango, Bogotá, June 11-25, 1958), Marta Traba points out two problems related to the reception and production of abstract art in Colombia [...]