Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In this interview conducted byPuerto Rican critic Ernesto Ruiz de la Mata, Italian art dealer Luigi Marrozzini recounts his experiences as the director of Galería Colibrí. Marrozzini offers a detailed account of the opening exhibition of the [...]

Puerto Rican professor and journalist Félix Jiménez comments on the space run by the art collective MSA (Manifestación Sintetista Actualizada), which organized an exhibition in 1986 paying tribute to the VII Bienal de San Juan del Grabado [...]

Spanish critic Manuel Pérez-Lizano reviews the group exhibition, Arte y Política [Art and Politics], which was organized in 1988 by the Galería M.S.A. (Manifiesto Sintetista Actualizado) [Manifesto of Synthetism Today] during the VIII Bienal de [...]

This document is an interview of the Puerto Rican artist, Marcos Irizarry, by Jacqueline Biaggi in which the artist provides important facts about his life, his studies and his exhibitions. Irizarry was a printmaker who participated in various [...]

The French critic and historian Marianne de Tolentino, who lives in the Dominican Republic, writes about the Puerto Rican abstract painter and printmaker, Luis Hernández Cruz. During his early years, according to de Tolentino, he worked mainly with [...]

In this essay, Samuel Cherson, a Cuban critic living in exile in Puerto Rico, discusses the exhibition organized by the Hermandad de Artistas Gráficos [Graphic Artists Association] featuring the artists who refrained from participating in the Quinta [...]

In this interview with Myrna Báez, fellow Puerto Rican artist Manuel García Fonteboa—who worked for Báez as a printer of silkscreens on many occasions—asks about her training in art and the methods she uses in her graphic work. Báez explains [...]

Puerto Rican artist and critic José Antonio Torres Martinó states that Myrna Báez has been a militant supporter of Puerto Rican independence throughout her lifetime. Her work, however, is by no means political propaganda. Like many artists before [...]

Puerto Rican art historian Margarita Fernández Zavala divides Myrna Báez’s graphic work into four parallel stylistic discourses: costumbrismo (representation of local everyday life), formalism, expressionism, and lyricism. Fernández Zavala dates [...]

Argentine-Mexican art historian Raquel Tibol asserts that Myrna Báez’s work must be analyzed from many different perspectives in order to attend to questions like technique, the artist’s status as a Puerto Rican woman, her character, her times, [...]

Puerto Rican artist and art critic José Antonio Torres Martinó discusses the various media—event, installation, theater, print, poster, film—used by Antonio Martorell in his attempt to provoke and establish a dialogue with the viewer. Novel and [...]

In this essay, Puerto Rican artist Nelson Rivera Rosario provides a critical analysis of Antonio Martorell’s graphic work, discussing specifically its image, technique, and historical context. Regarding the political content of Martorell’s work, [...]

In this letter to Puerto Rican artist Lorenzo Homar, Argentine artist Mauricio Lasansky states that he resents the fact that the Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano y del Caribe [Latin American and Caribbean Print Biennial, San Juan] is [...]

[This document is] a confidential report, written by detective Enrique Torres for the Puerto Rican Intelligence Office, about an event at the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña [Puerto Rican Cultural Institute] (ICP) on January 29, 1972. The [...]

In response to an article that appeared in the art section of The San Juan Star newspaper, Lorenzo Homar explains that there will not be a “counter Biennial” at the Tercera Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano [Third San Juan Biennial [...]

Lorenzo Homar presents an ink caricature of the jury at the Primera Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano [First Latin American Print Biennial, San Juan] held in 1970, whose members were: Arturo Dávila, director of the department of fine [...]

José Antonio Torres Martinó, a Puerto Rican artist and critic, states that Rufino Tamayo is in Puerto Rico for a retrospective exhibition that will revolve around the work of the Mexican painter. This show is one of the main events of the VII [...]

Mexican artist Alberto Beltrán thanks Lorenzo Homar for his time and attention during his visit to Puerto Rico. He tells Homar that artists Ángel Bracho and Jesús Álvarez Amaya, from the Taller de Gráfica Popular (TGP), have sent works to Puerto [...]

Lorenzo Homar states that Puerto Rican artists were never informed that the IV Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano [IV Latin American Print Biennial, San Juan] would be financed with funds from the American Revolution Bicentennial [...]

Lorenzo Homar harshly criticizes Luigi Marrozzini, director of the Galería Colibrí in Old San Juan, for certain statements in Revista Avance. Homar asserts that Marrozzini was not the founder of the Galería Colibrí or the Bienal de San Juan de [...]

In this letter to Uruguayan artist Antonio Frasconi, Lorenzo Homar comments on a number of topics: his resignation from the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (ICP); issues related to the Portafolio Casals and Luigi Marrozzini; and the request he [...]

In 1974, Ricardo Alegría was director of the Office of Cultural Affairs, as well as a member of the committee for the III Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano [Third San Juan Biennial of Latin American Graphic Art]. [In this letter,] Alegr [...]

The artist Lorenzo Homar writes to Ricardo Alegría, director of the Office of Cultural Affairs at the time, about the selection jury for the III Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano (1974) [Third San Juan Biennial of Latin American Graphic [...]

The printmaker Lorenzo Homar comments on the silk screen workshop he organized at the Museo del Grabado Latinoamericano [Museum of Latin American Graphic Art] for the museum’s inauguration at the time of the Segunda Bienal de San Juan del Grabado [ [...]

This timeline tracks the life of Puerto Rican artist Rafael Tufiño, who lived in New York and in Mexico City. Puerto Rican intellectuals Manuel Cárdenas Ruiz and Eugenio Fernández Méndez review the graphic work produced by Tufiño between the [...]

In this letter artist Lorenzo Homar replies to his colleague, Uruguayan professor Luis Camnitzer, who had suggested that some of the artists who planned to participate in the III Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano [3rd San Juan Biennial [...]

In this letter to Puerto Rican printmaker Lorenzo Homar, Uruguayan artist and academic Luis Camnitzer proposes that, on the occasion of the III Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano [3rd San Juan Biennial of Latin American Prints], scheduled [...]

In this brief, cynical note, artist Lorenzo Homar informs the editor of the radical newspaper Claridad that he plans to suggest that the “Methadone Prize” at the III Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano [3rd San Juan Biennial of Latin [...]

In this letter sent to the Puerto Rican Socialist Party’s newspaper Claridad, printmaker Lorenzo Homar replies to an article by Puerto Rican writer Edwin Reyes. Homar attacks the position taken by Reyes—and by “Santitos,” a character who [...]

Alberto Beltrán, a Mexican artist, writes to his friend, Puerto Rican printmaker Lorenzo Homar, to thank him for his earlier letter explaining the problems surrounding the IV Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano [4th San Juan Biennial of [...]

This is an essay written by literary critic Ani Fernández Seín about the Primera Bienal del Grabado Latinoamericano en San Juan [1st San Juan Biennial of Latin American Prints] that was presented in 1970. The document includes handwritten comments [...]

In this manifesto, Puerto Rican artists Antonio Martorell, Lorenzo Homar, Rafael Rivera, Juan O'Neill, Nelson Sambolín, Antonio Maldonado, and Ángel Casiano expressed their solidarity with oppressed and exploited nations that struggled to gain [...]

Puerto Rican printmaker Lorenzo Homar writes to Félix Rodriguez Báez, who at the time was the director of the Escuela de Artes Plásticas [School of Visual Arts] of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña [ICP, Puerto Rican Cultural Institute], to [...]

Luis E. Díaz Hernández, executive director of the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña [Puerto Rican Cultural Institute] (ICP), sent a letter to the artist Lorenzo Homar with a questionnaire consisting of five questions. The objective of the [...]

José A. Torres Martinó, a Puerto Rican artist, comments on the financial troubles of the XI Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano y del Caribe [11th San Juan Biennial of Latin American and Caribbean Graphic Art], held in 1995. Indeed, he [...]

Puerto Rican artist José A. Torres Martinó notes that many collectors prefer to purchase paintings rather than prints, since paintings—as unique works that are less perishable—provide greater satisfaction. He believes that the Bienal de San [...]

José A. Torres Martinó, a Puerto Rican artist, considers both the Primera [1st] (1970) and the Segunda [2nd] (1972) Bienal de San Juan de Grabado Latinoamericano [San Juan Biennial of Latin American Graphic Art] to be the most significant biennials [...]

Puerto Rican artist José A. Torres Martinó reports on the arrival in Puerto Rico of the Selection and Prize Jury for the IX Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano y del Caribe [9th San Juan Biennial of Latin American and Caribbean Graphic [...]

Puerto Rican artist José A. Torres Martinó reports that the VIII Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano y del Caribe [8th San Juan Biennial of Latin American and Caribbean Graphic Art], held in 1988, ended with a considerable financial [...]

Puerto Rican artist José A. Torres Martinó comments on the news that the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña [ICP, Institute of Puerto Rican Culture], in spite of its lack of funding, plans to hold the XI Bienal de San Juan del Grabado [...]

Puerto Rican artist José A. Torres Martinó had a low opinion of the exhibition at the X Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano y del Caribe [10th San Juan Biennial of Latin American and Caribbean Graphic Art], held in 1993. Nevertheless, he [...]

The critic Samuel Cherson gives a historical account of the Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano y del Caribe [San Juan Biennial of Latin American and Caribbean Graphic Art]. He notes that the 7th Biennial (1986) opened 3 ½ years after [...]

Samuel Cherson, a Cuban living in exile in Puerto Rico, gives a brief account of the history of the Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano y del Caribe [San Juan Biennial of Latin American and Caribbean Graphic Art]. He concludes that the 8th [...]

Puerto Rican critic Enrique García Gutiérrez comments on the VIII Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano y del Caribe [8th San Juan Biennial of Latin American and Caribbean Graphic Art], held in 1988. In spite of all the errors committed in [...]

U.S. critic Shifra M. Goldman comments on the importance of the Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano y del Caribe [San Juan Biennial of Latin American and Caribbean Graphic Art] for Puerto Rico, Latin America, and the Caribbean. At the VII [...]

Puerto Rican artist José A. Torres Martinó tells a story about the VIII Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano y del Caribe [8th San Juan Biennial of Latin American and Caribbean Graphic Art], held in 1988. At the inauguration, a young man [...]

In 1991, the IX Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano y del Caribe [9th San Juan Biennial of Latin and Caribbean American Graphic Art] was held in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rican critic Ernesto Ruiz de la Mata took advantage of the occasion to [...]

The Mexican printmaker, Alberto Beltrán, thanks Lorenzo Homar for the invitation to the Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano [San Juan Biennial of Latin American Graphic Art]. However, given the late date on which the news reached him, he [...]

Samuel Cherson, an exiled Cuban critic living in Puerto Rico, considers the Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano [San Juan Biennial of Latin American Graphic Art] to be one of the greatest cultural events in Puerto Rico. It implies an [...]

Artist and essayist Félix Bonilla Norat comments on the visit of the Uruguayan printmaker, Antonio Frasconi, who would be exhibiting his works at the La Casa del Libro [House of the Book] and at the Museo del Grabado [Museum of Graphic Art]. The [...]