Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

To provide context for non-object art in Peru, researcher Hugo Salazar del Alcázar briefly cites theorist Juan Acha. Salazar del Alcázar is critical, however, in his description of a scene that in no way partakes of the avant-garde enthusiasm Acha [...]

This unsigned interview with Argentinean critic Jorge Romero Brest published in the weekly Jaque is somewhat alarmist. The main topics addressed—the decline of easel painting in the world over, the avant-garde experience at the Instituto Di Tella [...]

This article voices the intentions of the Grupo Toledo Chico and its ideological position on “national art” versus “colonialist art.” The Uruguayan vernacular is, for the group, bound to cultural independence from hegemonic metropolitan [...]

This brief but thorough review by the Argentine critic Damián Bayón explores the development of Argentine art from the eighteenth century to the present day. He mentions artists, architects, and sculptors who have helped to define the concept of [...]

Hugo Parpagnoli recounts the public controversy provoked by the Premio Di Tella awarded to the works of Luis Felipe Noé and Rómulo Macció, both members of the group Otra Figuración [Other Figuration]. Parpagnoli reflects that these works were [...]

León Ferrari'’s (1920–2013) letter responds to the concepts expressed by Ernesto Ramallo in the article "Los artistas argentinos en el Premio Di Tella 1965" [The Argentinean artists in the 1965 Di Tella Institute Prize] published in La Prensa [...]

Jorge Romero Brest writes that the jury he was a member of awarded Rómulo Macció the International Prize from the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella (1964), in which he distinguished himself from among the works of foreign artists. By the way and in overt [...]

In the Declaration that accompanied the Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning] exhibition, the artists denounce “the hidden truth behind this Operation”: the attempt to destroy the unions and guilds of the northeastern part of Argentina through the [...]

This prescient op-ed takes the events at the 1968 Braque Prize (sponsored by the French embassy in Argentina) as a starting point and uses them to arrive at the conclusion that the finest artwork was the “uproar” that occurred due to the [...]

Romualdo Brughetti's critique of the Torcuato Di Tella Prize emphasizes some aspects of sculpture that are related to society, materials, and to going beyond the limits of traditional sculpture, as well as its outcome in the art field. After having [...]

Hugo Parpagnoli comments on the works both by Argentinean artists and by Antoni Tàpies, presented by the Torcuato Di Tella Institute at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes [National Museum of Fine Arts]. In addition, the critic argues that, in regard [...]

Schedule of activities and exhibitions for the Semana de arte avanzado [Advanced Art Week] in Argentina. The following entries stand out in the program: Experiencias visuales 1967 [the 1967 Visual Practices], the shows of Ernesto Deira (1928-86) and [...]

This text by Carlos Gorriarena focuses on Pierre Restany’s report published in the catalog for the Premio Torcuato Di Tella[1964 Torcuato Di Tella Prize] 1964, in which the French critic points out that Nuevo Realism [New Realism] is an art of [...]

The letter sent by artist Nicolás Rubió to Samuel Paz expresses his dissatisfaction due to the impossibility of carrying out Operación corpiño [The Bra Operation], an action that consisted of depositing a collection of [...]

The members of the jury assigned to participate in the 1964 Instituto Torcuato Di Tella Prize, Jorge Romero Brest, Clement Greenberg, and Pierre Restany have decided to grant the International Prize to Kenneth Noland, and also recommended the [...]

Regulations stating both which are the invited artists and the value of the prizes and norms that will be ruling the presentation of the artworks; this includes the materials to be attached and the deadlines [...]

This text by Fermín Fèvre analyzes the upheaval provoked by La Menesunda [Hodgepodge], an installation organized by Marta Minujín, listing questions that touch upon various topics: the classic question regarding “what” is art; if it belongs to [...]

This document contains an interview with Marta Minujin in El Batacazo [Thud!], presented at the Premio Internacional Torcuato Di Tella [Torcuato Di Tella International Prize]. In it she defines the concept of “suceso plástico&rdquo [...]

Within the framework of the dizzying changes taking place in the everyday life of Argentineans at that time, the article reports on the reaction provoked by La Menesunda [Hodgepodge]. After describing some of the viewers’ opinions, it [...]

Critical commentary by Cayetano Córdova Iturburu on the institution and the competition systems that, in his opinion, circulate only one type of artistic production: Pop art. In his judgment, the jury did not even consider the offerings of three [...]

This document transcribes a poster that appeared in the window of a commercial gallery near the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella [Torcuato Di Tella Institute] in Buenos Aires. The text, dated 10 p.m. on September 30, 1966, mentions the idea of [...]

This text announces the rules that would govern the consideration of works for the Premio Torcuato Di Tella [Torcuato Di Tella Prize]; it verifies that the Premio Nacional [National Competition] would exhibit the works from September 29 – October [...]

The extension of the Guido Di Tella exhibition was linked to the news of Enrique Oteiza’s departure. As it had been proposed that the directorship of the Instituto Torcuato di Tella [Torcuato Di Tella Institute] was to be held for a defined period [...]

This news brief summarizes the principal concepts raised by Guido Di Tella regarding the internal history of the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella [Torcuato Di Tella Institute]; he points out that the institution is a non-profit public good. The report [...]

This document is a letter written by Roberto Cortés Conde, who succeeded engineer Enrique Oteiza as Director of the Instituto Torcuato di Tella [Torcuato Di Tella Institute]. (Buenos Aires); it is addressed to Samuel Paz and, in accordance with the [...]

This study signed by Juan Carlos Distéfano,Francisco Kröpfl, Fernando von Reichenbach and Humberto Rivas sets forth objectives and a structural schematic. It likewise makes projections on budgets as well as the infrastructure necessary for the [...]

This text summarizes the first class given by Jorge Romero Brest in response to the request of the Departamento de Adherentes at the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella [Department of Adherents at the Torcuato Di Tella Institute]. In this class, the critic [...]

This text summarizes the concepts presented by Jorge Romero Brest in relation to both the sociology and ontology of the new art. In order to pose the sociological question it appeals to David Riesman’s book titled La muchedumbre solitaria [The [...]

This text summarizes the concepts raised by Jorge Romero Brest in relation to the debates provoked by the Premio Torcuato Di Tella [Torcuato Di Tella Prize]. It establishes rules to be followed for the analysis of those who paint or sculpt images, [...]

León Ferrari’s letter states that, after he exhibited some works whose content condemned the United States intervention in Vietnam, the newspaper La Prensa [The Press] accused him of being “communist.” Consequently he wrote his response that [...]

This letter by León Ferrari responds to the concepts raised by Ernesto Ramallo in the article “Los artistas argentinos en el Premio Di Tella 1965” [The Argentinean Artists in the Premio Di Tella 1965] published in the newspaper La Prensa [The [...]

The critic for the newspaper La Prensa [The Press], Ernesto Ramallo, writes an unfavorable critique of the works presented at the Premio Torcuato Di Tella [Torcuato Di Tella Prize]. His review tolerates the works of Federico Manuel Peralta Ramos, [...]

This entire issue of the magazine Ovum 10 is dedicated to a report on Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning]. The brief introduction, which precedes the documentary anthology, presents the work as “one of the most important and explosive actions [...]

This United States academic journal disseminates the translation of the Cronología [Chronology] prepared by the artists reporting on the events that occurred throughout 1968, as well as other documents of their timetable, although with modified [...]

After describing the inauguration of Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning] in Rosario, Cousté goes back to the middle of 1968 in order to point out a series of episodes that can be seen as antecedents of both the subsequent uprising [Tucumán Arde] as [...]

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, [...]

This article is an interview with artist Pablo Suárez in which he is questioned regarding his actions within the Argentinean artistic scene of the 1960s. Among the diverse events he relates, he mentions the realization of the happening called [...]

Act setting the regulations for the second call to participate in the Torcuato Di Tella Institute Prize. According to the second paragraph of the text, the contest will take place among painters, who—if invited—will show five works each. It also [...]

This text introduces the conferences organized by Eduardo González Lanuza at Galería PROAR. His intention is not to speak from an aesthetic point of view on La Menesunda [Hodgepodge] but rather of Jorge Romero Brest’s [...]

Eduardo Baliari, a critic for the Clarín newspaper, points out in his note that connections are missing among the eight Argentinean artists and the eleven foreign artists invited to the 1962 Torcuato Di Tella Prize; particularly among the works of [...]

This document is a letter written by Enrique Oteiza, in his function as director of the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella [Torcuato Di Tella Institute], to the Editor–in-Chief of the newspaper Clarín [Bugle], Oscar Camilión. In it he expresses his [...]

Jorge Romero Brest points out that in the Experiencias 1968 [1968 Practices], young artists tried to raise the problem of creation in terms that were almost extreme, presenting crucial situations that depart from traditional “artwork” only by a [...]

In his function as the Secretary General of the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella [Torcuato Di Tella Institute], Mario T. Marzana, communicates to the aforementioned institution’s personnel the proceedings that led to the closure of Roberto Plate’s [...]

[This document is the] warrant to inspect the Centro de Artes Visuales del Instituto Torcuato Di Tella [ Visual Arts Center of the Torcuato Di Tella Institute] premises at 936 Florida, Buenos Aires. The official notice reports that obscene [...]

Samuel Paz wrote this letter to Jorge Romero Brest while the former was in Paris. It refers to the details of the negotiations with different galleries to secure the works for the Premio Torcuato Di Tella 1967 [1967 Torcuato Di Tella Prize]. Paz [...]

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 [...]

The text analyzes the happenings that took place at the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella [The Torcuato De Tella Institute] as an “exhibitionist neurosis.” It likewise makes reference to similar activities held during the same period at [...]

The text describes the environments presented in La Menesunda [Hodgepodge]. It emphasizes its scandalous nature, judging it to be an art fraud committed against the public. It refers to a survey conducted by the journalist on the attending [...]

This document is a letter from Samuel Paz to Jorge Romero Brest, who was visiting the United States at that time. It reports the steps taken to attain the participation of artists Kenneth Noland, Morris Louis, Pol Bury and Mark Brusse for the Premio [...]

This pamphlet critiques the Instituto Torcuato di Tellas’s “Experiencias 68” [1968 Practices] in an ironic tone. The text substitutes the name “Experiencias Visuales” [Visual Practices] for “Sexual Practices& [...]