Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

Art critic Marta Traba authored the essay “Historia abierta,” which was included among the texts for the exhibition América: Mirada interior. Figari, Reverón, Santa María, in Bogotá, July 4 through August 18, 1985, published by the Banco de [...]

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

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

Marta Traba begins the fourth chapter of her book Historia abierta del arte colombiano [Open History of Colombian Art] (1970) with a quote from the Colombian art historian Eugenio Barney Cabrera, from which she extrapolates the three points around [...]

This essay, by the art historian Eugenio Barney Cabrera, discusses the work of the painter Andrés de Santa María in five distinct categories, as follows: (I) his social background; (II) his long absence from Colombia; (III) his connection to Europe [...]

The art historian Germán Rubiano Caballero wrote this essay in 1971, on the occasion of the retrospective exhibition of works by Andrés de Santa María at the Museo de Arte Moderno [Museum of Modern Art] in Bogotá. This exhibition included for the [...]

In this article the Austrian critic Walter Engel reviews the exhibition of works by the painter Andrés de Santa María held at the Galerías de Arte in Bogotá. Engel begins his article by mentioning that the Colombian artist died in Brussels, [...]

In “De cómo se expresa en arte el pueblo colombiano” [On How Colombians Express Themselves in Art] (1934), the Colombian intellectual Luis López de Mesa reviews the history of Colombian art during the colonial period. He describes this period [...]

This essay, written by the Colombian attorney and philosopher Francisco Posada, is divided into nine parts: (i) an untitled introduction; (ii) “Colonial Feudalism”; (iii) “Realism and Social Conflict”; (iv) “Painting”; (v) “The Current [...]

This article by Ricardo Hinestrosa Daza is divided into ten parts. In the first, the author discusses the concept of “emotion” formulated by educator Baldomero Sanín Cano in the November 1904 and January 1905 issues of Revista Contemporánea. In [...]

In the introduction to the book Procesos del arte en Colombia [Processes of Art in Colombia] (1978), Colombian historian Álvaro Medina asserts that Andrés de Santamaría was well ahead of his time in Colombian art; it was thanks to his influence [...]

In this article, poet Maximiliano Grillo voices his opposition to editor and critic Baldomero Sanín Cano in relation to the work of artist Andrés de Santamaría. Sanín Cano’s views were put forth in articles entitled “El impresionismo en Bogot [...]

This article is divided into two parts. In the first, its author, Baldomero Sanín Cano, reveals not only his ignorance about the craft of painting, but also how he envisions the text and the subject it addresses. In the second, he describes the [...]

In these two supplements, Viennese historian and critic Walter Engel describes exhibitions and artists that in his view shaped the modern art scene in Colombia from 1934 to 1957. Engel distinguishes two distinct periods: 1934 to 1951, and 1952 to [...]