Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

This is a short review of the play by the Italian playwright Ugo Betti: El delito de la Isla de Cabras (Crime on Goat Island), performed by the theater group Sociedad Venezolana del Teatro and directed by the Argentine director Carlos Gorostiza, who [...]

The journalist Lorenzo Batallán writes about the impending opening of Signos, the exhibition of works by the painter Mercedes Pardo at the Sala Mendoza (Caracas). In his article, Batallán describes this Venezuelan artist’s experimentation with [...]

This is the preface of a book by Carlos Cruz-Diez, Reflexiones sobre el color (1989) in which the Venezuelan Kinetic artist uses short sentences to set forth the definitions and basic concepts of the art he creates. He also discusses the condition of [...]

In this essay, Jean Clay reviews Fisicromías, the series of works by Carlos Cruz-Diez, and analyzes them from various perspectives. Clay discusses the evolution of the artist’s techniques, examining them through a prism of aesthetic principles. He [...]

In Bernardo Chataing’s preface, he explains that the Taller Libre de Arte (TLA) invited young painters to participate in its exhibition, which would hold them responsible for creating new art forms. In turn, this would generate multiple trends. The [...]

In this newspaper article, Manuel Trujillo provides a critical review of the exhibition of works by the young Carlos Cruz-Diez at the Centro Venezolano-Americano de Caracas, which ran from late 1947 to early 1948; this was the artist’s first [...]

In this article, Ernesto Ramallo writes about the Bienal Americana de Arte held in Cordoba, Argentina. He traces the history of the event, from its origins in 1958—as the Primer Salón de Artes Visuales Contemporáneas, organized by [...]

In a lengthy conversation, the Venezuelan journalist Carlos Díaz Sosa discusses the main ideas that underpin the Kinetic artist Carlos Cruz-Diez’s thinking. Despite its length, the conversation barely touches on his repertoire, [...]

The review by Ras (Eduardo Robles Piquer), published in the Revista Nacional de Cultura [National Cultural Review], Caracas, July/August/September 1969, comments on the most important cultural events of the month. It starts out with two exhibitions: [...]

In this theoretical text, the visual artist Carlos Cruz-Diez discusses the origin and objectives of his Laberintos de cromosaturación (Chromosaturation Labyrinths). The fundamental idea behind this work involves the viewer’s chromatic [...]

In this text, whose two brief paragraphs are separated by a line and illustrated with three sketches, the Venezuelan Kinetic artist Carlos Cruz-Diez explains the traditional way in which a viewer experiences a direct “reading” of a color [...]

The writer of this article fluctuates between his feelings for traditional forms of painting and his admiration for contemporary trends. Rafael Cordero says that being a devotee of painting is not a virtue but in fact is almost a sin, given the [...]

This short, anonymous newspaper article informs its readers about the solo exhibition of works by Carlos Cruz-Diez scheduled to open on November 17, 1971, at the New York premises of the Denise René Gallery. It states that the artist will show [...]

This newspaper article reports that Carlos Cruz-Diez has been awarded the National Prize for Visual Arts, a prize that was created by the INCIBA (Instituto Nacional de Cultura y Bellas Artes). This was the first time the prize was awarded to [...]

This newspaper article reports that Carlos Cruz-Diez has arrived in Caracas from Paris to receive the Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas (National Visual Arts Prize) awarded by the INCIBA (Instituto Nacional de Cultura y Bellas Artes). The [...]

This short article, published in the newspaper El Nacional, informs its readers in Caracas that the painter Carlos Cruz-Diez (who, at the time, was employed at the newspaper as an illustrator and layout artist) had been appointed to a professorship [...]

This newspaper review, which was published in Mexico City, discusses the aesthetic and technical principles underlying the work that Carlos Cruz-Diez produced in urban spaces. The reviewer notes the dynamic nature of the artist’s approach to [...]

Alberto Junyent reviews the fourth exhibition of La Nouvelle Tendance at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, in Paris, an event in which Carlos Cruz-Diez participated. The reviewer informs his readers that, in the twentieth century, “ [...]

This newspaper article reports on the 1971 Premio Nacional de Artes Plásticas (National Visual Arts Prize), which was awarded to Carlos Cruz-Diez. The chairman of the INCIBA (Instituto Nacional de Cultura y Bellas Artes), Dr. Alfredo Tarre [...]

This is a review of the work that Carlos Cruz-Diez presented at Art dans la rue (Art in the Street), the event organized by Frank Popper for the Centre National d’Art Contemporain (December 1969). The Venezuelan artist showed his Labyrinthe de [...]

The critic Roberto Guevara discusses the exhibition presented at the Galería Conkright in Caracas, paying particular attention to the room devoted to Carlos Cruz-Diez and his Colores aditivos (Additive Colors). The article concentrates mainly [...]

This essay by historian Frank Popper is written within the framework of the thirty-fifth Venice Biennale. The author’s thesis stems from the idea that an artist such as Carlos Cruz-Diez creates “situations,” which cause a series of effects that [...]

In this article Ariel Jiménez reviews concepts that were widely discussed in Venezuela at that time: realist art and abstract art, two irreconcilable opposites. Taking his cue from Post-Impressionist and Cubist ideas about the illusory nature [...]

Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza interviews Carlos Cruz-Diez in Paris. After providing a physical description of the Venezuelan Kinetic artist and a brief summary of his career, the Colombian author asks him for his opinions about art in general, and Latin [...]

This newspaper article is about an interview with the director of the Museo de Arte Moderno de México, Fernando Gamboa, on the subject of the exhibition that Carlos Cruz-Diez opened in Mexico City as part of a cultural exchange between Mexico [...]

This article reports on the activities organized by students at the École de Beaux-Arts in Marseille, France, during Carlos Cruz-Diez’s visit. The students invited him to lead them during the activities devoted to the Fête de la [...]

This short article announces the awarding of the Grand Prize at the III Bienal Americana de Arte in Córdoba, Argentina. The text is divided into two sections: the first one reports the name of the prizewinning artist, Carlos Cruz-Diez, and the [...]

This is art critic and journalist Ratto-Ciarlo’s review of the latest Cruz-Diez exhibition that also mentions the trip to Europe the artist will be taking in 1955 after the close of his show. Their conversation focuses on the creation of a [...]

This essay by the Venezuelan researcher José Luis Guevara was published in the catalogue for the exhibition Un lector, algunos diseñadores gráficos, una década, at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas. Guevara reviews the work of six Venezuelan [...]

In this interview with Paul Keeler, director of Signals gallery in London, the journalist Ratto-Ciarlo asks him about the differences he sees among European, Latin American, and North American art in the mid-1960s. Keeler says he is determined to [...]

This interview with Carlos Cruz-Diez by historian José María Salvador focuses on the way the artist’s work intengrates architecture, either as a general subject matter or regarding his urban productions. The interview addresses questions like the [...]

In this article, Alirio Rodríguez discusses the definition and scope of Latin American painting, and its universal exposure. He stresses the importance of Figuration and Abstraction, both of which influence current and future painting in the [...]

In this interview, Carlos Cruz-Diez discusses some of Kinetic art’s theoretical problems, in particular its opposition to conventional painting; he opts for a “transpositional” pictorial approach. The artist describes himself as [...]

This anonymous article provides a brief review of the exhibition schedule that the Venezuelan artist, curator, and museologist, Miguel Arroyo, who at the time was the director of the Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas, is organizing. The curator’ [...]

The Argentine critic Damián Bayón, who lived in Puerto Rico in the 1950s, claims that the exodus of Latin American artists was good for their aesthetic education. He adds that some artists left their countries when they were very young and were [...]

In this short article José Antonio Rial discusses Carlos Cruz-Diez’s first optical works, his Construcciones en cadena (Chain Constructions), claiming that they provide a glimpse of the Kinetic works whose attempt to portray movement is [...]

This document includes two newspaper articles. The first announces that the Henrique Otero Vizcarrondo Prize has been awarded to Carlos Cruz-Diez; the prize was created in honor of the founder of the newspaper El Nacional to recognize the work of [...]

In this short newspaper review of the XI Salón de Arte Venezolano, the critic Rafael Pineda quotes from conversations he had with some of the young artists mentioned by the jury, including Mario Abreu, Lourdes Armas, Alirio Oramas, and R& [...]

This article, put out by the EFE agency and published in the Venezuelan newspaper El Mundo, informs its readers about the prizes awarded to Jesús Soto and Carlos Cruz-Diez at a painting festival in the south of France (Cagnes-sur-Mer, near [...]

Teresa Alvarenga (a cultural journalist) reviews the opening to the public of the Sala Cruz-Diez, located in the CADAFE building in Caracas. She describes the overall layout of the salon and the works on display, which were made at the workshop [...]

The journalist Raquel Chonchol wrote under the pseudonym, “Ray Ponte,” for The Daily Journal, a Venezuelan English language newspaper. She reviewed this exhibition on the occasion of a visit by some high-profile members of The International [...]

This article is based on a conversation with Carlos Cruz-Diez after he was awarded the Officier des Arts et des Lettres, a prize sponsored by the French government, which was presented by the French Minister of Culture, Jack Lange. In it it appears [...]

This short newspaper review about the prizegiving at the XIII Salón de Arte Venezolano (1952) names the winners (one of whom was the young Carlos Cruz-Diez), the members of the jury, and the dignitaries who presented the awards (the Venezuelan [...]

This is a newspaper article that reviews the opening of the III Bienal Americana de Arte in the city of Cordoba, Argentina. The article reports that the Grand Prize was awarded to the Venezuelan Kinetic artist Carlos Cruz-Diez. It describes the [...]

Divided into eight chapters, this text by scholar Susana Benko is a study of contemporary Venezuelan art. The first part serves as an introduction, and consists of a brief overview of the Clara Diament Sujo collection. Afterward, she turns her focus [...]

In this interview, Margarita D’Amico asks Carlos Cruz-Diez about working in urban spaces and using contemporary languages and techniques. The journalist begins her article on a subject of fundamental importance: the artist’s international [...]

Venezuelan artist, curator, and cultural manager Manuel Espinoza presents the exhibition La mano, la seda, el color [Hand, Silk and Color] (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo of Caracas, 1978), which featured prints on silk by nine Venezuelan artists: [...]

Francisco Díaz Roncero—who wrote this review of the second exhibition, Mouvement 2, organized by the Galerie Denise René in Paris that included the works of Kinetic artists—stresses the current influence and presence of [...]

The Argentinean professor Damián Bayón reviews Frente a la máquina, the exhibition presented at the Maison de L’Amérique Latine. He reports that there are plans to organize regular exhibitions of works by Latin [...]

This is an anonymous review of the retrospective exhibition of Cruz-Diez’s work at the Signals gallery in London in 1965. The reviewer notes a constant quality in Venezuelan painting—“clarity, order, and a distinct gentleness&rdquo [...]