Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In this text, the writer Ulyses Petit de Murat discusses the travels of the exhibition Hacia un perfil del arte latinoamericano. Petit de Murat was a highly esteemed contributor in the field of literature and cinematography who, one way or another, [...]

María Elena Huizi and Josefina Manrique wrote the introduction to the book Sabiduras y otros textos de Gego / Sabiduras and Other Texts by Gego that includes a selection of the artist’s previously unpublished manuscripts. The two [...]

In this 1986 essay, art historian Marcos Sanchez-Tranquilino discusses Mexican poet Octavio Paz’s (mis)representation of 1940s Mexican-American subculture, including the zoot suits worn by Chicano people. The writer states that in his book [...]

The article “Génesis de una idea” [Genesis of an Idea] was published in La Re-vista in the early 1980s. In it, artist Álvaro Barrios explains his interest in French artist Marcel Duchamp, stating that it was through the study of Duchamp’s art [...]

In this text, Luis Felipe Noé explains his theory that the shared impulse that defines Latin American painting is its preoccupation with “inventing history.” He argues that this impulse is a direct result of Latin American artists’ experience [...]

In this essay, Octavio Ignacio Romano argues that three main philosophical orientations shape contemporary Mexican American identity, and that their formation occurred in Mexico during the era of the Mexican Revolution. Romano identifies these [...]

This article is an interview with David Alfaro Siqueiros conducted by Raquel Tibol on the value of art criticism. Regarding the central question, Siqueiros identifies three types of criticism: the first, “the companion,” records the concepts that [...]

The co-editor of ABRAZO, Víctor A. Sorell writes that ethnic artists must no longer believe that the mainstream art world neglects them merely due to elitism (ignorance of ethnic artists contributes to this neglect as well). ABRAZO urges the art [...]

In this review of the exhibition Art of the Other Mexico: Sources and Meanings, Victor Alejandro Sorell writes that the border is the exhibition’s overarching and master trope. The exhibition features works of art by the “greater Mexican [...]

In this seminal text from the mid-1950s, a young José Luis Cuevas criticizes the cultural policies of the Mexican government three decades later for still favoring nationalist art, especially as pictured in murals. Cuevas tells an ironic story that [...]

The author of this essay, Aracy A. Amaral, mentions the importance of certain thinkers on the subject of Latin American art: Marta Traba, Ferreira Gullar, Luis Felipe Noé, Juan Acha, and Octavio Paz. In her opinion, “new” art feels obliged to [...]

This short article announces a competition to choose “the best art critic.” Paul Westheim’s idea began with the question: “Where in Mexico are the young art critics who are prepared to defend the values represented by the efforts of their own [...]

This article describes the exhibition of prints by the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios (LEAR) [League of Revolutionary Writers and Artists], which was held in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, in Valencia as well as in Madrid.  The [...]

Elena Poniatowska spent time gathering opinions on the Inter-American Biennial of Painting and Printmaking. According to Octavio Paz, the four great masters of painting were Carlos Mérida, Rufino Tamayo, Wilfredo Lam, and Roberto Matta; he felt that [...]