Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In this text, eminent Latin American avant-garde poet César Vallejo asserts that “among the symptoms of the final decline of the capitalist intelligentsia is the vice of coterie.” He argues that the crises of economic imperialism are reflected [...]

The introduction to Joaquín Torres García’s book, Universalismo Constructivo (published in Buenos Aires in 1944), was written two years earlier, and touches on many of the maestro’s fundamental ideas. It explains that his views are the result [...]

In his series of four articles, José Cúneo challenges Joaquín Torres García for having submitted to the VIII Salón Nacional de Bellas Artes—where he won the Grand Prize—a painting that, in the author’s view, has nothing to do with his [...]

José Cúneo’s text entitled “Arte Abstracto” was read at a lecture that he gave in Montevideo. Although the exact date when it was written is unknown, the lecture appears to have been given in 1956 or 1957 at the Escuela de Bellas Artes in [...]

The author outlines his convictions on “artistic creation,” associating them to searches that are transcendent and tragic in character (as manifested in the title of the article). He conceives that the act of creating derives from spiritual [...]

The critic Carlos Silva wrote a study of the work of the Venezuelan sculptor Edgar Guinand, pointing out two fundamental periods in his life in art. The first is defined by the writer in the visual arts context that follows the Latin American Post- [...]

The collector Hans Neumann discusses the Informalist movement’s connection to the emotions, transcendent universes, and what he describes as a “prophetic” nature. He sees Informalism as mankind’s logical reaction to the inexplicable nature of [...]

Of the three chapters in the book by researcher Víctor Guédez on the Venezuelan artist Armando Barrios. Lo permanente, lo novedoso y lo influyente, chapter three, “Lo influyente,” is discussed here. Under subtitle five (“La conquista de una s [...]

The journalist Antonio Muiño (also known as “El Diablo Cojuelo”) interviewed Omar Carreño with the aim of acquainting the [Venezuelan] public with expansionism, an ongoing aesthetic movement that he was proposing from Paris. Outlining Carreño [...]

In this essay Oswaldo Vigas discusses his early days as a painter in Venezuela in the 1940s, recalling the first time he was awarded a prize, and the art movements that influenced his work. He also mentions his travels, studies, and companions. He [...]

In this essay, Emilio Goyburu divides Western painting into periods on the basis of its “aesthetic facet.” He defines four “ages” that he envisions as a progression. In its “primitive” age—or genesis—painting acted as a “graphic [...]

This article was written by Ramiro Pérez Reinoso who felt that the possibility of presenting a retrospective on the Cubist movement and its views “would not pale the increased hue of its modernity, seen in its last artists excited by its novelty [...]

In this article, poet Alejandro Romualdo Valle expresses his opposition to abstract art. In his view, the formal explorations of Cubism—particularly of Picasso—have placed “modern painting or, rather, the French school” at a crossroads. [...]

In this manuscript, Polish critic Casimiro Eiger, who lived in Colombia, discusses the work in the first solo exhibition of painter Marco Ospina, held at Galerías de Arte in 1949. In Eiger’s view, the merit of Ospina’s work lies in its order. [...]

The artist Cícero Dias was the subject of this article that includes a combination of first-hand accounts on his artistic career. The text was originally published due to an exhibition on abstract art by the artist in Recife (Faculdade de Direito) [...]

The second part of a two-part essay published in the Bellas Artes newspaper, this text consists of a lecture given by artist Flávio de Carvalho at the Congrès International d’Esthétique in Paris, and later (in 1937), at the Salão de Maio in Sã [...]

The first part of a two-part essay published in the Bellas Artes newspaper, this text consists of a lecture given by artist Flávio de Carvalho at the Congrès International d’Esthétique in Paris, and later (in 1937), at the Salão de Maio in São [...]

In this essay, French intellectual Gilles Plazy places emphasis on the essential role played by the concepts of “time” and “space” in Jesús Rafael Soto’s art. Plazy examines how artists from different art movements such as Impressionism [...]

In this review of the (1) Exposición de arte francés [Exhibition of French Art] held in 1922, artist and art critic Roberto Pizano discusses the importance of “cultivating oneself,” as well as the “Latin” origins of the works on exhibition [...]

This article, published in 1940 by the young painter Fernando Botero, offers us a sample of the intellectual interests pursued by the young adults of Medellín during that period. Full of enthusiasm and a basic knowledge obtained from trade books, [...]

This article provides a sociological assessment of Cubism on the basis of the idea that all art reflects the needs of its times. It questions those who have condemned Cubism because it changed the rules of classical representation formulated in the [...]

In this essay, the Venezuelan painter and art critic, Alejandro Otero, questions the chronicler of the city of Caracas, Mario Briceño Iragorry, about his article “Abstraccionismo y carillones” [Abstract Art and Carillons]. The painter finds [...]

This article by Leoncio Martínez—identified here by one of his pseudonyms: “Santiago León”—is a critical review of a joint exhibition of works by two young painters, Antonio Alcántara and Ernesto Stelling, both of whom are involved in the [...]

In this text, Eduardo Avilés Ramírez responds to the question that the editors of revista de avance posed to their readers: “What should American art be?” He specifically addresses each of the four sub-questions grouped under this larger [...]

In this lecture, Martí Casanovas distinguishes the activities of the group of artists in the exhibition 1927 from those of other contemporary progressives by arguing that their art seeks to convey humanistic and collective meanings to a broad and [...]

In this essay, the painter and member of the Los Disidentes group (Paris, 1950) Alejandro Otero presents a long list of the major elements and people that contributed to the creation of Abstract art. The list includes: revolutions in art; the present [...]

Venezuelan art critic Bélgica Rodríguez suggests that Latin American art is largely homogeneous. She discusses the impact of different international styles and artistic movements on Latin American artists such as Cuban painter Amelia Peláez, who [...]

Damián Bayón provides a far-reaching reading of Cubism on the basis of an exhibition held at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris that ran from February to April 1953. Before delving into specific concerns, he explains the overall perspective of his [...]

The writer Monteiro Lobato serves up a conservative review of the Exposição de Pintura Moderna — Anita Malfatti in a heated attack on avant-garde art, describing the exhibition as being, in his opinion, the work of “people who see things [...]

This analysis of the meaning of the Cubist rupture—that was published in Frente a Frente [Face to Face], the journal of the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios (LEAR) [League of Revolutionary Writers and Artists]—considers the fact that [...]

Germán Quiroga Galdo believes that modern Latin American painting could well be considered “the finest and most complete” example of art that was influenced by the works of Pablo Picasso. Galdo thinks that Picasso showed the Indian-American [...]

Antonio Berni chronicles the various points of view that were expressed during the exhibition of visual arts organized by Latidud [Latitude] magazine in the city of Mar del Plata in 1945. Berni’s comments range from the artistic to the political [...]

Antonio Berni writes about his early experiences in art, both in Spain and France, and the formation of his personal approach to Nuevo Realismo [New Realism [...]

Antonio Berni writes about the development of modern art since impressionism, focusing in particular on both Paul Cézanne and cubism. In particular, his analysis of surrealism stands out. The artist likewise analyzes the dehumanization of art, pure [...]

The author José Renau, exiled in Mexico, summarizes the principal avant-garde art trends of the 20th century, highlighting the contradiction between the works created and their artistic value in light of the few connections among the artists, [...]

This document touches upon the formation of the Architecture Council of Mexico City, as well as the protest that the Engineers’ Union made against the President of the Republic. The union argued for the transformation of the city through the [...]

Kemble develops a historical and formalist view of art, both from a Western and Eastern perspective, to arrive at the stylistic evolution present in both the 20th century and in his own work, which he analyzes from inception and through his personal [...]

After mentioning the contributions of Diego Rivera and Dr. Atl, the author emphasizes the importance of Guillermo Ruiz, as a prototype of cubist art, also identified with planismo [a flat-like fad] in sculpture. The author asserts that Ruiz produces [...]

Writer/critic Pedro Henríquez Ureña describes Diego Rivera as a scholar. He compares Rivera to the Venetians and the Spaniards, the Florentines and the French, then he discusses the Mexican artist’s interest in the structure of the objects that [...]

In this piece, González Lanuza explores the two primary modes through which man can interpret reality: an “analytical” perspective and a “synthetic” perspective. With respect to the first, the author references Impressionism and literature [...]

This is the text of a lecture given by Joaquín Torres-García at the School of Science and Humanities in Montevideo, Uruguay, in which he reflected on modern art and even analyzed a number of theories. Among other controversial views, he announced [...]

This article discusses the various ways in which the question of space has been addressed in sculpture, architecture, and painting over the course of time, and reflects simultaneously on how space is portrayed in abstract and concrete painting [...]

The article shows a certain displacement in Tomás Maldonado’s axis of interest, since it defines architecture as a protagonist, not only of the formal aspect but of the social aspect as well [...]

This article discusses different concepts associated with the representation of objective reality. In the discussion, Mele focuses on those tenets expressed in the manifesto of the school-workshop directed by Professor Cecilia Marcovich [...]

This article challenges the arts teachings offered by Professor Cecilia Marcovich. In it, Hlito reproaches her not only for her reactionary revisionism but also for teaching that modern art ended with Cubism [...]

This is an essay by Rhod Rothfuss, in which he discusses the limitations of the standard, regular picture frame. Thinking beyond the traditional “window” effect, Rothfuss suggests that the work must be done by means of a frame rigorously [...]