Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In this text, María Luz Cárdenas discusses Ricardo Benaim’s artistic development and the premise presented in Una visión de Gaia, a solo exhibition of his paintings and prints. Cárdenas describes Benaim’s work as an example of critical [...]

The author identifies the different phases in the evolution of Candido Portinari’s work; he establishes them between the artist of the 1930s, who condemns social injustice in Brazil—in works such as Café and also in representations of migrant [...]

Response of Cayetano Córdova Iturburu to the survey sponsored by the magazine Contra [Against]: “Should art serve social problems?” He challenges the response given by Jorge Luis Borges en Contra, issue 3, stating that it is mere humor and [...]

This text suggests that although there is no “Latin American art” as such — that is, art produced by Latin American nations — these countries certainly share a number of “common problems” in terms of the social and political reality of [...]

The editorial section of Mundo nuevo [New World], an anarcho-syndicalist magazine, presents a defense of socially committed art, in accordance with the ideology of the workers’ movement. The editor maintains that art should serve the class struggle [...]

Mario Canale presents an evaluative reading on Mexican muralism and in particular on the proselytism carried out by David Alfaro Siqueiros in Argentina. Canale writes against the use of art as a political instrument. In his judgment, art should not [...]

Response of writer Nydia Lamarque to the survey sponsored by the magazine Contra [Against]: “Should art serve social problems?” In her judgment, art, as a product and synthesis of social factors, reflects the reality of society; moreover, she [...]