Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

On the back cover of number 4/5 of the magazine U-tópicos: Entornoalovisual (Lima, 1984), a brief anonymous article discusses the iconographic scenes painted on truck mudguards. The writer points out that, despite being ignored “by [...]

The critic and historian Francisco Da Antonio writes the prologue in the catalogue for Cristos (Caracas: Galería El ave que llovía, 1972), the exhibition of works by the visual artist Miguel von Dangel. The critic interprets the work Retrato [...]

This is an anonymous statement that documents the need for Chicano artists to pursue a practice that is engaged with the community of which it is a part, and considers the broader implications of artistic production. It posits that while some Chicano [...]

This essay presents an anthology of drawings by indigenous people collected as part of the aesthetic anthropological studies conducted by Lux Vidal. The anthropologist Dominique Tilkin Gallois, in this essay about the Waiãpi Indians (the [...]

Photographer Pierre Verger affirms that Argentine artist Carybé, who lived in Brazil, had not changed his habits or the way he treated his friends despite the notoriety he had obtained for his art. He describes the artist’s house in the Brotas [...]

The Colombian artist and critic Luis Fernando Valencia wrote an article in response to the first prize awarded to Juan Camilo Uribe for the work Llamarada (1976), at the I Salón Regional de Artes Visuales of the northwestern region of Colombia ( [...]

In this document Chicana art critic Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano analyzes important works by two prominent Chicana visual artists, Ester Hernández and Yolanda López in order to show how both women subvert popular imagery and iconography to reclaim it [...]

Tomás Ybarra-Frausto situates Santa Barraza’s work as part of a cultural reclamation project that accompanied the Chicano movement. According to Ybarra-Frausto, Barraza developed a visual vocabulary that explored mestizo identity in the Texas/ [...]

Poet and literary critic Marcella Trujillo examines the symbols that some Chicana poets have used in their published poetry to reflect their own position with regard to that of their Chicano male peers—and also the dominant male society at large. [...]

Los Angeles-based artist Alma Lopez describes the controversy surrounding the display of Our Lady, a photo-based digital print that was part of the exhibition Cyber Arte: Tradition Meets Technology at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe [...]

In this bilingual essay, Chicana art historian and curator Tere Romo delineates three distinct periods of poster production, tracing the factors that shaped the development of iconography and visual styles, as well as the varying degrees to which [...]

This document is a curatorial statement by Kathy Vargas, curator of the exhibition, Intimate Lives: Work by Ten Contemporary Latina Artists. Vargas notes the similarity of preoccupations reflected in the exhibition works but stresses the importance [...]

This article by Elenore Welles profiles Chicano artist Gilbert “Magu” Lujan, and describes his art as whimsical and a reflection of his experiences. Lujan’s work, Welles writes, strikes a balance between bridging cultural gaps and preserving [...]

This document is a brief manifesto written by the women’s mural collective Mujeres Muralistas. It states the principles behind their practice of mural painting, emphasizing the importance of collectivity and collaboration to their mission. [...]

This essay by Tomás Ybarra-Frausto is included in the 1981 catalogue of selected works from the Mexican Museum in San Francisco, California. Ybarra-Frausto presents a historiography documenting the trajectory of Mexican American artistic traditions [...]

This essay by North American historian Shifra M. Goldman examines the artistic production of Chicanos. She considers that production part of the nationalist strategy of a people that determines its own destiny by means of its declarations, be they [...]

In this essay, Manuel Unzueta makes a case for the unique nature of Chicano art. He writes that Chicano art has made great strides toward acceptance in the mainstream art world, and despite many obstacles, Chicano artists continue to create original [...]

In this essay, Shifra M. Goldman discusses Chicano art in the United States from a social art historical perspective. According to her the first phase of the Chicano art movement (1965–1980s) was characterized by a quest for self-identity, which [...]