Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In this brief essay the architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva explains that the Library and Grand Hall are to be housed at the very heart of the architectural complex and cultural center at the Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas—where he is the director [...]

In this speech, José Sabogal discusses the mural paintings and architecture of Arequipa, while summarizing the history of Peruvian art in the twentieth century. Both he and his followers sought “to interpret the landscape and expressions of its [...]

This text is an interview of the architect Carlos Celis Cepero by the journalist A. Feltra. During their dialogue, the architect expresses his disagreement with the criticisms raised in Venezuela by the painter Oswaldo Vigas about Carlos Raúl [...]

In his interview with Carlos Raygada, Héctor Velarde explains that his work “has consisted of coordinating and realizing the original concept” for the Basílica de Santa Rosa de Lima, while abstaining as much as possible from any alteration of [...]

In this letter, Héctor Velarde responds to the artist Antonino Espinosa Saldaña, regardin the debate provoked by the establishment of a course on “Inca Art” at the ENBA (Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes). The author considers that humor [...]

The text “Utopía” (1992) by the curator and art critic Alberto Sierra introduced a retrospective exhibition by the Grupo Utopía of Medellín. Organized in 1979, this group was made up of the Colombian architects Jorge Mario Gómez, Patricia Gó [...]

In this essay, Venezuelan architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva argues that the goal for Latin American architects should be “to identify the functional elements of colonial architecture and their possible application to contemporary architecture.” [...]

In this essay, the architect and visual artist Sérgio Ferro outlines the first part of his theory about the contradiction that exists between an architectural drawing and a jobsite. Approaching the subject from a Marxist perspective, he discusses [...]

In this excerpt from her book Carlos Raúl Villanueva y la arquitectura de Venezuela, Professor Sibyl Moholy-Nagy, from the United States, describes how the architect [Villanueva] expresses his own personal view of the “synthesis of the arts.” [...]

In this essay, Juan Calzadilla points out all the qualities that enabled Venezuelan architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva to become the “protector of the arts” and to develop the Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas, the project for the “integration of [...]

In this text, Damián Bayón considers what kinds of “characteristic forms” are visible in American art across historical periods encompassing pre-Columbian, colonial, and modern art and architecture. He conducts his inquiry [...]

Martita Romero Brest, the wife of Argentine critic Jorge Romero Brest, discusses the construction of their houses, in City Bell and Punta Indio (Argentina), which were designed by the self-taught artist Edgardo Giménez [...]

The catalogue for the Exposição de uma casa modernista was written by the architect Gregori Warchavchik, creator of this radical project. Although it was controversial in the conservative milieu of the period, the project was fairly significant in [...]

In this review of Mexican architecture, the painter Diego Rivera criticizes the aesthetic taste that gave rise to the abominable architecture of the Porfiriato (the Porfirio Díaz regime, before 1910) and to most of the architectural work of the post [...]