The editorial categories are research topics that have guided researchers during the recovery phase and continue to be the impetus behind the Documents Project’s digital archive and the Critical Documents book series. Developed by the project’s Editorial Board, each of the teams analyzed this framework and adapted it to their local contexts in developing their research objectives and work plans during the Recovery Phase. Learn more on the Editorial Framework page.
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Kenneth Kemble wrote about Antonio Seguí’s international career to feature the international character of the new generation of Argentinean artists he belonged. In this context of acceptance by the international marketplace, the production by Argentinean artists was stressing the artistic quality of the new approach to painting. What was notable, in this case, was the purchase of an Antonio Seguí artwork by the American actor, Edward G. Robinson. Kemble pointed out the receptivity of foreign public with regard to its lack of knowledge in the local milieu.
Kenneth Kemble (Buenos Aires, 1923–1998) was one of the main artists of the Informalist movement in Argentina. Beginning in 1956, he experimented with collages, assemblages, reliefs, and informal and sign painting. Kemble participated in the exhibitions of the Asociación Arte Nuevo [New Art Association], a bastion of abstract trends. In 1959, he was part of the exhibition Movimiento Informal [Informalist Movement] at the Van Riel Gallery. In 1961, Kemble was the driving force behind the exhibition that presented arte destructivo [destructive art]. He practiced art criticism, mainly at the Buenos Aires Herald (a newspaper for the English community in the capital, founded in 1876) between 1960 and 1963. Afterwards, he continued his written reflections, with an emphasis on the theory of the creative process.
This document takes part of his series of art critiques published in the Buenos Aires Herald, presenting a solid, interpretive view of Argentinean art of the early 1960s. In his news articles, Kemble was attentive to both the emergence of a new generation of artists as well as vanguardist expressions. Insofar as the informalist trend followers were being consolidated, among others, the Instituto Di Tella first shows took place, the Otra Figuración [Another Figuration] and Pop Art appeared, in addition to the emergence of a new type of collector.
This document is a good example of the importance of foreign sanctioning of Argentinean art, a solid variable of internationalism, according to Kemble.