Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

This letter of invitation to Rosario artist Graciela Carnevale from the French embassy’s office of Culture and Cooperation in Argentina, touched off a chain reaction from various vanguard artists, both from Buenos Aires and Rosario. They were [...]

In the Declaration that accompanied the Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning] exhibition, the artists denounce “the hidden truth behind this Operation”: the attempt to destroy the unions and guilds of the northeastern part of Argentina through the [...]

The incidents that took place at the 1968 Braque Prize competition (sponsored by the French embassy in Argentina) raise with great force a series of questions that would have direct consequences for the subsequent declarations of the vanguard [...]

In his presentation Carpani distances himself from certain ideas proposed by the avant-garde of that era when he defends the individuality of conscience and creation. He denies “the medieval concept that proclaims the end of an artist’s [...]

This report includes an extensive unsigned article as well as a number of important documents and photos. It begins by presenting the placement and positions of “the boldest artists of their country…and one of the most brilliant teams of the [...]

The article begins by stating the importance that study-abroad scholarships had for young Argentinean artists, emphasizing in particular the role played by the prize awarded by the Asociación Ver y Estimar [To See and Ponder Magazine Association]. [...]

After describing the inauguration of Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning] in Rosario, Cousté goes back to the middle of 1968 in order to point out a series of episodes that can be seen as antecedents of both the subsequent uprising [Tucumán Arde] as [...]

This circular, signed by the regional secretary and the secretary for Press and Propaganda of the CGT (Confederación General del Trabajo) [General Work Confederation] of Rosario is addressed to the union members in order to inform them on the [...]

This article reports on the awards ceremony for the 1968 Braque Prize (sponsored by the French embassy in Argentina). It was interrupted by the actions of “a group of painters and poets” that were members of the Frente Antiimperialista de [...]

This new pamphlet, titled “La Nueva Moda” [“The New Style”], demonstrates the inherent contradiction between participating in an exhibition and, at the same time, formulating an extreme critique to be produced within that art institution.  [...]

León Ferrari writes a detailed evaluation of Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning], framing it within the previous events (Itinerario del ’68) [Timetable for 1968]. In it he points out that “its purpose was to make art into a revolutionary tool, [...]

This brief but significant assessment of Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning] entitled “Límites de lo legal” [The Limits of Legality] was published in the magazine Sobre Nº 1. The text, that was signed by the Grupo de Artistas de Vanguardia of [...]

In this paper, which opened the Encuentro Cultura 1968 [Culture Encounter 1968], there is a clear political will to construct an interventionist front based on instances of agreement regarding the political revolutionary horizon while superceding the [...]

This poster announces and promotes the Encuentro Cultura 1968 [Culture Encounter 1968] at the SAAP (Sociedad Argentina de Artistas Plásticos) headquarters located at 800 Florida Street. It makes known the breadth and depth of the support inspired by [...]

This text is an article regarding the exhibition put forward by a group of artists from Rosario (Graciela Carnevale, Lía Maisonnave, Noemí Escandell and Fernández Bonina) at the Galería Lirolay [in Buenos Aires] in June 1968. According to the [...]

In this text, Ricardo Carreira distances himself from the idea that the artist or artwork must be committed “by moral requirement.” In his judgment, “The problem arises when we attempt to describe art’s degree of effectiveness.” The [...]

[Literary critic and intellectual] Nicolás Rosa presented this text for discussion at the Primer Encuentro Nacional del Arte de Vanguardia [First National Encounter of Avant-garde Art] (Rosario, Argentina, 1968). It appeals to the communications [...]

This document pertains to the clarification offered by the organizers of the Premio Braque [the Braque Prize], two weeks after the announcement of the competition. It was written the day after a letter by Margarita Paksa had been received, announcing [...]

Adhesive stickers like this one were pasted on public spaces, walls, doors, public restrooms, and mass transportation in Rosario, Buenos Aires, and Santa Fe. Flyers with the same design as the stickers were given out on the streets at the exits of [...]

This document is a summary containing statistical data (percentages and numbers) of several relevant variables that demonstrate the magnitude of the Tucumán crisis. Actualized data was obtained from different sources (some official and some from [...]

This short news item was prepared as sketchy materials for press release  shortly after the inauguration of the Tucumán Arde [Tucumán Is Burning] exhibition at the CGT (Confederación General del Trabajo) in Rosario. The circumstances of the [...]

This letter, signed by the regional secretary of the CGT (Confederación General del Trabajo) in Rosario and addressed to Tucumán’s CGT regional delegate, informs us about the existing tight bonds and mutual support between artists and labor-union [...]

The first phase of the Tucumán Arde [Tucumán Is Burning] campaign began with the appearance of advertising posters bearing the word “Tucumán” pasted on walls in Rosario, especially in the industrial workers’ neighborhoods. The posters [...]

This declaration presents a series of definitions upon which the Tucumán Arde [Tucumán Is Burning] exhibition was founded. It defines it as “a collective work that, as it employs new channels of communication and expression, empowers the creation [...]

In the declaration they issued as a companion statement to the Tucumán Arde [Tucumán Is Burning] exhibition in Buenos Aires, the artists condemn the regime’s violent excesses that, though subtle when applied to the arts, are nonetheless intent on [...]

In an interview, Juan Andrés Molinas said that various protests were organized when his father and more than four hundred other workers at the Ingenio Santa Lucía [Santa Lucía Sugar Mill] were fired. During a protest march toward Bella Vista [...]

This text, dated June 1968, announces the split of the Rosario art vanguard from artistic institutions. This rupture would result a few weeks later with an assault at a conference given by art critic Jorge Romero Brest. At the time, the Braque Prize [...]

Pablo Suarez’s letter is defined as a work of art. It is, at the same time, a quit of his participation in the exhibition, which he handed out to the attending public at the Experiencias 1968 [The 1968 Visual Practices]. The author starts by [...]

The first artist to condemn the modification to the rules of the 1968 Premio Braque (promoted by the French embassy in Argentina) was Margarita Paksa. She sent a letter to the organizers, dated June 18, in which she, besides resigning her [...]

The artists who had called for boycotting the 1968 Premio Braque (promoted by the French embassy in Argentina) stated their condemnation of its censorship in the midst of the awards ceremony, which was carried out in the Museo Nacional de Bellas [...]

This text was presented by León Ferrari (1920–2013) for discussion at the Primer Encuentro Nacional del Arte de Vanguardia [First National Conference of Vanguard Art] (Rosario, Argentina, 1968); it proposed what he called an “arte [...]

The text presented by Juan Pablo Renzi at the Primer Encuentro Nacional de Arte de Vanguardia [First National Encounter of Vanguard Art] is defined as an “attempt to bring about the grounds for the proposed agenda” and presents a framework for [...]

As explained in the meeting’s program, presented by Juan Pablo Renzi (with the consensus of at least the Rosario artists), the object of this debate is to articulate “a theory that specifically orients and clarifies our future field of action [...]

The document is one of the small flyers that the FATRAC (Frente Antiimperialista de Trabajadores de la Cultura) [Anti-Imperialist Cultural Workers Front] threw into the air during the incidents that occurred during the 1968 Premio Braque award [...]

Análisis, an important weekly publication covering general information, publishes a chronicle of two “primary structures” exhibitions produced simultaneously in two galleries in Buenos Aires by a group of artists (many of them members of the [...]

The note presents the group as a conglomeration of “sniper artists” from Rosario that provokes strong shock in the sleepy local culture. It describes the reactions of the surprised public to the event proposed by Puzzolo: an inverted audience [...]

In the introduction to his proposal, Eduardo Favario stresses that the public should play an active role by means of intervention. He encourages those who had responded to his invitation to set off on an excursion (from the closed venue to another [...]

Rubén Naranjo’s statement concerning the happening he presented at the Ciclo de Arte Experimental [Experimental Practices of Art Series] is sketchy. Rather than discuss the work itself—which is only referred to by its title—Naranjo explains [...]

Lía Maisonnave explains her intervention, which was laid out on the floor of the exhibition space, by stating that her intention is to shatter “the static, conventional artwork/viewer link, because here the viewer is no longer in front of and [...]

In his review of the work presented by Norberto Puzzolo in the first installment of the Ciclo de Arte Experimental [Experimental Practices of Art Series], Juan Pablo Renzi begins with a description of Puzzolo’s idea. Then, he goes on to refer to [...]

This is the poster for the OPNI (Objeto Pequeño No Identificado [Unidentified Tiny Object]) exhibition, a humorous reference to OVNI [UFOs, Unidentified Flying Objects] that posited an analogy between avant-garde art and a landing of [...]

This article sketches the origins of the Grupo de Arte de Vanguardia de Rosario—referring to the various subgroups that merged between 1965 and 1966—and comments on its links to the previous generation. The article mentions the old enmity between [...]

The short text in which Noemí Escandell presents her installation quotes from sections of the speech given recently—on Argentinean Flag Day, June 20—by the mayor of the city of Rosario. The speech is a clear example of the worn-out appeals to [...]

Política Obrera [Working Class Politics], a Trotskyite faction’s journal, published a lengthy article reporting on the incidents at the opening ceremony of the 1968 Braque Prize by the French Embassy in Argentina. The article suggests that the [...]

Under the signature of a hypothetical and ephemeral Comité Coordinador de la Imaginación Revolucionaria [Coordinating Committee of the Revolutionary Imagination], Roberto Jacoby writes this declaration in which he synthesizes the route of the avant [...]

In this text, the artist questions the possibility of the avant-garde existing within the artistic institution; thus calling attention to the expansion of aesthetic matters into all aspects of social life. Jacoby’s words suggest one of the [...]

One of the systems used by participating artists to gather information during their research project in Tucumán, Argentina, was this simple questionnaire. It covers six basic areas of interest: family, work, health, education, housing, and standard [...]

The author reveals a certain openness when he suggests that the experience created by the avant-garde of Rosario, Argentina, that led to Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning] could be a potential bridge to what he considers the only valid “ [...]

This article refers to the circumstances surrounding the opening of the Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning] exhibition?that was created by members of the Comisión de Acción Artística de la CGT (Confederación General del Trabajo de los Argentinos [...]

The article begins with a description of the work-of-art/event Tucumán Arde [Tucumán is Burning] that was held at the headquarters of the CGT (Confederacón General del Trabajo de los Argentinos [General Confederation of Labor of the Argentine [...]