Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

By means o a poetic prose, art critic Jorge Romero Brest states that he fearfully admires the huge sculptures and lovingly cares about the drawings and small sculptures made by Líbero Badii. He analyzes the relationship between art and life, from [...]

In this essay, the well-known Argentinean critic Jorge Romero Brest attempts to assess national problems as they were understood by the most famous Brazilian artists, touching on a raw nerve concerning the differences between the art produced in [...]

Jorge Romero Brest points out that in the Experiencias 1968 [1968 Practices], young artists tried to raise the problem of creation in terms that were almost extreme, presenting crucial situations that depart from traditional “artwork” only by a [...]

Jorge Romero Brest introduces the artists Ernesto Deiro, Rómulo Macció, Luis Felipe Noé, and  Jorge de la Vega as a collective group. He points out the commonalities that the artists have with Informalism, such as a liberated approach to things [...]

Jorge Romero Brest, the art critic and director of the Centro de Artes Visuales [Center for the Visual Arts], writes about the style and attitude he sees in Antonio Berni’s work, discussing the changes that can be observed in the artist’s [...]

Jorge Romero-Brest presents Horacio García-Rossi’s exhibition (Galería Rubbers, Buenos Aires, May, 1967), highlighting the fact that he belongs to GRAV (the Paris-based Group of Research on Experimental Visual Arts), though emphasizing the fact [...]

Writing the prologue for the catalogue of the Premio Ver y Estimar [To See and Ponder Magazine Prize] held in 1963 in Buenos Aires, the author claims to observe the distinctive feature of this competition in this statement: “it voluntarily [...]

This resource contains the discussion between the members of the jury for the Premio Nacional e Internacional Torcuato Di Tella [National and International Prize Torcuato Di Tella] 1962. After long deliberations, this jury—consisting of Giulio [...]

Jorge Romero Brest published the letter written in Oslo (Norway), in 1962, for Libero Badii's exhibition at Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes [National Museum of Fine Arts], in which he excused himself for not having been able to write the corresponding [...]

The members of the jury assigned to participate in the 1964 Instituto Torcuato Di Tella Prize, Jorge Romero Brest, Clement Greenberg, and Pierre Restany have decided to grant the International Prize to Kenneth Noland, and also recommended the [...]

The jury for the 1966 Premio Internacional Instituto Torcuato Di Tella [Instituto Torcuato Di Tella International Prize], composed of Lawrence Alloway, Otto Hahn and Jorge Romero Brest, awarded the first prize to Susana Salgado, second prize to [...]

The jury for the Premio Internacional Instituto Torcuato Di Tella 1965 [1965 Instituto Torcuato Di Tella International Prize], which consisted of Giulio Carlo Argan, Alan Bowness, and Jorge Romero Brest, voted to purchase Cuatro Habitaciones [Four [...]

The jurors designated to act on the Argentinean Painters Prize of the Torcuato Di Tella Institute, Jorge Romero-Brest and Lionello Venturi, unanimously decide to grant the prize to Mario Pucciarelli for his work De profundis [Out of the Depths of [...]

The jurors of the Premio Instituto Torcuato Di Tella 1963, Jorge Romero Brest, Jacques Lassaigne, and William Sandberg, awarded the Premio Nacional [National Prize] to Luis Felipe Noé for his work and in particular, Introducción a la esperanza [ [...]

The jury appointed to judge the 1964 Premio Instituto Torcuato Di Tella [Torcuato Di Tella Institute Prize]—whose members included the critics Jorge Romero Brest (Argentina), Clement Greenberg (United States), and Pierre Restany (France)—decided [...]

In his double function as director of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes [National Museum of Fine Arts] and art consultant of the Fundación Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires, Jorge Romero-Brest wrote the prologue for the Argentinean Painters Prize [...]

Jorge Romero Brest writes that the jury he was a member of awarded Rómulo Macció the International Prize from the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella (1964), in which he distinguished himself from among the works of foreign artists. By the way and in overt [...]

In this document, the art critic Jorge Romero Brest writes about the work of César Paternosto and Alejandro Puente, discussing the concepts of color and image. Romero Brest emphasizes the treatment of the irregular frames that simultaneously suggest [...]

Jorge Romero Brest describes Leopoldo Torres Agüero’s work by saying that it is clearly by someone who understands that contemporary creative output does not represent individual expression as much as a manifestation of reality. The critic also [...]

Jorge Romero Brest writes to Alicia [Pérez] Penalba about an exhibition of her work that is scheduled for the Centro de Artes Visuales del Instituto Torcuato Di Tella [Center for Visual Arts of the Torcuato Di Tella Institute], which coincides with [...]

Jorge Romero Brest writes to Enio Iommi inviting him to participate in the Torcuato Di Tella Institute Prize (1962 edition), enclosing the rules. In addition, he informs him that he will be able to apply for the National Prize (and eventually for the [...]

Jorge Romero Brest writes to art critic Rafael Squirru, then general director of cultural relations at the Foreign Office of Argentina informing him about the new format for the Torcuato Di Tella Institute Prize. This will include works by national [...]

This is a letter sent by Jorge Romero Brest to E. de Wilde, Director of the Stedelijk Museum [City Museum] of Amsterdam in which he explains that, although he regrets their disagreement, the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella does not disclose beforehand [...]

This letter, addressed to Alfredo Rodríguez Arias, invites him to participate in Experiencias 1968 [The 1968 Practices]. It states that 60,000 Argentinean pesos would be provided to realize the experience. It likewise stipulates that letters [...]

Jorge Romero Brest begins his text with theoretical definitions about art’s meaning, perceived as an entity that has its own being. In his opinion, the artist becomes a trigger for an expression that is always being, in addition to the experience [...]

In this article, the Argentine critic Jorge Romero Brest compares and contrasts the work of two young artists—Luis Alberto Wells and Pérez Celis—and suggests that they both create something “innovative” and thus connect to what “is real [...]

This text introduces the catalogue for the 1962 installment of the Premio de Honor Ver y Estimar [To See and Ponder Magazine Runner-up Prize] (Buenos Aires). According to the author, the prize, now in it its third incarnation, “has begun to reveal [...]

Jorge Romero Brest introduces the exhibition of works by Carlos Melano and refers to Melano’s predilection for art in search of an audience that sees the world as he does. Romero Brest claims to have accepted the risk of presenting such a [...]

Jorge Romero Brest ponders the term “experiencia” [full-blasted experience] in regard to the 1960s vanguards. He considers that those experiences are based on attitudes, usually addressed toward a special kind of realities in order to generate [...]

This document is the forewod to the Grupo de Artistas Modernos Argentinos [Modern Artists Group of Argentina] exhibition that presented works by the concrete artists Tomás Maldonado, Alfredo Hlito, Enio Iommi, Claudio Girola, Lidy Prati, as well as [...]

This text includes a few excerpts from the six lectures that Jorge Romero Brest gave in São Paulo in 1948. At that time, Romero Brest held an academic position at the Universidad de Montevideo and was the director of the magazine Ver y estimar [...]

Jorge Romero Brest’s presentation muses on artistic truth. The critic wonders if scientific and artistic truths have anything in common, suggesting that genuine artistic truth is devoid of preexisting realities. He also wonders if works of art are [...]

In this text, Jorge Romero Brest responds to an article by Damián Bayón about what qualities make art produced by Latin American artists Latin American, and to four related questions about the nature of Latin American art which were sent to him by [...]

In this article, Argentine art critic, Jorge Romero Brest, establishes a dialogue with the viewer unfamiliar with abstract art to explain the central ideas of that movement and of Concrete Art. In so doing, he emphasizes the prejudice that abstract [...]

The critic reflects on Informal art by summarizing the different names that it has been given: art autre, action painting, art informel, art brut, etc. Romero Brest proposes to call it either Virginal or Un-constructive art, even though he deems [...]

Argentine critic Jorge Romero Brest remarks that he was not invited to participate in the symposium “El artista latinoamericano y su identidad” [The Latin American Artist and His Identity] held at the University of Texas en Austin in October 1975 [...]

The presentation of the 1964 Torcuato Di Tella Prize, written by critic Jorge Romero Brest, refers to the drawbacks of the critical discourse. Particularly because it is based on causal nexus and it does not acknowledge that what is real is hidden [...]

Jorge Romero Brest’s introductory text refers to his method, including the explanation behind why artworks are realities that allude as much to reality as to unreality, and that they produce beings within the [social] imaginary. Along this [...]

This unsigned interview with Argentinean critic Jorge Romero Brest published in the weekly Jaque is somewhat alarmist. The main topics addressed—the decline of easel painting in the world over, the avant-garde experience at the Instituto Di Tella [...]

This text summarizes the concepts raised by Jorge Romero Brest in relation to the debates provoked by the Premio Torcuato Di Tella [Torcuato Di Tella Prize]. It establishes rules to be followed for the analysis of those who paint or sculpt images, [...]

While art critic Jorge Romero Brest’s influence was international in scope, it was particularly great in Latin America and the Río de la Plata region. His regional prestige as a lecturer was also considerable and, in 1940, he was invited to give a [...]

In 1943, an exhibition consisting of twenty-two Argentinean artists organized by the Argentinean art critic Jorge Romero Brest and sponsored by the Comisión Nacional de Bellas Artes de la Argentina [National Commission of Fine Arts of Argentina] [...]

This text summarizes the first class given by Jorge Romero Brest in response to the request of the Departamento de Adherentes at the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella [Department of Adherents at the Torcuato Di Tella Institute]. In this class, the critic [...]

In this document Jorge Romero Brest introduces the exhibition Grupo de Artistas Modernos Argentinos [Modern Artists Group of Argentina] at the Stedelijk Museum of Ámsterdam. The exhibition presented works by the Concrete artists Tomás Maldonado, [...]

Jorge Romero-Brest analyzes the characteristics of Argentinean art from the early 19th century to the present, considering influences of international artistic trends and their diverse consequences in the local milieu. Furthermore, the art critic [...]

The Argentine critic Jorge Romero Brest states that he generally agrees with the lecture that Juan Acha gave at the XVII Congreso Extraordinario de la AICA [17th Extraordinary Conference of the AICA], held in Caracas in 1983. However, Romero Brest [...]

From his official position as director of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes [National Museum of Fine Arts], Romero Brest refers to the “black period” that had just come to an end, in 1955, with the overthrow of the Perón regime. According to [...]

As its title suggests, this article is an introduction to Ver y estimar. Cuadernos de crítica artística. The text explains that these notebooks were created “so that a group of scholars might fill their pages . . . with the results of the [...]

Using the Grupo de Artistas Modernos de la Argentina exhibition held at Galería Krayd in 1953 as a starting point, Jorge Romero Brest writes a critical text explaining his motives for supporting Concrete art. He proposes—in a prophetic tone—that [...]

Open letter in which Jorge Romero-Brest, director of the journal Ver y estimar [To See and Ponder], responds to Margherita Sarfatti. According to the heading that introduces it, this argument originated in a private letter—of which the logic can be [...]