Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

This document shows an engraving of the preliminary design for the Monument to the Revolution of 1910-1917, in the Plaza de Armas [Main Square] of Mexico City. The equestrian sculpture of Francisco I. Madero will be the main figure that stands out at [...]

This document is the official assessment of the projects submitted to the Cuarto Concurso Nacional [Fourth National Contest], organized in order to erect a monument to José Gabriel Condorcanqui, Túpac Amaru II, indigenous forefather of Peruvian [...]

The Dirección General de Monumentos [Bureau of Monuments] will perform extensive oversight of all the art monuments distributed on sites throughout Mexico. To that end, it will appoint a number of inspectors in counties, the Federal District and the [...]

This is the first invitation to submit proposals to the official competition that was organized to design a statue of Túpac Amaru II, the indigenous hero of Peruvian independence, in the Plaza de Armas in Cuzco, where he was executed. The [...]

The synopsis and the annotations in English are coming soon. However, our bilingual readers can click on “Español” to access this information in Spanish [...]

This article from El Comercio, a Cuzco newspaper, refers to the competition organized to choose a sculpture to honor Túpac Amaru II to be placed in Cuzco’s Plaza de Armas, and reports that the winning design had been rejected. The correspondent [...]

This newspaper article describes the formal characteristics and historical underpinnings of the project awarded at the Cuarto Concurso Nacional [Fourth National Contest], organized in order to erect a monument to José Gabriel Condorcanqui, Túpac [...]

This is the text of Decreto Ley Nº 18280, the decree that was published in the official journal El Peruano. This was the law that created the legal basis for the competition that was organized to erect a statue of Túpac Amarau II, the indigenous [...]

“El Monumento a López es un Horror” [The Monument to López is a Horror] is the title of the article by Héctor Muñoz published in El Espectador on Friday, June 16, 1967. It compiles different opinions on the aesthetic and political [...]

The news report describes the visit of President Lázaro Cárdenas’s aides to the town of Janitzio, in his native state of Michoacán, because of a monumental work which was intended to be built there. The report mainly describes the construction [...]

In this article Dr. Atl (Gerardo Murillo) criticizes commemorative monuments, saying that in Mexico and indeed in the entire world, they are not made to honor the memory of the illustrious men to whom they are dedicated, but for the benefit of [...]

Originally published in La Patria newspaper based in Manizales, Colombia, this text is a journalistic version of the two television programs aired in 1956 that critic Marta Traba dedicated to the work of sculptor Rodrigo Arenas Betancourt. Traba [...]

The writer Antonio de Alcântara Machado discusses the city of São Paulo, which in his opinion, “is an aesthetic-urban disaster.” He comments on “the bad taste” of the city’s sculptures and monuments, making just one exception in the case [...]

This is the official report on the judging of submissions to the second national competition that was organized to choose a design for a statue of Túpac Amaru II, the indigenous hero of Peruvian independence, to be erected in the Plaza de Armas in [...]

This is a protest against the “un-hierarchic” inclusion of Túpac Amaru II in the Monumento a los Próceres y Precursores de la Independencia del Perú [Monument to the Heroes and Harbingers of Peruvian Independence], by the Peruvian sculptor [...]

In his speech at the dedication of the monument to the Battle of Carabobo, in El Paraíso, Caracas, the historian and essayist José Gil Fortoul, who at the time was the Minister of Public Education, referred to the decree approved by the Congreso [...]

This document, submitted to a public competition in 1920, includes the mock-up and the report written by the sculptor Victor Brecheret for his “Monumento às Bandeiras” [Monument to the “Banner” Expeditions”] project. “Bandeiras” were [...]

This newspaper article reports on the forum that was organized by the Instituto de Cultura Andina y Lenguas Aborígenes (INCALA) [Institute for Andean Culture and Indigenous Languages] to discuss the idea of erecting the equestrian statue of Túpac [...]

The author of this article notes that Santa Rosa [Saint Rosa] has been glorified with altars, chapels, and temples in various parts of the world; he therefore believes that a basilica should be built in her honor in Lima, her home city. But first, he [...]

This text was written by the art critic Alejandro Romualdo on the national contest that was organized to select the artist who would create a monument to Túpac Amaru II, the indigenous forefather of Peru’s independence at the Plaza de Armas of [...]

This is the second article by the writer César Miró about efforts to create an official image of Túpac Amaru II, the indigenous hero of Peruvian independence, to be used as an icon during the first phase of the self-styled Gobierno Revolucionario [...]

Artist, writer, and activist, Judy Baca analyzes the ideological function served by traditional forms of public art: monuments that commemorate dominant histories and confirm the power of the state and works that ultimately serve the interests of [...]