Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In this article, Roger Plá refers to Contrapunto magazine’s strategy of inviting artists to discuss the future of painting. The survey asked the following questions: 1. In your opinion, what is the material future of painting (as regards its [...]

Response given by Manuel Espinosa in the survey presented by the Contrapunto [Counterpoint] journal. In it he confronts the defenders of figuration by explaining that realist work is not that which copies, but that which asserts the material reality [...]

This is Tomás Maldonado’s response to the survey conducted by Contrapunto magazine. He is sanguine, not only about the future of the visual arts — “one of the most effective lubricants for revolutionary tension” — but about the future of [...]

This document relates the response of artist Tomás Maldonado to the survey regarding abstract or non-figurative art, in which he considers the term “abstract” to be both appropriate and inappropriate; it is appropriate when it is used to [...]

Manuel Mujica Láinez replies to the survey on abstract and nonfigurative art, noting his inclination to use the terms “abstract” and “concrete” interchangeably, insofar as the trend does not cease to be what it is because of the label it [...]

This document relates the response of critic Córdova Iturburu to the survey regarding abstract art or non-figurative art, in which he leans toward the expression “non-figurative art” because it permits the inclusion of not only the geometric [...]

This document relates the response of Spanish critic Eduardo Westerdahl to the survey regarding abstract art or non-figurative art, in which he considers it opportune to carry out a revision of terms used in these cases. Westerdahl also proposes to [...]

This document relates the response of Spanish sculptor Ángel Ferrant to the survey with regard to abstract, or non-figurative art, in which he indicates that the word “abstract” is inappropriate when it does not acknowledge a visual model. [...]

This document relates the response of artist Mathias Goeritz to the survey regarding abstract, or non-figurative art, in which he indicates that he prefers “abstract art” as the general and popular term, although he agrees with the possibility [...]

This is Hans Platschek’s answer to a survey on abstract and nonfigurative art, in which he suggests that signs could be used for didactic goals. But he doesn’t agree with the terms “abstract” and “nonfigurative” because the former is art [...]

This document relates the response of artist Gyula Kosice (1924-2016), to the survey regarding abstract or non-figurative art, in which he states that Madí adopted, in principle, the name "non-figurative" because it corresponded to the nature of [...]

This document relates the response of painter and sculptor Juan Del Prete to the survey regarding abstract or non-figurative art, in which he considers all such nomenclature conventional. In addition, Del Prete believes that this type of discussion [...]

This document is an open letter in which Julio E. Payró declares his difference of opinion with Guillermo de Torre regarding the application of the term “abstract.” This letter responds to the concepts discussed by Torre in the catalog for the [...]

This essay was published in the leaflet produced for the 1960 solo exhibition of Brazilian painter Willys de Castro at the Galeria Aremar in the city of Campinas. The artist himself defines the most distinctive quality of his visual art, which he [...]

This foreword by Aldo Pellegrini indicates the changes of direction produced in the period of five years separating the first Arte Nuevo [New Art] exhibition and this sixth show, which he characterizes as a passage from the intellectual to the vital [...]

The visual artist Willys de Castro reviews the exhibition of drawings by his lifelong companion Hércules Barsotti at the Galeria de Arte das Folhas, in São Paulo. De Castro discusses Barsotti’s technique in great detail, including [...]

In this article, the artist Hélio Oiticica discusses the work of Lygia Clark. He believes that her work has become part of a historic art movement, and underscores his connections to the artist’s work. Oiticica expresses his admiration for Clark [...]

This introductory text for works by Alfredo Hlito emphasizes how the artist expanded their sensory territory while not abandoning the notion of purely visual painting. Pellegrini also points out that Hlito’s works also divide space into planes in a [...]

While introducing the work of Gyula Kosice, the author refers to movements that sought to create an independent object instead of imitating or deforming one. Juan Bay identifies the difference between the works produced by members of certain [...]

This is an analytical essay in which Edgar Bayley affirms the autonomy of the pictorial image. Based on that opinion, widely held among his generation, he champions “invention” over symbolism, expressionism, and romanticism [...]

The list of artists whose work was shown at the Arte Concreto-Invención Exhibition, held at the Sociedad Argentina de Artistas Plásticos [Argentine Society of Visual Artists], is as follows: Antonio Caraduje, Manuel Espinosa, Alfredo Hlito, Enio [...]

This article reviews the first exhibition of the Grupo de Artistas Modernos [Modern Artists Group] of Argentina, presented at Galería Viau and featuring works by independent artists Sarah Grilo, Hans Aebi, Miguel Ocampo, and Fernández Muro, as well [...]

In this essay, Alfredo Hlito reflects on the particular features of Concrete art. He discusses the viewer’s perception of the meaning of Concrete works of art, which involve neither a process of recognizing objects nor any form of association, but [...]

In this document, Gregorio Vardanega discusses the importance of space in his work. He tried to address this question in a variety of ways, such as his plaster hemispheres, called complejos espaciales [spatial complexes] and his spiraling dots in [...]

In the prologue that he wrote for the catalogue of the 4th Arte Concreto — Invención exhibition, held in October 1946 at the Ateneo Popular, in La Boca district of Buenos Aires, Edgar Bayley states that in the new art, painting, music, and poetry [...]

In this introductory text for works by Enio Iommi, Pellegrini highlights how the artist’s sculpture broke with the traditional criteria of volume, weight and quiescence by juxtaposing spatial structure against volume. His analysis dates three [...]

The text by Pellegrini considers the broad diversity of expressions of this group of non-figurative artists and underscores that the advancement of this trend seems to have ousted all other artistic modalities to become the natural means of [...]

Martín Blaszko’s letter refers to the importance of rhythm in the visual arts at that time, in contrast to Raúl Lozza’s opinions in support of the plane. The Perceptist artist responds that his ideas could be more clearly understood by reading [...]

French artist and critic Germaine Derbecq wrote, in a literary text, about the work of Alfredo Hlito underscoring its differences from Concrete art, especially regarding the modulation of color. She conceives Hlito's painting as a block without [...]

Juan Melé suggests that the goal of Concrete art is to be a comprehensive mode of expression. He also thinks that Concrete art is a humanist pursuit since it uses mankind’s knowledge. In his opinion, this art will continue to develop as it [...]

The Inventionist manifesto—published in the catalogue for the first exhibition of the Asociación de Arte Concreto — Invención [Concrete Art and Invention Association] (1946)—discards the illusory image of representative art and extols life, [...]

This article is an introduction to the exhibition, Grupo de Artistas Modernos de la Argentina. Pinturas, esculturas, dibujos [Modern Art Group of Argentina. Paintings, Sculptures, Drawings]. The Concrete artists included in the exhibition were [...]

In this text, Aldo Pellegrini introduces the Luis R. Tomasello exhibition held at Galería Denise René in Paris (November 1962). He emphasizes that the works presented make use of spatial volumes that are subordinated to the plane in which they move [...]

Prologue by Tomás Maldonado included in the catalogue for the Exposición Arte Concreto: Pinturas / Esculturas / Dibujos [Concrete Art Exhibition: Paintings/ Sculptures/Drawings], which took place at Instituto de Arte Moderno in 1950. The artists [...]

In this text, Ronaldo Brito analyzes Amilcar de Castro’s work in the media of sculpture and drawing. He discusses the connections between de Castro’s production and modern sculpture. Brito asserts that de Castro’s art formulates a rejection of [...]

This article, written by the Brazilian art critic and theoretician Waldemar Cordeiro, appeared in the brochure for his 1960 exhibition at the Galeria Aremar in the city of Campinas in the state of São Paulo. According to the visual artist and [...]

In this article, Gyula Kosice analyzes the function of art from prehistoric times until the present, thus stressing the importance—to modern art—of invention and of pure composition achieved by means of concrete elements [...]

An analytical piece in which Carmelo Arden Quin uses dialectical materialism to explain the transition from representation to the phase of “invention” and pure creation in art [...]

This prologue introduces an exhibition of works by Manuel Espinosa and Tomás Maldonado, held at theSociedad Argentina de Artistas Plásticos [Argentine Society of Visual Artists], in September 1947. Bayley chronicles the development of both artists [...]

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 is the text of an introductory essay for an exhibition of both Figurative and Non-figurative art. In Aldo Pellegrini’s opinion, both alternatives have not only overcome their old enmity but now proclaim the vitality of painting to those who [...]

In this critical review of Livro da Criação, the work by Lygia Pape, the writer and Ambassador José Guilherme Merquior notes that though the piece is playful it is certainly not childish. He adds that the work depends entirely on the viewer’s [...]

In this article, Lourival Gomes Machado discusses the major contribution that Concrete artists have made to the São Paulo art scene. In his view, their stimulating presence provoked a wide range of reactions years after the first exhibition of the [...]

This text addressing the international career of Mary Vieira, a Brazilian sculptor who lived in Switzerland, was published in the magazine HABITAT. It includes transcriptions of some parts of a lecture that took place at the Centro d’arte [...]

Hélio Oiticica presents his research into the transition from two-dimensional paintings to three-dimensional works of art, discussing some of his own projects—such as Invenções, Núcleos, and Penetráveis—and the designs for open air [...]

This critical text analyzes the exhibit Grupo de Artistas Modernos de la Argentina. Paintings, sculpture, and drawings by the group were presented at Galería Viau in June 1952. Roger Pla raises objections regarding the proposals of the concrete [...]

The article reflects on the vanguardist rhetoric bound to the polemical manifesto of the group headed by Tomás Maldonado, and recognizes its inability to carry out the proposed reevaluation. It considers, moreover, that the artistic task presupposes [...]

This text introduces the catalogue to the Exposição Nacional de Arte Abstrata held at Hotel Quitandinha in the city of Petrópolis, located near Rio de Janeiro, in February and March of 1953. Artist Edmundo Jorge, who organized the show, issues a [...]

In this newspaper article, Lourival Gomes Machado observes that art criticism in Brazil has finally started considering Concrete art as an important form of expression in Brazilian art. In his opinion, the idea of “rupture” with the art world— [...]

This text analyzes the opposition between social realism and abstraction in light of the Parisian debates occurring at the time; it analyzes the application of social realism to art, not in opposition to, but instead in relation to Abstract art. De [...]