Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

Abdel Hernández, the Cuban critic and writer, discusses the VII Bienal Nacional de Dibujo de Caracas (Museo de Artes Visuales Alejandro Otero, 1994) which, in his opinion, was an event that promoted “fragmentation and disciplinarity” in art, and [...]

Interview with artist Nelson Felix conducted by art critic Rodrigo Naves and three artists: Lygia Pape, José Resende and Nuno Ramos (São Paulo, May 24, 1997). Felix comments on his education as an architect; his love of music; his first drawings, [...]

In this article, the writer Ronald de Carvalho questions the undeniable presence of foreign styles in the decorative art to be seen in the city of Rio de Janeiro, and suggests using ornamental motifs inspired by Brazilian flora and fauna and native [...]

While researching feminine strokes in Anita Malfatti’s painting, Mário de Andrade discerns her impetuous nature, the masculine strength of her colors, and the tragic energy of her subjects, though he also glimpses hints of humor and sadness. He [...]

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

This text presents the exhibition Dibujantes y grabadores colombianos held at theMuseo de Arte at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in May 1975. Historian Álvaro Medina asserts that the exhibition brings together figurative artists representative [...]

In this text, Juan Calzadilla analyzes Luisa Richter’s work in drawing while also providing an overview of the drawing genre in the post-World War II era—a time when there was widespread interest in the graphic arts in general. Calzadilla [...]

Rafael Squirru introduces Narcisa Hirsch’s exhibition (Galería Lirolay, August–September, n/d), and he acknowledges the dramatic quality of an artist’s first solo show. Squirru stresses that Hirsch’s education and professional attitude are [...]

Hugo Monzón welcomes León Ferrari to Buenos Aires on his return from exile. Monzón mentions the 1960s political art and Ferrari’s various forms of creative art making, describing his work by means of a concept: “module for repetition [...]

The well-known writer Ariano Suassuna examines Maria Carmen’s drawings very carefully, and concludes that they are inspired by the occasionally “formless,” chaotic, and elementary nature of life forms. They remind the author of moss, anemones, [...]

Antonio Berni introduces the exhibition of drawings by Hugo Pereyra at the Galería Rubbers in Buenos Aires in June 1961. Berni puts on his literary hat to describe the quality of Pereyra’s work and the world it represents [...]

Olívio Tavares de Araújo introduces an exhibition of the work of Evandro Carlos Jardim, an artist he considers serious, upright, and aware of long-term standards in art. The writer notes that this was the first time the artist would be showing [...]

Américo Balán introduces Ester Pilone’s exhibition of drawings (Galería Rubbers, June 1961). Pilone works with tempera, and she exhibits a free, unrestrained technique. She smears her inked fingers across the paper, dragging small crumbs of [...]

The painter Anita Malfatti describes her career in art and the various events that led up to the Semana de Arte Moderna [Modern Art Week] (1922). She discusses her time in Berlin and her training in the workshop of painters Fritz Burger and Lovis [...]

In this essay, the architect and visual artist Sérgio Ferro outlines the first part of his theory about the contradiction that exists between an architectural drawing and a jobsite. Approaching the subject from a Marxist perspective, he discusses [...]

Aracy Amaral, the Brazilian art critic, discusses the formal qualities of León Ferrari’s work, referring to his inventive use of a machine as a means of reproduction. She can see how Ferrari’s production was affected by the urban environment of [...]

The writer Monteiro Lobato serves up a conservative review of the Exposição de Pintura Moderna — Anita Malfatti in a heated attack on avant-garde art, describing the exhibition as being, in his opinion, the work of “people who see things [...]

The journalist Maritza Jiménez interviews the Venezuelan printmaker and illustrator Adrián Pujol on the occasion of the latter’s exhibition at the Sala Ipostel (Caracas, 1981). During the conversation, they discuss Pujol’s conceptual and formal [...]

In March 1983, members of the Research Department of the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas interviewed the painter Ivan Petrovszky about his exhibition at the Art Museum of the Americas in Washington, DC (that same year). By way of introduction, the [...]

León Ferrari writes a poetic text in which he describes his working method, beginning from making a line on paper through its conceptual development in space [...]

In this essay, the artist and critic Juan Calzadilla reviews his own creative process and his work. He explains the connection between drawing and writing in his work, referring to drawing as a form of “visual writing” consisting of “ [...]

This text chronologically summarizes the conception, development and implementation of Best’s drafting method that culminated in a publication of it. The publication places it within the context of American ideas, celebrating its good judgment to [...]

Luis Felipe Noé states that the work of Luis Seoane is the search for the natural aspect of what is substantial. The drawings of Ramón Gómez Cornet, on the other hand, are paintings without color. Noé also critiques various exhibitions, providing [...]

Luis Felipe Noé states that the modest work of Primaldo Mónaco is the proper preservation of childlike grace. In another part of his article, he comments on the work of Chilean sculptor Lorenzo Domínguez who exhibited his illustrations of Don [...]

Luis Felipe Noé reviews several exhibitions in which precise and formal analyses of diverse languages (from painting, to drawing to sculpture and engraving) are carried out. Highlighted here is the one written on the Spanish painter Joan Navarro-Ram [...]

Luis Felipe Noé  analyzes the formal characteristics of the work of three Brazilian artists exhibited at Galería Pizarro in Buenos Aires.  He comments on the latest exhibitions, from which the northern landscapes of Horacio March and the work of [...]

Luis Felipe Noé briefly critiques various exhibitions. Noé states that the pastel artist Mario Darío Grande borders on abstraction as he merges figure with nature; additionally that the engravings of sculptor Alfredo Bigatti place the figure in [...]

In this text, art critic Paulo Herkenhoff identifies and describes some of the characteristics of drawing as an autonomous form of expression in contemporary art from South America. He formulates ten categories in relation to the production in the [...]

In this review, Roberto Guevara discusses the exhibition Más duquesas y majas de la calle Carabobo, pinturas, dibujos, collages y acuarelas de Diego Barboza (Caracas: Galería Félix, 1987). Guevara explains that Barboza has returned to painting and [...]

The journalist Miguel de Almeida interviews the Brazilian artist Carmela Gross in regards to her drawings series titled Projeto para a construção de um céu. The artist explains that her purpose is to discuss the meaning of the work in relation to [...]

In this essay, Flávio de Carvalho discusses the role that drawing has played in art, and its importance in establishing a contrast between composition and movement. The artist from São Paulo claims that the thickness of a line is to drawing what [...]

In this critique ---which has a biographical tenor--- of the work of engraver Darel Valença Lins, poet and diplomat Vinicius de Moraes juxtaposes Darel’s origins with those of writer José Lins do Rego.  Although both were raised near sugar [...]

Federico Suro—a journalist and former diplomat who is the son of the artist, Darío Suro—wrote this essay. Anecdotal in tone, this article offers many insights into the artist’s almost obsessive approach to drawing, which he called the “life- [...]

This text explains the theoretical basis for Best Maugard’s drafting method prior to the development of his manual explained in the following section. The theory is based on a platonic and universal perspective of art that expresses universal [...]

Professor Flávio Motta points out the connection (in Portuguese) between the words desenho (drawing) and desígnio [design], thereby proposing the re-establishment of a humanistic culture in which man directly influences the course of his life. He [...]

This document is the flyer for the solo exhibition of drawings by Fernando Lemos, held at the MAM-SP (Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo) in August 1956. It includes this article, in which the artist discusses drawing and its role in art, as well as [...]

In this text, originally published in 1943 in a portfolio of drawings and prints entitled Mangue, by Lasar Segall, Mário de Andrade defines the drawing in its calligraphic, lyrical and “extra-visual” properties, coming to consider it as “ [...]

In this essay about the exhibition of paintings by the Ecuadorian artist Oswaldo Guayasamín at the Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas, Alejandro Otero discusses the question of influences in art and originality. Following a detailed analysis of many [...]

This anonymous text provides a detailed review of the rooms and halls of the Museo de Bellas Artes (Caracas) containing the works of the XVIII Salón Oficial de Arte Venezolano (1957). The works, according to the author, were grouped in the space by [...]

The curator Lisette Lagnado interviews the artist José Leonilson, and mentions a long list of artistic references concerning his activity in Brazil. These include Antonio Dias, the most productive influence on his development as an artist; the [...]

The writer Monteiro Lobato reports that the exhibition of watercolors by Vicente do Rego Monteiro was well-received because it consisted of drawings rather oil paintings. He is hard-pressed to describe the genre that the artist from Pernambuco works [...]

The (anonymous) critic offers a formal assessment of León Ferrari’s work, pointing out the artist’s interest in the public’s reception and in creative freedom. The writer also refers to the search for an unfinished object and to the artist’s [...]

This is a written testimony in poetic prose by the Argentinean artist León Ferrari, in which he describes the first of a series of calligraphic works that may be seen either as texts or drawings. He mentions the countless number of copies, tying [...]

The (anonymous) critic offers a formal assessment of León Ferrari’s work, mentioning the fact that Ferrari is an engineer. The writer also mentions that the Spanish Republicans living in Buenos Aires had commissioned a sculpture for Federico Garc [...]

The curator Luis Ángel Duque offers a critical review of the artistic career of Jorge Pizzani during the 1980s. The text covers a period of successive expressive transitions by Pizzani: from drawing to painting, from paper to canvas, and from color [...]

The critic Juan Calzadilla discusses the status of the system governing Venezuelan art biennials and salons in 1984, on the occasion of the II Bienal Nacional de Dibujo y Grabado at the Museo de Artes Visuales Alejandro Otero in Caracas. Calzadilla [...]

In this interview of Johanna Calle, the Colombian journalist Diego Garzón emphasizes the relationship between the artist’s work and the sociopolitical problems of the world in which she lives. It also explores the paths through which she has made [...]

In his introduction to Método de Dibujo [Drafting Method], José Juan Tablada identifies it as a weapon in the struggle to establish harmony and democracy amid the chaos and authoritarianism in the artistic milieu. He states that the process at work [...]

Jean-Pierre Chabloz relates his experience in the state of Ceará (Northeast Brazil), a memory he closely links to his pencil and brush. He owes his encounters with artists in the region to drawing, and he believes the work he created then was the [...]

The art critic here composes a poetic account of how León Ferrari showed him the variety of ranges in his work, comparing it to the medieval construction of cathedrals, and evaluating how the representation of motion is carried out [...]