Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

Due to the exceptional circumstances at the time—the military coup d’état that had taken place in Chile—this newsletter marks a departure from previous formats. It expresses the center’s democratic solidarity with the [...]

In this essay, the journalist Mercedes Sayagués analyzed the feasibility of new artistic ideas being formulated during the last dictatorial years in Uruguay. The projects being considered tried to abolish the traditional boundaries established [...]

The magazine Los Huevos del Plata founded in Montevideo by Clemente Padín, published the manifesto of the Brazilian group Maldoror that politically identified itself with revolutionary and antimilitaristic principles that were plainly active during [...]

In this text, artist and essayist Francisco Tomsich interviews Clemente Padín about his artistic career and the performance he did at the Boxing Club de Barrio Sur in Montevideo in 1987 in which he condemned the forced disappearance of individuals [...]

In this essay the critic Gabriel Peluffo discusses the artistic and cultural policies that were introduced during the Gabriel Terra dictatorship (the so-called period of political terrismo, 1933–1938), and the institutional map that was proposed [...]

In the 1930s the ideological frictions sparked in intellectual circles by the dictatorial government of Gabriel Terra were not just a local problem; they were a reflection of the global conflict presaged by the unstoppable advance of fascism, the [...]

This essay analyzes the posture taken by the Uruguayan intellectuals when faced with the dictatorship of Gabriel Terra (1931−38). This 1933 coup d’état provoked a shift in the political stance of the intellectuals and particularly of the [...]

This article is the fruit of research carried out by the journal El Mate on the founding, in 1935, of the Unión de Artistas Plásticos del Uruguay (UAPU)—the first union of visual artists in the country—and on its quick demise due to severe [...]

The April/May 1983 issue (Nº 16) of the Club de Grabado de Montevideo’s newsletter begins with an open invitation to the Mini Grabado Internacional de Cadaqués (on the Costa Brava in Spain, in August 1983). There is a reference to the CGM members [...]

This article describes and analyzes the role of the “recipient” of the various messages expressed by the visual arts. At the end of the dictatorship period (1973–85), Uruguayan artists once again sought to come to grips with the question of [...]

This essay discusses the function of art criticism. The objective is to present a theoretical comparison between what criticism “should be” and the actual situation in Uruguay, especially during the period of authoritarian rule when the essay was [...]

The crisis and feelings of “remorse” (that, in this case, connotes political impotence) of the 1980s were the result of more than ten years of military dictatorship that had effectively dismantled the network of cultural organizations that had [...]

“Declaración de los intelectuales colombianosdurante el paro general” is an open letter dated May 8, 1957 published in issue No. 13 of the magazine Mito. It is signed by twenty-five people, among them politicians, writers, poets, and artists. [...]

In this editorial article, the Czech–Peruvian poet and critic Mirko Lauer reviews Peruvian culture on the seventh anniversary of the military coup led by General Juan Velasco Alvarado, who installed the self-styled Gobierno Revolucionario de las [...]

This text by architect Lina Bo Bardi describes the difficulties she faced as the head of the Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia (MAMB) and of the Museu de Arte Popular (MAP), both of which were located in the Solar do Unhão (since 1963), a seventeenth- [...]

In this letter written by the Planning and Organization Commission of the Symposia on Uruguayan Culture in Exile, José Artigas expresses gratitude for the contribution to and solidarity with Uruguayan culture in exile, and for the defense of that [...]

In this essay, Amalia Mesa-Bains provides an analysis of the sculptural works by Uruguayan-born artist, Rimer Cardillo. Her analysis insists on the coexistence of multiple meanings, while also attempting to identify the personal, cultural, and [...]

In his role as director of Horizonte, the Estridentista magazine, Germán List Arzubide expresses his opposition to the tribute paid by the mainstream press—specifically Excélsior newspaper—to Salvador Díaz Mirón. He also denounces the crimes [...]

This flyer denounces the situation of the Escuela de Bellas Artes Manuel Belgrano (Buenos Aires, Argentina), which was then closed by military orders with no possibility of re-opening. It likewise repudiates the takeover of this institution, and [...]

The text states that—although France had always been a symbol of freedom—the French government, along with its curators and some artists, was willing to send a submission to the São Paulo Biennial despite the dramatic situation that Brazil was [...]

E. de Wilde’s letter concerns the arguments that he submitted to The Netherlands Ministry of Cultural Affairs in order to withdraw the Dutch participation from the São Paulo Biennial. In this regard, he considered not only the prevailing [...]

The text informs the Italian press that in the meeting which took place on October 15 and 16, 1975, it was agreed among the artists representing Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Uruguay to constitute the Fronte [...]

After discussing the origins of the São Paulo Biennial and the earliest incidents of censorship imposed by Brazilian authorities on artists who submitted their work to the Paris Biennale, Matta points out that an injustice had occurred in February [...]

This statement by the Frente Antiimperialista de Artistas de Rosario [Artists of Rosario Anti-Imperialist Front] (F.A.D.A.R.) lists the following irregularities: during the detention and torture of political prisoners, the intervention in labor [...]

Roberto Matta criticizes the conditions in Chile that have been created by the military dictatorship, using a poetic code based on the faculty of vision. He alludes to the political situation being endured by the Mapuche indigenous peoples and refers [...]

In this text Diamela Eltit writes about Guillermo Núñez’s artwork on the occasion of a retrospective exhibition of his works. She discusses the political violence to which he was subjected during the military dictatorship (1973& [...]

In “Destrucción, reconstrucción y desconstrucciones” (Destruction, Reconstruction, and Deconstructions), Nelly Richard critically reviews the cultural situation in Chile during the military dictatorship (1973–90). It was, in her [...]

In this article Milan Ivelic discusses conditions in Chile for the benefit of Spanish visitors to the exhibition Chile Vive that was held at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid. One of the main things that stands out about Chile, as seen [...]

The poem Revolución [Revolution] by Manuel Maples Arce describes the negative aspects of war and his fascination with machines such as trains and airplanes. He tells how the wind of the iron-man dictator shudders and in the afternoons, there are [...]

León Ferrari writes about his situation in exile in Sao Paulo, discussing in depth how he and his family escaped from Buenos Aires, and the early stages of their life in Brazil. He refers to his works in process, his writings, and his wire [...]

León Ferrari wrote about his situation in exile, particularly the escape from Buenos Aires with his family, and the beginning of his artistic life in Brazil. He wrote about the works he was creating, the writings and the wire sculptures [...]

León Ferrari mentioned his meeting with the filmmaker Fernando Birri. By and large, Ferrari wrote about the numerous complications generated from being in exile; in particular, he mentioned the disappearance of his son, Ariel, kidnapped by the [...]

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 [...]

José Joaquín Brunner explains how the authoritarian regime that came into power after the 1973 coup d’état impacted cultural production in its various forms and, more specifically, what was going on in the Escena de [...]

The essay “Parpadeo y piedad,” which appeared in the catalogue for the exhibition Cirugía plástica (Plastic Surgery), held in Berlin, discusses art in Chile, specifically, the art produced in the wake of the 1973 fascist [...]

This text provides an analysis of what happens at a cultural level in a totalitarian society, which the author implies is a reference to Chile, and how political resistance is organized in such circumstances. One of the main features that José [...]

The art critic Justo Pastor Mellado examines the connections between politics and the visual arts in Chile from 1970 to 1983, from the election of Salvador Allende and the Unidad Popular (1970–73) to the tenth anniversary of the dictatorship [...]