Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

Julio Rinaldini criticizes the leaflet with the manifesto of the Seven Artists (Antonio Berni, Lino Enea Spilimbergo, Horacio Butler, Ramón Goméz Cornet, Héctor Basaldúa, Aquiles Badi, and Emilio Pettoruti) who participated in the exhibition at [...]

The dispute begun by Luis Cardoza y Aragón against the frente único [single front] policy of the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios (LEAR) [League of Revolutionary Writers and Artists] culminated with this declaration in El Machete. The [...]

This issue contains more than 400 engravings by José Guadalupe Posada, with a preface by Diego Rivera, in which he redefines the engraver as a “worker,” “warrior of leaflets,” the “greatest artist” produced by the people, and the [...]

This text is the minutes of the first meeting of the Grupo Seibi (1935). It presents the deliberations that took place in a meeting that stated the following objectives for the group: (1) Encourage ties among the members; (2) Hold a monthly meeting [...]

This print by Leopoldo Méndez was used for the cover of the first issue of Frente a Frente [Face to Face], in which the inauguration of the Palacio de Bellas Artes was satirized as an act of cultural exclusion. At the bottom of the page, a policeman [...]

This communiqué outlines the growth of the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios (LEAR) [League of Revolutionary Writers and Artists] in the last ten months, explaining the organizational structure and activities. It highlights the [...]

In this lecture, Luis Martins discusses various aspects of modern Brazilian painting from the 1920s through the mid-1930s. He describes Brazil as a “country of reflections” that passively echoes the challenges faced by the visual arts in the rest [...]

In this brief text, the subscribing artists (participants in the exhibition 7 pintores argentinos [Seven Argentinean Painters] in August 1935) maintain that they do not support any specific pictorial trend; they have however conflicting ideologies. [...]

Vicente Basso Maglio sees “creative freedom” as a constant that lies outside historical time. In his view, it is intrinsically human—a pure concept not bound to questions of style in art, which are to his thinking, vulgar, ornamental, and [...]

In the introduction to this catalog, César Moro (a celebrated Peruvian poet and artist) alludes to the antecedents of Surrealism within the avant-garde movements of the beginning of the twentieth century. He also identifies the contact points that [...]

The Taller de Gráfica Popular (TGP) [People’s Graphic Workshop] explained its working plan for graphic propaganda in a flyer that specified the following: it could be incorporated into wall newspapers, mailed as if it were postal correspondence, [...]

The book Artistas colombianos: Epifanio Garay, which was written by Colombian artist Coriolano Leudo Obando at an unknown date, is divided into two parts: a brief introductory essay on the life of academic artist Epifanio Garay Caicedo and twenty-one [...]

Other than the intimate details of the communication between Siqueiros and Brum, this letter provides extremely interesting insights into Siqueiros’s public relations in Buenos Aires, as well as his opinions and intentions concerning the local [...]

This letter by Mariano Ibérico was written at the request of painter Antonino Espinosa Saldaña. More specifically, Ibérico was asked to share his opinion on the polemic surrounding the course on Incan art given at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas [...]

In this letter, Héctor Velarde responds to the artist Antonino Espinosa Saldaña, regardin the debate provoked by the establishment of a course on “Inca Art” at the ENBA (Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes). The author considers that humor [...]

In this letter, the interim director of the Escuela Central de Artes Plásticas [Central School of the Visual Arts] informs the rector of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México [UNAM National Autonomous University of Mexico], and attorney-at- [...]

This is a letter that was sent by José Sabogal in response to his colleague, Antonino Espinosa Saldaña, who requested his opinion on the polemics surrounding the course on “Inca Art” that was being offered at the ENBA (Escuela Nacional de [...]

In this letter written in 1933 to his Austrian teacher Alfred Kubin, the printmaker and draftsman Oswaldo Goeldi discusses at length the work of Vincent van Gogh and Edvard Munch. He also discusses his professional life in Brazil and mentions the [...]

In this letter, David Alfaro Siqueiros tells Blanca Luz Brum that the Troubadour—the ship on which he sailed from Buenos Aires in December 1933—had arrived in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Siqueiros talks about the book he wrote on the trip [...]

Juan de la Cabada reports on progress in organizing a Congreso Continental de Científicos [Scientists’ Continental Congress] in Mexico City under the direction of Víctor Manuel Villaseñor in accordance with the resolutions of the American [...]

This is a letter addressed to Barnabé Barrios, in New York, signed by Juan de la Cabada and Luis Arenal, as the editor and a member of the Executive Committee, respectively, of Frente a Frente [Face to Face] magazine. The authors inform Bernabé [...]

This document proposes an exchange of publications between Frente a Frente and New Masses, but its main goal is to convince the North American publication to use its influence to help connect LEAR to the Association d’Écrivains et Artistes [...]

This essay discusses LEAR’s decision to establish a “Bureau Editor for Mexico” to publish the continent-oriented magazine, Sin Fronteras / All America—the roots of the future “Congreso Continental de Escritores y Artistas de Toda América [ [...]

This letter written by the Comité Ejecutivo of the Liga de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios [Executive Committee of the League of Revolutionary Writers and Artists] was addressed to the American Writers’ Congress (AWC) in New York; it [...]

After discussing how busy Germán List Arzubide—the Estridentista from old times—kept in New York’s workers’ media, Ben Ossa mentions the ideas suggested to LEAR by the “Congreso de Artistas Americanos (de Estados Unidos)” [American [...]

“The Red International”—as Ramón Pi, Jr. referred to himself—describes his vehicle for distributing revolutionary words and images from his base in New York. His goal is to place his publication in the hands of professionals whose names he [...]

In this brief letter, David Alfaro Siqueiros advises Jackson Pollock and his team that the studio in New York will be closed during the day while he prepares for his forthcoming exhibition in Manhattan. Siqueiros explains that he needs to be alone to [...]

In this letter, Rufino Tamayo hints at the friction experienced by an artist who put his personal goals above the demands of political activism. Tamayo promises to report on the failings of the delegation to the LEAR and apologizes for asking the [...]

In this letter, the writer Mário de Andrade critiques the researcher Luiz da Câmara Cascudo’s articles about folklore. He notes, however, the latter’s rigorous, scientific approach to the subject. The letter mentions (though not explicitly) [...]

David Alfaro Siqueiros writes a letter to Teresa León from a military command post in Spain during the Civil War, telling her of his combat experiences at the front and comparing procedures there with artistic work. He sees that in both there are [...]

According to the communiqué, several members of the LEAR [League of Revolutionary Writers and Artists] were scolded by the League’s Executive Committee for overextending their stay in New York and abandoning their League duties, The members were [...]

While stating his unflinching loyalty to the communist cause, David Alfaro Siqueiros also provides some important autobiographical information in this letter to the Uruguayan Communist Party Central Committee. He talks about being under house arrest [...]

In 1930, Wladimir Raykis (director of Galerie Zak in Paris) sent this letter inviting Uruguayan artists José Cúneo and Bernabé Michelena to exhibit at his exhibition venue which promoted Latin American art between the wars. The dialogue and [...]

There are basically three sections in the catalogue for the Primer Salón Independiente de Artes Plásticas: (1) Statement of principles; (2) List of participating artists; and (3) The text of the tribute to the painter Milo Beretta, mentor to young [...]

This text is the monthly bulletin of the Sociedade Pro Arte which includes the list for the catalogue of works presented at the III Salão da Pro Arte, a few of which it reproduces within. The following artists participated in the exhibition: Alberto [...]

The checklist of the retrospective exhibition of modern artists at Amigos del Arte [Friends of Art] in 1935. Those who participated, with important works created since the 1920s, were Aquiles Badi, Héctor Basaldúa, Antonio Berni, Horacio Butler, [...]

This is the statement of the British art critic Herbert Read, interviewed by the Brazilian artist Flávio de Carvalho. Read stresses the importance of the influence of black art on international modernism and claims that art is currently split into [...]

Flávio de Carvalho proposes that, in the twentieth century, man’s dwelling be transformed in response to a new reality. In de Carvalho’s view, man spends most of the day in the urban universe—that is his primary dwelling—and hence it should [...]

In 1933, the artist Flávio de Carvalho discussed the founding of the Teatro da Experiência at the premises of the CAM [Modern Artists Club] in São Paulo. Speaking from his broader experience as an architect and set designer, he sees the theater as [...]

Assis Chateaubriand, the businessman and owner of the newspaper chain Diários Associados, devotes the first section of his article to what he refers to as two “great deeds” performed by the visual artist and engineer Flávio de Carvalho. One of [...]

Writer Aníbal Machado published this text on the occasion of the death of Ismael Nery. He points out some aspects of the artist’s personality and work and compares his painting with foreign artists of the stature of Max Ernest and André Masson [...]

This is the transcript of a statement made by the poet Tristan Tzara when he was interviewed by Flávio de Carvalho during the latter’s trip to Europe in 1934. Tzara speaks at great length about Dadaist methods, the movement he leads, and the [...]

This document is a lecture was given by Puerto Rican educator Concha Meléndez at the opening of Walt Dehner’s exhibition at the Universidad de Puerto Rico (UPR). Meléndez provides biographical information about the artist, including where he [...]

 Carlos Mérida comments that in Mexico xylography [wood engraving] has become the prevalent artistic trend of the time. He describes some characteristics of this technique, such as the use of pure contrast between light and dark. On the other hand [...]

The author, Antonino Espinosa Saldaña, proposes to replace the course name “Arte incaico” [Incan Art]—used by the ENBA beginning in 1930, with “Arqueología pre-incaica y su aplicación a las artes decorativas” [pre-Incan archeology and [...]

The author, Augusto Aguirre Morales, questions the stance of painter Antonino Espinosa Saldaña, who does not believe Peruvian precolonial art is “art.” He challenges Espinosa’s premise that cultural differences among men are an obstacle to the [...]

Painter Antonino Espinosa opens this letter questioning the pertinence of the “Arte incaico” [Incan Art] course at the ENBA—to be offered by writer Augusto Aguirre, author of the novel El pueblo del sol [The People of the Sun]—arguing that [...]

The author, Augusto Aguirre Morales, (who was selected by the ENBA to teach the controversial course) defends the existence of “Incan art,” using the examples conserved in museums and the testimonials of historians. He asserts that it was the [...]

The synopsis in English are coming soon [...]

The writer and poet Manuel Bandeira dispenses his opinions relating to the controversy stoked by attempts made by the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes (Rio de Janeiro) to reform the teachings, artistic trends, and guidelines related to its exhibitions [...]