This is a ONTD Art Moment™: “Viva Latin America!” Edition 💃🏽🪇🇲🇽
Latin American artists have gained increasing international prominence as the art world awakens to the area's extraordinary art scenes and histories. Its art has its origins in the many indigenous civilizations that lived in the Americas before the European colonization in the 16th century. Differing by culture, influence, artistic movements, and preferred medium, these artists might not have much in common, except for the fact that for a long time (with the exception of a few) their contributions to the art world were largely unrecognized until recent years.
In honor of the end of Hispanic Heritage Month I have decided to highlight the achievements of artists across the Latin American diaspora. Note: I deliberately left out favorites like Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Beatriz González, Goya, and Basquiat because enough material have been written about them and I wanted some less-known artists to shine. You can read more about these featured artists in my post, or you can just enjoy the pretty pictures, I don’t judge!
Tarsila do Amaral
Brazil is known for many things; lovely beaches, beautiful people, and the work of Tarsila do Amaral. I first became acquainted with Amaral’s work through a retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago, and I’ve been a fan ever since. A member of the São Paulo bourgeoisie, do Amaral traveled to Paris in the 1920s, where she took lessons with great Cubists like Fernand Léger and hung out with Pablo Picasso and Constantin Brancusi. She brought elements of their modernist paintings back to Brazil, but co-opted their style by including content ignored by her European counterparts. Her artwork often included social and political commentary, addressing issues such as race, class, and gender. Do Amaral filled her canvases with vibrant scenes of Brazilian life, and the powerful, abundant bodies of female figures. These paintings inspired Brazil’s Anthropophagy movement, which prompted artists to define a new, uniquely Brazilian style by apropriating defining aspects of Western art.
Besides being a marvelous artist, she was a socialite, fashionista, and divorcee who lived life to the fullest. Do Amaral stressed a couple of times to her family and friends that her mission in life was to depict what it meant to be Brazilian. For her, it meant among many things to be modern, to experiment, and to mix European Cubism and Surrealism with local colors, themes, and forms. Today, Do Amaral (who died in 1973) is an iconic figure in Brazil. Her works are seen everywhere in contemporary design, public art, and marketing outlets.
Fun Fact: When her family lost their considerable fortune in the 30s Do Amaral took a job at a museum and, later on, worked as an art columnist in a journal.
Félix Beltrán
When you think of famous graphic designers from Latin America, Félix Juan Alberto Beltrán Concepción is one of the first names that usually is mentioned. Not only was he one of the most popular designers in his native Cuba following Castro’s revolution; he was also a powerhouse of Latin American corporate design after leaving Havana for Mexico City. Beltrán’s work (like many Cuban designers) was antithetical to Communist-Socialist realism.
Félix’s life is unique because he lived through important moments in history; the fact that he was able to study at the School of Visual Arts in New York in a flourishing era of design and advertising; being the person in charge of the corporate and institutional image of the Cuban Revolution for 20 years; and, finally, from Mexico, his contribution to the culture of design through his university work.
Beltran passed away in December 2022 at his home in Mexico City. His work stands out because he was capable of combining without complexes a colorful optimism coming from his Hispanic culture, and the rationality and Modernist intellectuality discovered in New York and in his travels around Europe.
Fun Fact: Before he died, his career-inclusive exhibition Félix Beltrán: Visual Intelligence was planned at the Complutense Art Centre in Madrid, and despite his deteriorated health, still managed with the selection of his work for the show. Sadly, he did not live to see the opening.
José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco was one of the leading muralists of the second half of the 20th century in Mexico. Accomplished at a young age, Orozco used realist styles to make clear political statements. He studied art at the Academia de San Carlos (1906-10) with the teacher Gerardo Murillo, known as Doctor Alt, who urged Orozco and all his students to reject European standards and cultivate Mexican charateristics and history in their work.
Working in a highly expressionistic form of social realism, Orozco focused his painting on representing post-revolutionary Mexico-class struggles, the hardships of everyday life, social revolution, wars, and the plight of women in those wars. Returning to Mexico in the 1920s, he discovered that the muralist movement had started and the Mexican government was eager to sponsor his work. Everything went well until 1927, when the Mexican government withdrew patronage and protection from Orozco and his fellow muralists and attacks came from conservatives. Orozco moved to New York City, where he met American journalist Alma Reed. She became his agent and helped him exhibit widely and forge an international reputation. In later years, his paintings and prints were exhibited in museums throughout the United States, and he was recognized as a Mexican national hero who raised his country’s art to a position of international renown.
Fun Fact: One of Orozco’s first jobs was as a caricaturist for L'ABC and El Ahuizote, among others, where he published satirical political cartoons.
Fernando Botero
Fernando Botero was a Colombian artist and sculptor from Medellin known for his unique style of figurative painting and sculpture. Born in 1932, Botero was isolated from art as presented in museums and other cultural institutes, but was influenced by the Baroque style of the colonial churches and the city life of Medellín while growing up. The exaggerated figures in his work (which can represent political criticism or humor, depending on the piece), has made him the most recognized and quoted artist from Latin America in his lifetime.
Botero’s work can be found in highly visible places around the world, such as Park Avenue in New York City and the Champs-Élysées in Paris. While his work includes still-lifes and landscapes, Botero concentrated on situational portraiture. His paintings and sculptures are united by their exaggerated porportions, or "fat" figures, as he once referred to them. Botero studied at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, and was a frequent visitor to the Prado Museum, where he copied works by Goya and Velázquez. He also spent a great deal of time in Paris and Florence, studying the Masters and basically fapping about. His first attempts at sculpture were created with resin and sawdust because of financial issues before eventually switching over to the bronze he later became known for, achieving international recognition with exhibitions around the world by the 1990s.
His art is collected by many major international museums, corporations, and private collectors. Unfortunately, he passed away last month in Monaco at age 91, so let’s pour one out for a life well-lived.
Fun Fact: When he was in secondary school, his teachers told him to stop drawing nude figures. His response? An article he then wrote in a local magazine that upset his teachers even more. It was about Picasso and non-conformity in art and led to his expulsion.
Ana Mendieta
Ana was born in Havana (1961). At age 12, she emigrated with her fifteen year old sister Raquelin to the United States through a collaborative program between the US and Catholic Charities labeled “Operation Peter Pan.” Transferred to Iowa, their first years were spent in foster homes and orphanages. This helped Ana to develop an artistic practice later on in her life consisting of an autobiographical narrative. This is especially seen in her Silueta series (1973-1980), which consisted of her creating silhouettes in mud, sand and grass with natural materials.
“I have been carrying out a dialogue between the landscape and the female body (based on my own silhouette). I believe this has been a direct result of my having been torn from my homeland (Cuba) during my adolescence. I am overwhelmed by the feeling of having been cast from the womb (nature). My art is the way I re-establish the bonds that unite me to the universe. It is a return to the maternal source.”
Fun Fact: Mendieta was a member of Artists In Residence Inc (A.I.R. Gallery) in New York, which was the first gallery for women in the United States.
Lygia Clark
Lygia Clark was one of several artists in 1960s Brazil who wanted to break down the boundaries between art and life, and pioneer interactive, immersive art. From 1960 on, Clark discovered ways for viewers (who would later be referred to as "participants") to interact with her art works. Clark's work dealt with the relationship between inside and outside, and ultimately, between self and world.
Clark's early works were influenced by the Constructivist movement and other forms of European geometric abstraction. Her earlier work reflected her interest in ncluding the research of Sigmund Freud. Like many intellectuals of the 1950s and 60s, Clark was in therapy herself, and later in her career her more holistic works displayed influences from experiences she had with psychotic and neurotic patients. Clark soon became a prime figure among the Neo-concretists, whose 1959 manifesto called for abstract art to be more subjective and less rational and idealist. Her later, more famous works were viewed as "living experiences," a focus she had for three decades of her career. She did not separate the mind from the body and believed that art should be experienced through all five senses. After 1963, Clark's work could no longer exist outside of a participant's experience. Her art became an interactive experience. She believed that a viewer, or "participant", served an active and important function in the art world. In most museums, works are affixed to a stand or on the wall, while Clark's works were meant to be manipulated by the viewer/participant. Her belief was that art should be a multi-sensory experience, not just one enjoyed through the eyes.
Fun Fact: During Brazil's military dictatorship, Clark self-exiled to Paris, where in the 1970s she taught art classes at the Sorbonne.
Las Tesis
Who is Las Tesis? Are they performance artists? A collective? Part of a movement? A ONTDer mentioned them in another art post so I decided to investigate further.
As it turns out, they are all of the above. Like the Guerrilla Girls, Las Tesis are a feminist art and performance collective from Valparaiso, Chile. The group was formed four and a half years ago with the aim of engaging feminist theory, or "tesis," through art. They use various artistic mediums to expose and fight state violence, especially toward women. Las Tesis’s performance of "Un violador en tu camino," a display of protest, art, and solidarity, became a feminist anthem for combatting the silencing of women. Translating to "A Rapist in Your Path," the song was originally staged by a large crowd of women, many of whom were blindfolded, who chanted the lyrics over a steady drumbeat and simple dance moves. When they reached the refrain, "The rapist is you," they suddenly stopped their repetitive movements, pointing their fingers straight ahead, implicating the spectators themselves.
A collaboration with Russian feminist art collective Pussy Riot regarding police violence in 2020 unfortunately put them on the radar of the local authorities, and the group was initially sued by Chilean police for allegedly “inciting violence,” and then was later sued in a second lawsuit, citing hate speech. Fortunately, this did not deter the public’s positive opinion of the group all around the world, with similar performances in Paris and people like AOC talking about their work. I’m very happy to say that all of the trumped up charges were dropped, and the group continues to speak out against injustice against women.
Fun Fact: In 2020, Las Tesis made Time Magazine’s list of “100 influential people.”
Once again, I encourage you to explore the links at Die Quellen where you can learn more about these artists and their work. This concludes another ONTD Alternative Art History lesson. Who is your favorite Latin American creative or art style? Let me know in the comments!
Die Quellen:
# Latin American Women Artists
# Las Tesis
# Felix Beltran
# Fernando Botero
# Tarsila do Amaral
# Jose Orozco
In honor of the end of Hispanic Heritage Month I have decided to highlight the achievements of artists across the Latin American diaspora. Note: I deliberately left out favorites like Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Beatriz González, Goya, and Basquiat because enough material have been written about them and I wanted some less-known artists to shine. You can read more about these featured artists in my post, or you can just enjoy the pretty pictures, I don’t judge!
Tarsila do Amaral
Brazil is known for many things; lovely beaches, beautiful people, and the work of Tarsila do Amaral. I first became acquainted with Amaral’s work through a retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago, and I’ve been a fan ever since. A member of the São Paulo bourgeoisie, do Amaral traveled to Paris in the 1920s, where she took lessons with great Cubists like Fernand Léger and hung out with Pablo Picasso and Constantin Brancusi. She brought elements of their modernist paintings back to Brazil, but co-opted their style by including content ignored by her European counterparts. Her artwork often included social and political commentary, addressing issues such as race, class, and gender. Do Amaral filled her canvases with vibrant scenes of Brazilian life, and the powerful, abundant bodies of female figures. These paintings inspired Brazil’s Anthropophagy movement, which prompted artists to define a new, uniquely Brazilian style by apropriating defining aspects of Western art.
Besides being a marvelous artist, she was a socialite, fashionista, and divorcee who lived life to the fullest. Do Amaral stressed a couple of times to her family and friends that her mission in life was to depict what it meant to be Brazilian. For her, it meant among many things to be modern, to experiment, and to mix European Cubism and Surrealism with local colors, themes, and forms. Today, Do Amaral (who died in 1973) is an iconic figure in Brazil. Her works are seen everywhere in contemporary design, public art, and marketing outlets.
Fun Fact: When her family lost their considerable fortune in the 30s Do Amaral took a job at a museum and, later on, worked as an art columnist in a journal.
Félix Beltrán
When you think of famous graphic designers from Latin America, Félix Juan Alberto Beltrán Concepción is one of the first names that usually is mentioned. Not only was he one of the most popular designers in his native Cuba following Castro’s revolution; he was also a powerhouse of Latin American corporate design after leaving Havana for Mexico City. Beltrán’s work (like many Cuban designers) was antithetical to Communist-Socialist realism.
Félix’s life is unique because he lived through important moments in history; the fact that he was able to study at the School of Visual Arts in New York in a flourishing era of design and advertising; being the person in charge of the corporate and institutional image of the Cuban Revolution for 20 years; and, finally, from Mexico, his contribution to the culture of design through his university work.
Beltran passed away in December 2022 at his home in Mexico City. His work stands out because he was capable of combining without complexes a colorful optimism coming from his Hispanic culture, and the rationality and Modernist intellectuality discovered in New York and in his travels around Europe.
Fun Fact: Before he died, his career-inclusive exhibition Félix Beltrán: Visual Intelligence was planned at the Complutense Art Centre in Madrid, and despite his deteriorated health, still managed with the selection of his work for the show. Sadly, he did not live to see the opening.
José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco was one of the leading muralists of the second half of the 20th century in Mexico. Accomplished at a young age, Orozco used realist styles to make clear political statements. He studied art at the Academia de San Carlos (1906-10) with the teacher Gerardo Murillo, known as Doctor Alt, who urged Orozco and all his students to reject European standards and cultivate Mexican charateristics and history in their work.
Working in a highly expressionistic form of social realism, Orozco focused his painting on representing post-revolutionary Mexico-class struggles, the hardships of everyday life, social revolution, wars, and the plight of women in those wars. Returning to Mexico in the 1920s, he discovered that the muralist movement had started and the Mexican government was eager to sponsor his work. Everything went well until 1927, when the Mexican government withdrew patronage and protection from Orozco and his fellow muralists and attacks came from conservatives. Orozco moved to New York City, where he met American journalist Alma Reed. She became his agent and helped him exhibit widely and forge an international reputation. In later years, his paintings and prints were exhibited in museums throughout the United States, and he was recognized as a Mexican national hero who raised his country’s art to a position of international renown.
Fun Fact: One of Orozco’s first jobs was as a caricaturist for L'ABC and El Ahuizote, among others, where he published satirical political cartoons.
Fernando Botero
Fernando Botero was a Colombian artist and sculptor from Medellin known for his unique style of figurative painting and sculpture. Born in 1932, Botero was isolated from art as presented in museums and other cultural institutes, but was influenced by the Baroque style of the colonial churches and the city life of Medellín while growing up. The exaggerated figures in his work (which can represent political criticism or humor, depending on the piece), has made him the most recognized and quoted artist from Latin America in his lifetime.
Botero’s work can be found in highly visible places around the world, such as Park Avenue in New York City and the Champs-Élysées in Paris. While his work includes still-lifes and landscapes, Botero concentrated on situational portraiture. His paintings and sculptures are united by their exaggerated porportions, or "fat" figures, as he once referred to them. Botero studied at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, and was a frequent visitor to the Prado Museum, where he copied works by Goya and Velázquez. He also spent a great deal of time in Paris and Florence, studying the Masters and basically fapping about. His first attempts at sculpture were created with resin and sawdust because of financial issues before eventually switching over to the bronze he later became known for, achieving international recognition with exhibitions around the world by the 1990s.
His art is collected by many major international museums, corporations, and private collectors. Unfortunately, he passed away last month in Monaco at age 91, so let’s pour one out for a life well-lived.
Fun Fact: When he was in secondary school, his teachers told him to stop drawing nude figures. His response? An article he then wrote in a local magazine that upset his teachers even more. It was about Picasso and non-conformity in art and led to his expulsion.
Ana Mendieta
Ana was born in Havana (1961). At age 12, she emigrated with her fifteen year old sister Raquelin to the United States through a collaborative program between the US and Catholic Charities labeled “Operation Peter Pan.” Transferred to Iowa, their first years were spent in foster homes and orphanages. This helped Ana to develop an artistic practice later on in her life consisting of an autobiographical narrative. This is especially seen in her Silueta series (1973-1980), which consisted of her creating silhouettes in mud, sand and grass with natural materials.
“I have been carrying out a dialogue between the landscape and the female body (based on my own silhouette). I believe this has been a direct result of my having been torn from my homeland (Cuba) during my adolescence. I am overwhelmed by the feeling of having been cast from the womb (nature). My art is the way I re-establish the bonds that unite me to the universe. It is a return to the maternal source.”
Fun Fact: Mendieta was a member of Artists In Residence Inc (A.I.R. Gallery) in New York, which was the first gallery for women in the United States.
Lygia Clark
Lygia Clark was one of several artists in 1960s Brazil who wanted to break down the boundaries between art and life, and pioneer interactive, immersive art. From 1960 on, Clark discovered ways for viewers (who would later be referred to as "participants") to interact with her art works. Clark's work dealt with the relationship between inside and outside, and ultimately, between self and world.
Clark's early works were influenced by the Constructivist movement and other forms of European geometric abstraction. Her earlier work reflected her interest in ncluding the research of Sigmund Freud. Like many intellectuals of the 1950s and 60s, Clark was in therapy herself, and later in her career her more holistic works displayed influences from experiences she had with psychotic and neurotic patients. Clark soon became a prime figure among the Neo-concretists, whose 1959 manifesto called for abstract art to be more subjective and less rational and idealist. Her later, more famous works were viewed as "living experiences," a focus she had for three decades of her career. She did not separate the mind from the body and believed that art should be experienced through all five senses. After 1963, Clark's work could no longer exist outside of a participant's experience. Her art became an interactive experience. She believed that a viewer, or "participant", served an active and important function in the art world. In most museums, works are affixed to a stand or on the wall, while Clark's works were meant to be manipulated by the viewer/participant. Her belief was that art should be a multi-sensory experience, not just one enjoyed through the eyes.
Fun Fact: During Brazil's military dictatorship, Clark self-exiled to Paris, where in the 1970s she taught art classes at the Sorbonne.
Las Tesis
Who is Las Tesis? Are they performance artists? A collective? Part of a movement? A ONTDer mentioned them in another art post so I decided to investigate further.
As it turns out, they are all of the above. Like the Guerrilla Girls, Las Tesis are a feminist art and performance collective from Valparaiso, Chile. The group was formed four and a half years ago with the aim of engaging feminist theory, or "tesis," through art. They use various artistic mediums to expose and fight state violence, especially toward women. Las Tesis’s performance of "Un violador en tu camino," a display of protest, art, and solidarity, became a feminist anthem for combatting the silencing of women. Translating to "A Rapist in Your Path," the song was originally staged by a large crowd of women, many of whom were blindfolded, who chanted the lyrics over a steady drumbeat and simple dance moves. When they reached the refrain, "The rapist is you," they suddenly stopped their repetitive movements, pointing their fingers straight ahead, implicating the spectators themselves.
A collaboration with Russian feminist art collective Pussy Riot regarding police violence in 2020 unfortunately put them on the radar of the local authorities, and the group was initially sued by Chilean police for allegedly “inciting violence,” and then was later sued in a second lawsuit, citing hate speech. Fortunately, this did not deter the public’s positive opinion of the group all around the world, with similar performances in Paris and people like AOC talking about their work. I’m very happy to say that all of the trumped up charges were dropped, and the group continues to speak out against injustice against women.
Fun Fact: In 2020, Las Tesis made Time Magazine’s list of “100 influential people.”
Once again, I encourage you to explore the links at Die Quellen where you can learn more about these artists and their work. This concludes another ONTD Alternative Art History lesson. Who is your favorite Latin American creative or art style? Let me know in the comments!
Die Quellen:
# Latin American Women Artists
# Las Tesis
# Felix Beltran
# Fernando Botero
# Tarsila do Amaral
# Jose Orozco