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We have spent a great deal of time thus far dealing with subjects related
to the specific national realities of various countries in Latin
America. Throughout the course the realistic image has predominated and we
have looked at the work of (mostly) painters who were engaged in the
project of a formation of a national identity. In this lecture we depart
from this and delve into questions related to abstraction and stylization
in formal terms. The principal figures we will examine will be artists
from Argentina and Uruguay who, since the 1930s, were developing various
forms of geometric and quasi-geometric abstraction. Joaquin Torres-Gacia
was a major figure in both Latin American and European art. Born in
Montevideo, he left the country as a child with his parents. His artistic
career developed in Spain, Italy and France. In his maturity he aligned
himself with several movements devoted to geometric abstraction, among
them the Cercle et Carre
group in Paris. He exhibited with Piet Mondrian
and others who advanced the ideas of the "purity" in art which had
severely rational, non-objective aspects. Returning to Montevideo in 1934,
T-G had an enormous impact on the local scene. He attracted many followers
in both his native city and Buenos Aires. A great teacher and
theoretician, T-G had many significant students, including his sons
Horacio and Augusto, as well as Julio Alpuy, Francisco Matto, Jose Gurvich
and others who constituted the "School of the South" which was later
called the Taller Torres-Garcia. The Taller continued to exist as an
artistic group after T-G's death, dissolving only in 1962.
By the 1940s other alternatives to abstraction arose in the capitals of
Uruguay and Argentina. The magazine ARTURO published the principal ideas
behind the work of the group known as MADI (the meaning of the name of
which is still a disputed issue). Another group, known as ARTE
CONCRETO-INVENCION promoted further concepts of geometric
abstraction. They were against what they saw as the tyranny of the
regularly-shaped canvas and promoted the use by its members of
irregularity of the form of the support they used. In this and in their
use of geometric form they anticipated US artists such as Frank Stella by
a number of years.
We will also look at the larger consequences of the abstract art that
developed from the 1930s to the 50s in the Rio de la Plata region. We have
seen the art of Mexican painter Gunther Gerszo in its surrealist-related
aspect. We may also place him in the context of the rise of geometric
abstraction in Latin America in the 40s and 50s. Venezuela and Colombia
had particularly strong traditions of abstraction in the 50s and 60s and
beyond. In Venezuela artists such as Alejandro Otero, Carlos Cruz Diez,
Jesus Rafael Soto and Gego (Gerturde Goldschmidt) were very significant
members of the abstract groups which worked with various stylistic
options. In Colombia the sculptors Edgar Negret and Eduardo Ramirez
Villamizar took 3-dimensional abstraction to new heights. We will also
begin to look at Brazilian Concrete and Neo-Concrete art and delve into
questions of further meanings in the Brazilian modern experience through
the work of Lygia Clark, Helio Oiticica, Sergio Camargo and Mira Schendel.
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