Synopses & Reviews
The 1960s were heady years in Argentina. Visual artists, curators, and critics sought to fuse art and politics; to broaden the definition of art to encompass happenings and assemblages; and, above all, to achieve international recognition for new, cutting-edge Argentine art. A bestseller in Argentina,
Avant-Garde, Internationalism, and Politics is an examination of the 1960s as a brief historical moment when artists, institutions, and critics joined to promote an international identity for Argentinaandrsquo;s visual arts.
The renowned Argentine art historian and critic Andrea Giunta analyzes projects specifically designed to internationalize Argentinaandrsquo;s art and avant-garde during the 1960s: the importation of exhibitions of contemporary international art, the sending of Argentine artists abroad to study, the organization of prize competitions involving prestigious international art critics, and the export of exhibitions of Argentine art to Europe and the United States. She looks at the conditions that made these projects possibleandmdash;not least the Alliance for Progress, a U.S. program of andldquo;exchangeandrdquo; and andldquo;cooperationandrdquo; meant to prevent the spread of communism through Latin America in the wake of the Cuban Revolutionandmdash;as well as the strategies formulated to promote them. She describes the influence of Romero Brest, prominent art critic, supporter of abstract art, and director of the Centro de Artes Visuales del Instituto Tocuato Di Tella (an experimental art center in Buenos Aires); various group programs such as Nueva Figuraciandoacute;n and Arte Destructivo; and individual artists including Antonio Berni, Alberto Greco, Leandoacute;n Ferrari, Marta Minujin, and Luis Felipe Noandeacute;. Giuntaandrsquo;s rich narrative illuminates the contentious postwar relationships between art and politics, Latin America and the United States, and local identity and global recognition.
Review
andldquo;How can artists and institutions from peripheral countries participate in global conversations?Mexican muralists, Brazilian avant-gardists, and the Sandatilde;o Paulo Biennale have done it. Yet none have done so with as sophisticated a strategy as those who remade the visual and multimedia arts scene in 1960s Buenos Aires. Offering the most thoroughly documented and innovative analysis of that period, Andrea Giunta eloquently renews Latin American art criticism.andrdquo;andmdash;Nandeacute;stor Garcandiacute;a Canclini
Review
andldquo;Andrea Giunta is one of the sharpest minds working in the postandndash;World War II cultural field anywhere, and Avant-Garde, Internationalism, and Politics is a work of amazing breadth, originality, and complexity. It touches on many facets of U.S. cultural life as well as on the many ways a Latin American country tried to find a suitable postwar identity in a ruthless historical moment. With this book, Giunta is redefining the parameters not only of art history in Argentina but of contemporary cultural discourses in general.andrdquo;andmdash;Serge Guilbaut, author of How New York Stole the Idea of Modern Art: Abstract Expressionism, Freedom, and the Cold War
Review
andldquo;Giunta carefully defines the polemics in transforming Buenos Aires into an internationally recognized center for artistic production and avant-garde culture. . . . Recommended.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Giunta has done an admirable job of organizing information from myriad sources. Her close focus on the art world reflects the paradox of Argentine identity: are Argentinians Europeans stranded in the New World or creators of a new nation? They canandrsquo;t decide, and neither can the countryandrsquo;s artists.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Well written and thoroughly documented, this book is an invaluable tool for those interested in the evolution of contemporary art in Latin America (engulfed as it was in the love triangle Buenos Aires-Paris-New York). The choice of artists and images is superb. . . . Avant-Garde, Internationalism, and Politics is not just a book about history, it offers a fascinating explanation of the current state of Argentine and Latin American art in the era of globalization.andrdquo; - Georgina Jimandeacute;nez, Latin American Review of Books
Review
andldquo;Meticulously researched and engagingly written. . . .andrdquo; - Robin Adandegrave;le Greeley, Oxford Art Journal
Review
andldquo;Avant-Garde, Internationalism, and Politics is a precise and intelligent book. It is also profoundly original in its reconstruction of the public debate of the 1960s. Andrea Guinta has investigated the links between the artists and the revolutionary horizon, as well as those between the artists and establishment institutions. With this dual perspective, she follows in a fascinating way the processes of the internationalization of Latin American art. Her book is indispensable to understanding the political and aesthetic ideologies of the period.andrdquo;andmdash;Beatriz Sarlo, author of Jorge Luis Borges: A Writer on the Edge
Synopsis
An exploration of the impact of the 1960s and the U.S. post-cold war moment on the reception of Latin American art and artists.
About the Author
“Avant-Garde, Internationalism, and Politics is a precise and intelligent book. It is also profoundly original in its reconstruction of the public debate of the 1960s. Andrea Guinta has investigated the links between the artists and the revolutionary horizon, as well as those between the artists and establishment institutions. With this dual perspective, she follows in a fascinating way the processes of the internationalization of Latin American art. Her book is indispensable to understanding the political and aesthetic ideologies of the period.”—Beatriz Sarlo, author of Jorge Luis Borges: A Writer on the Edge“Andrea Giunta is one of the sharpest minds working in the post–World War II cultural field anywhere, and Avant-Garde, Internationalism, and Politics is a work of amazing breadth, originality, and complexity. It touches on many facets of U.S. cultural life as well as on the many ways a Latin American country tried to find a suitable postwar identity in a ruthless historical moment. With this book, Giunta is redefining the parameters not only of art history in Argentina but of contemporary cultural discourses in general.”—Serge Guilbaut, author of How New York Stole the Idea of Modern Art: Abstract Expressionism, Freedom, and the Cold War“How can artists and institutions from peripheral countries participate in global conversations?Mexican muralists, Brazilian avant-gardists, and the São Paulo Biennale have done it. Yet none have done so with as sophisticated a strategy as those who remade the visual and multimedia arts scene in 1960s Buenos Aires. Offering the most thoroughly documented and innovative analysis of that period, Andrea Giunta eloquently renews Latin American art criticism.”—Néstor García Canclini
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations ix
About the Series xi
Preface and Acknowledgments xiii
Translatorandrsquo;s Note xvii
Abbreviations xix
Introduction 1
1. Modern Art on the Margins of Peronism 25
2. Proclamations and Programs During the Revolucion Libertadora 55
3. The andldquo;Newandrdquo; Art Scene 91
4. The Avant-Garde as Problem 119
5. The Decentering of the Modernist Paradigm 163
6. Strategies of Internationalization 189
7. The Avant-Garde Between Art and Politics 243
Conclusions 281
Notes 291
Bibliography 373
Index 397