Latin American 20th Century

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About Latin American 20th Century

Description of Latin American 20th Century
Examples of Latin American 20th Century
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Latin American 20th Century
Latin American art, produced in South and Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean and by artists of Latin American descent, does not fit neatly into a stylistic category. Latin American artists often focus on social and political ideas; current events; native culture; society and traditions; and religion. Although not always linked by a particular theme or subject matter, Latin American art often employs the use of bright, vivid colors accented by bold lines or areas of black. Another common stylistic device employed in much Latin American art is the use of abstract and/or highly stylized figures depicting images of everyday life and the common man.

At the onset of the twentieth century, Latin American art began to move away from the practice of imitating the European styles; acquired through exposure to European culture as a result of 16th century colonization. Latin American artists began to merge stylistic influences, such as Constructivism, with their own native traditions, cultural ideals, and political and social opinions. The shift in the style of Latin American art at the start of the twentieth century reflected the corresponding political and social changes in Latin American society and culture at the time.

Latin American art evolved swiftly in the twentieth century. The 1920s marked the formation of Latin American modernism in Cuba. Amelia Pelaez was one of the first Latin American artists to show native and cultural influences in her work. Cubism was a major influence on Latin American modernism as evident in the work of Brazilian artist Emiliano Di Cavalcanti.

In the 1930s and early 1940s Latin American art began to influence art in the United States through public art projects. Known as the “Big Three”, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and José Clemente Orozco formed the Mexican Muralist Renaissance and influenced the work of early abstract expressionists, most notably Jackson Pollack. With the advent of Muralism came commissioned and government-sponsored murals imbued with strong social and political contexts. The “Big Three,” especially Rivera, created highly controversial work depicting conflicting and often contentious views on current life and historical events; Rivera’s mural Man at the Crossroads from 1933, later destroyed because of his portrayal of Vladimir Lenin, is one such example.

Latin American art popular in the 1940s, 1950s and into the 1960s consisted of artists greatly influenced by surrealism, such as Frida Kahlo and Roberto Matta, who depicted subject matter relating to their respective personal lives and cultural heritage. Surrealist influenced Latin American art depicted dream-like and archetypal images of symbolism and mythology.

By the 1970s Latin American art had become an established and recognized presence in the international art world. In 1977 Sotheby’s held the first Mexican paintings sale and in 1979 the first Latin American art auction. Interest in Latin American art grew and numerous museums formed in Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s, including: in Mexico City, Mexico the La Casa Azul, Museo Frida Kahlo, the house where Kahlo worked and lived was turned into a museum at the request of Diego Rivera upon his death in the 1950s, and the Carillo Gil Museum of Contemporary Art; in Lima, Peru the Museo de Arte de Lima. In the United States the Museum of Latin American Art was formed in Los Angeles, California in 1996.

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