![\"\"](\"https:\/\/archee.uqam.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/s1.jpeg\")
\u00ab\u00a0Latin American Art\u00a0\u00bb is a term as elusive as the space that seems to give birth to it. How to talk about \u00ab\u00a0Latin American Art\u00a0\u00bb in times when geographic borders are more blurred and \u00ab\u00a0deterritorialization\u00a0\u00bb is a recurrent term in the context of theoretical studies in art and culture? As has been said by Santiago Castro-G\u00f3mez and Eduardo Mendieta: \u00ab\u00a0(\u2026) what is at stake is the very meaning of the expression \u2018Latin America\u2019 at a moment in History when cultural belongings of a traditional or national character seem to be replaced (….)\u00a0 by identities oriented towards transnational and post-traditional values\u00a0\u00bb1<\/sup>\u00a0[my own translation from the Spanish].<\/p>\n\n\n\n This non-definition of the Latin American space, though with different connotations, is not unique of globalized times. In general, America has been historically evaluated and defined by the \u00ab Others \u00bb; repeatedly re-invented in accordance with the various imperialist projects of the great powers; or \u00ab created by opposition \u00bb to the nominal demarcation of its \u00ab Latin \u00bb part during the independence struggles of the nineteenth century. That permanent shifting of its conceptual outlines left frequent interstices, unknown or \u00ab in-between \u00bb spaces, which helped to blur its contours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00ab The Indies \u00bb (later renamed as \u00ab West Indies \u00bb) was the first definition of our continent; a space where the European fantasy placed the most delicious and fantastic imagery, an uncontrolled mixture between the fear of the unknown and the classic and medieval teratology of the Old World.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This area remained \u00ab unknown \u00bb for a large period of time, unexplored by the colonial government, which devoted little efforts to study the new regions. In this regard, the exception was the botanical expedition led by Jos\u00e9 Celestino Mutis in the Vice-royalty of New Granada and those carried out in Brazil during the Dutch occupation (examples of which are the works of Franz Post and Albert Eckhout).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In contrast to the Spanish name of West Indies, in the non-Hispanic Europe the name of \u00abAmerica\u00a0\u00bb emerged in honor of Americo Vespucci. This was also a symbolic way of challenging the exclusive power of the Iberian nation over the newly discovered territories2<\/sup>. With the arrival of the nineteenth century, the name of America took a particular importance, and ended naming at the same time a continent and a new nation (United States of Americas). This is the time when \u00ab\u00a0Latin America\u00a0\u00bb emerges as a counterpart of Anglo-America, and based in a supposedly common heritage, seeks to establish links with one of the emerging powers at the time: France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First named by mistake (Indies), then necessarily re-named (West Indies), designated differently at the same time (America), and finally grouped by a supposedly common Latin heritage that eventually left out a large part of its inhabitants (indigenous population, people from the Francophone or Anglophone Caribbean, among others); not by chance, for many experts, the matter of identity is a substantive characteristic of our definition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, if for the traditional History \u00ab\u00a0Latin America\u00a0\u00bb has been functional as a geopolitical category, in the area of symbolic production its study, as a cultural unity based on the above mentioned identity topic, is an \u00ab\u00a0easy to made\u00a0\u00bb recipe which no longer works. The allegedly preponderance in the whole area of the\u00a0costumbrismo<\/em>\u00a0and as well as political, social and surreal-fantastic themes, which allow the analysis of \u00ab\u00a0Latin America\u00a0\u00bb art as a homogeneous entity3<\/sup>, has been \u00ab\u00a0(\u2026) sterotypes easily assimilated and decodified by an exotic-hungry public and professionals of knowledge interested in pragmatical labelling or definitions\u00a0\u00bb4<\/sup>\u00a0[my own translation from the Spanish]. The origin of this substantialist concept is in the nineteenth century, with the emergence of the new Latin American Republics, and was a part of a political, social and cultural project that sought the continental unity5<\/sup>. In the field of the visual production it is easily detectable in the nineteenth-century\u00a0costumbrismo<\/em>, and continues with particular intensity all over the first half of the twentieth century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of its peak moments is the widely known \u00ab Latin America’s first avant-garde \u00bb, of which Mexican Muralism is a paradigmatic example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In visual terms, this scenario will begin to change between the 40\u2019s and 50’s, with the irruption of the abstract styles in Latin America and the work of artists like Joaqu\u00edn Torres Garc\u00eda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even in the sixties, when it became evident a return to the socially \u2013 and politically \u2013engaged art (for instance the post-revolutionary Cuban art and the Argentinean experience, Tucum\u00e1n Arde<\/em>), during the next decades the Latin American artistic scenario will be more complex and will begin to open a window for the arrival of the postmodernism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00ab\u00a0That abundance of themes but enhanced the plurality of the visual Latin-American universe on a worldwide scale and made even more difficult to define what has always been termed\u00a0Latin American Arts<\/em>. The widely believed monolithic character of our expressions (\u2026.) conflicted again with a never before seen plurality, that was not easily approached from the viewpoint of traditional historiography and critics. This widening of the Latin American visual arts opened new possibilities for curators and researchers of the New Continent (\u2026)\u00a0\u00bb6<\/sup>\u00a0[my own translation from the Spanish]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, the Latin American Art History bibliography, defined as \u00ab classic \u00bb has contributed to perpetuate the schematic vision of the Latin American artistic production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The definition of identities based on national boundaries or geographical notions, was widely used by the traditional bibliography about Latin American art but was not sufficient to comprehend the cultural behaviour of certain areas. We are talking about \u00abin-between \u00bb zones, that can be easily located in a map, but that do not have the group of exclusive characteristics supposedly shared by all the cultures included in certain region; border zones, impossible to fix within the identity stereotypes established a priori<\/em>. Without suitable tools to deal with the analysis of this phenomenon, the easiest solution was made: to omit all those spaces that simply \u00ab do not fit in \u00bb and the emergence of \u00ab strips of silence \u00bb in traditional historiography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus, while Mexico, Brazil and Argentina were the three main protagonists in Latin American Art histories, the Central American space was repeatedly ignored. Central America is an area difficult to assess from the traditional points of view that try to encompass \u00ab the Latin American \u00bb as a homogenous unity. First of all, its behaviour as a region (in artistic and cultural terms) shows particulars that are sharply different from those of other continental countries, among these: a history marked by devastating natural events, poverty rates among the highest in Latin America and historical indifference of the governments toward the cultural institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Concerning the institutional sphere, and in contrast to the majority of Latin American countries, Art Academies and Schools will not develop effectively in Central America until the twentieth century. As a result of this late process of institutionalization, modern languages will arrive in most Central American countries (as a whole) during the forties \u2013\u00a0 and mainly, fifties \u2013 of the past twentieth century. This heterodox modernity was functional only at a visual level and not necessarily at the institutional level. In many cases, some of these nations arrive to modernity when other Latin American countries are experimenting with postmodernity. According to Virginia Perez-Ratton, the structures supporting the art development in the area are nowadays unstable, precarious, short-term, and always suffering from the intrusion of politics7<\/sup>. At this point I would like to underline that when we talk about Latin American Art History \u00abclassic \u00bb bibliography, we are speaking of studies made during the sixties, seventies and the beginning of the eighties. In general, most of these texts show a lack of studies on Central American art. Some of them tentatively include the region through the analysis of certain countries of the area, but they are really insufficient. The first important attempt to open a window for the Central American art was Latin American Art of the Twentieth Century<\/em>, by Edward Sullivan; but this text was written at the end of the nineties. Sullivan includes a more critical and deep study of the area, written by Central American specialists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is important to note that, starting from the 90’s, specialized bibliography on Central American art begins to be locally elaborated. At that moment, when the art of the isthmic America gets in contact with the postmodernism, emerge promotional strategies that try to compensate the lack of an adequate institutional framework. Regional artists begin to have an international outlook due to their inclusion in major events such as the Venice Biennial, where some of them will receive important awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The specialized bibliography about art, written by regional experts, mirrors the integrationist strategies of the nineties. All these authors share the same concept about Central America: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panam\u00e1. Most recent sources include also Belize in this area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Latin American art and culture, Central America neither can be studied as a monolithic cultural entity. It is well known that resources of traditional art historiography, which often establish polarities, schematic differences and ignores the \u00ab contaminations \u00bb and multicultural dialogues, are not suited for the current study of the cultural field. Isthmic America not only changes over time and as a consequence of historical events, but also gets hybridized \u2013 from the cultural viewpoint \u2013 with other notions, such as Caribbean space (to which Belize and Panama are tightly associated). Furthermore, Central America expands its limits beyond its physical-geographical boundaries that situate this space in the middle and isthmic part of America, connecting the two large landmasses (North and South): the huge migration in the eighties, mainly to the United States, drew new limits. \u00ab\u00a0(\u2026) Defining the nation, perhaps the implicit task of the scholarly disciplines created by modernity, is no longer ruled by easily conceived propositions (\u2026). Border zones, unrestrained illegal migration, the Internet, cable TV, the consumer\u2019s citizenship and the ever expanding service industry (\u2026) have transformed the play field (\u2026)\u00a0\u00bb8<\/sup>\u00a0[my own translation from the Spanish]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overcoming the traditional study of Latin American art, particularly in certain academic circles, is imperative. The use of more updated resources to implement its analysis will open new areas of study, whose historical omission needs to be widely claimed, and therefore, will incorporate these areas effectively in the historiography of contemporary art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [1]\u00a0Santiago Castro-G\u00f3mez and Eduardo Mendieta.\u00a0La translocalizaci\u00f3n discursiva de \u00abLatinoam\u00e9rica\u00bb en tiempos de la globalizaci\u00f3n<\/em><\/strong>. In:\u00a0Teor\u00edas sin disciplina (latinoamericanismo, poscolonialidad y globalizaci\u00f3n en debate)<\/em><\/strong>. [2]\u00a0Ibid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [3]\u00a0From the theoretical perspective, terms like \u00abhybridism\u00bb, \u00abheterogeneity\u00bb, \u00abtransculturation\u00bb,\u00a0 \u00abappropriation\u00bb and \u00abresignification\u00bb, became also stereotypes of the Latin American identity.\u00a0Cf<\/em>. Gerardo Mosquera.\u00a0Contra el arte latinoamericano<\/em><\/strong>. (http:\/\/arte-nuevo.blogspot.com\/2009\/06\/contra-el-arte-latinoamericano.html). (08\/29\/2011).<\/p>\n\n\n\n [4]\u00a0Nelson Herrera Ysla.\u00a0Una cierta movida en Latinoam\u00e9rica<\/em><\/strong>. In:\u00a0Coordenadas de Arte Contempor\u00e1neo<\/em><\/strong>. Havana, Arte Cubano Ediciones and Centro de Arte Contempor\u00e1neo Wifredo Lam, 2003, p. 97.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [5]\u00a0We cannot forget that this nationalist project had two sides. One that placed territoriality and physical boundaries, as demarcation lines of the singular and different. Other, linked to the idea of a continental nationality (a sort of continuation of the colonial structures) in which the national borders were eliminated to create the \u00abLatin American space\u201d, characterized by the permanent dichotomy civilization \u2013 barbarism, described by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento. [6]\u00a0Nelson Herrera Ysla. Op. Cit., p. 101.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [7]\u00a0Cf<\/em>. Virginia P\u00e9rez-Ratton.Centroam\u00e9rica: cintura o cors\u00e9 de Am\u00e9rica?<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0En:\u00a0Visiones del sector cultural en Centroam\u00e9rica<\/em><\/strong>. San Jos\u00e9, Ediciones AECI Cooperaci\u00f3n para el desarrollo, Centro Cultural de Espa\u00f1a, 2000, pp.78-79.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [8]\u00a0 Rom\u00e1n de la Campa.\u00a0Nuevas cartograf\u00edas latinoamericanas<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/em>Havana, Editorial Letras Cubanas, 2006, pp. 26-27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Ades, Dawn,\u00a0<\/strong>Arte en Iberoamerica 1820-1980<\/em>, Turner, 1990.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Castro-G\u00f3mez, Santiago et Eduardo Mendieta,\u00a0La translocalizaci\u00f3n discursiva de \u00abLatinoam\u00e9rica\u00a0\u00bb en tiempos de la globalizaci\u00f3n<\/em>, dans\u00a0Teor\u00edas sin disciplina (latinoamericanismo, poscolonialidad y globalizaci\u00f3n en debate)<\/em>, 2011, en ligne, <http:\/\/www.duke.edu\/~wmignolo\/InteractiveCV\/Publications\/Teoriassindisciplina.pdf>, <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 De la Campa,\u00a0 Rom\u00e1n,\u00a0Nuevas cartograf\u00edas latinoamericanas,\u00a0<\/em>Havana, Editorial Letras Cubanas, 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Guti\u00e9rrez, Ram\u00f3n et Rodrigo Guti\u00e9rrez Vi\u00f1uales,\u00a0Historia del Arte en Iberoam\u00e9rica<\/em>, Lunwerg, 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Herrera Ysla, Nelson,\u00a0Una cierta movida en Latinoam\u00e9rica<\/em>, dans\u00a0Coordenadas de Arte Contempor\u00e1neo<\/em>, Havana, Arte Cubano Ediciones and Centro de Arte Contempor\u00e1neo Wifredo Lam, 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Ma\u00edz, Claudio,\u00a0Nuevas cartograf\u00edas simb\u00f3licas. Espacio, identidad y crisis en la ensay\u00edstica de Manuel Ugarte<\/em>, 2008, en ligne, <http:\/\/www.lehman.cuny.edu\/ciberletras\/v05\/maiz.html>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Mosquera, Gerardo,\u00a0Contra el arte latinoamerican<\/em>o, en ligne, 2011, \u2013 P\u00e9rez-Ratton, Virginia,\u00a0Centroam\u00e9rica: \u00bfcintura o cors\u00e9 de Am\u00e9rica?<\/em>, dans\u00a0Visiones del sector cultural en Centroam\u00e9rica<\/em>,\u00a0San Jos\u00e9, Ediciones AECI Cooperaci\u00f3n para el desarrollo, Centro Cultural de Espa\u00f1a, 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Rojas Mix, Miguel,\u00a0America Imaginaria<\/em>, Barcelona, Editorial Lumen, 1992.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 Yepes, Enrique.\u00a0Am\u00e9rica Latina, un concepto difuso y en constante revisi\u00f3n<\/em>, 2011, en ligne, <http:\/\/www.colegioisc.cl\/apuntes\/4medio_america_latina.pdf>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since America\u2019s discovery, the various names given to our continent mirrored the conceptual ambiguity of the territory, and helped to prioritize the need for an identity. However, the analysis of the region as a cultural unity based on the permanent search for identity is a recipe that no longer works. Non-definitions and stereotypes begin \u00ab\u00a0Latin … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[119],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archee.uqam.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archee.uqam.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archee.uqam.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archee.uqam.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archee.uqam.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2369"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/archee.uqam.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2380,"href":"https:\/\/archee.uqam.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369\/revisions\/2380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archee.uqam.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archee.uqam.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archee.uqam.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/archee.uqam.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/s2.jpeg\")
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1992, p. 88<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/archee.uqam.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/s4.jpeg\")
An insufficient History<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/archee.uqam.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/s5.jpeg\")
\u00a0
On the other hand, Central America has imprecise boundaries, un-defined territories which traditional bibliography about Latin American Art History has contributed to preserve. In this regard, the area is studied mainly through the \u00abgreat Central American paradigm\u00bb: Guatemala. Following in chronological order according to the aforesaid texts, are Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and \u2013 in the eighties of the last century \u2013 Costa Rica were included in the analysis. However, countries like Panama and Belize are totally ignored or very seldom mentioned, sometimes classified among the Caribbean, sometimes included in the continental area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/archee.uqam.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/s6.jpeg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/archee.uqam.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/s7.jpeg\")
Updating tools, completing History<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Today the borders are re-designed on the basis of cultural parameters instead of spacing; therefore, the resources of traditional art historiography, full of substantialist concepts and geographic determinisms, are ineffectual for the study of Central American Art and, in general, of Latin American Art. As Rom\u00e1n de la Campa said:<\/p>\n\n\n\nNotes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
(http:\/\/www.duke.edu\/~wmignolo\/InteractiveCV\/Publications\/Teoriassindisciplina.pdf). (08\/15\/2011).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cf<\/em>.\u00a0 Claudio Ma\u00edz.\u00a0Nuevas cartograf\u00edas simb\u00f3licas. Espacio, identidad y crisis en la ensay\u00edstica de Manuel Ugarte<\/em><\/strong>.
(http:\/\/www.lehman.cuny.edu\/ciberletras\/v05\/maiz.html). (4\/06\/08).<\/p>\n\n\n\nBibliographie<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<http:\/\/arte-nuevo.blogspot.com\/2009\/06\/contra-el-arte-latinoamericano.html><\/p>\n\n\n\n