Avant-Garde, Internationalism, and Politics

by Giunta, Andrea; Kahn, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780822338772
• ISBN10: 0822338777
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-06-30
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

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 Politicsis an examination of the 1960s as a brief historical moment when artists, institutions, and critics joined to promote an international identity for Argentinars"s visual arts.The renowned Argentine art historian and critic Andrea Giunta analyzes projects specifically designed to internationalize Argentinars"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 possible-not least the Alliance for Progress, a U.S. program of "exchange" and "cooperation" meant to prevent the spread of communism through Latin America in the wake of the Cuban Revolution-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 Figuracioacute;n and Arte Destructivo; and individual artists including Antonio Berni, Alberto Greco, Leoacute;n Ferrari, Marta Minujin, and Luis Felipe Noeacute;. Giuntars"s rich narrative illuminates the contentious postwar relationships between art and politics, Latin America and the United States, and local identity and global recognition.

Author Biography

Andrea Giunta is a professor of art history at the Universidad de San Martin and an associate professor of art history at the Universidad de Buenos Aires

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
About the Series	p. xi
Preface and Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Translator's Note	p. xvii
Abbreviations	p. xix
Introduction	p. 1
Modern Art on the Margins of Peronism	p. 25
Postwar Chronicle	p. 26
The North American Invasion	p. 31
Abstract Artists Between Communists and Liberals	p. 33
The Platforms for the Displaced	p. 36
The Official Policy Toward Art	p. 39
The French Invasion	p. 42
Controversies on Abstract Art	p. 45
Between Peronism and Abstract Art: Coming to Terms	p. 47
Ver y Estimar on the Ramparts of Modern Art	p. 48
Proclamations and Programs During the Revolucion Libertadora	p. 55
The Embassies of Art	p. 59
A Revitalized Museum	p. 64
A New Museum for the New Art	p. 67
Boa, Phases, and the International Front of the Avant-Garde	p. 70
Conflicting Internationalisms	p. 81
The Exploration of Materials	p. 85
The "New" Art Scene	p. 91
Journal of a Collector	p. 96
Coming Out in Society	p. 101
The First International Exhibition	p. 108
The 150th Anniversary Celebrations	p. 112
A Plan for Success	p. 113
The Avant-Garde as Problem	p. 119
The Material Limits	p. 125
The Art of "Things"	p. 128
An Aesthetic of Violence	p. 135
Argentines in Paris	p. 143
Avant-Garde and Narration	p. 151
The Total Art Object	p. 158
The Decentering of the Modernist Paradigm	p. 163
Suspending Judgment and Embracing Novelty	p. 169
Other Genealogies for Modern Art	p. 171
An All-Consuming Aesthetic	p. 180
Strategies of Internationalization	p. 189
The American Family	p. 191
International Awards for National Recognition	p. 198
The Circulating MOMA Exhibitions	p. 208
1964: The Year of Recognition	p. 210
Biennial and Anti-Biennial	p. 221
The Culmination of Internationalism	p. 227
The Aporias of Internationalism	p. 233
The Avant-Garde Between Art and Politics	p. 243
The Artist as Intellectual	p. 246
A "Plastic" Crime	p. 249
The Politics of Assemblage	p. 256
The Avant-Garde Between the Two Boundaries	p. 264
Art as a Collective and Violent Action	p. 267
Conclusions	p. 281
Notes	p. 291
Bibliography	p. 373
Index	p. 397
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