A Brief History of Art in Latin America in the 20th Century - Part I (Feb 2021)

"Latin American artists approached the avant-garde as neither a style nor a school but a self-critical attitude. One that questioned the nature and meaning of art while simultaneously expanding its formal and conjectural parameters"

Inverted Utopias by Mari Carmen Ramirez.

This 6-week course will provide you with an overview of key historical elements that shaped the Latin-American art scene of the 20th Century. Despite the current debate over the use of the term "Latin American Art", art-historian Daniela Galan will guide an in-depth critical discussion on the patterns, dissonances, similarities and tensions that determined Latin America’s importance in the global contemporary art scene. Through the analysis of 50 artworks, we will study concepts such modernism; post-colonialism; the relationship between social realism and politics; universalism, primitivism and the construction of the fantastic; abstraction vs concretism; among others.

Each lesson which will include a one-hour lecture, one-hour Q&A discussion, and will be accompanied by a suggested reading list.

Session 1: Universalism or National Identity?

Session 2: Dream or Reality? Dismantling the fantastic.

Session 3: Chi'ixi: Indigenism or the gesture of returning the gaze. 

Session 4: Creating Illusions: Geometric Abstraction & Op Art.

Session 5: Figuration, Expressionism and Environments

Session 6: Conceptualism as a political device.

This online course (via Zoom) will start on Tuesday 9 February 2021 and lasts 6 weeks, with weekly, 1:30 to 2-hour sessions. If you missed the first session you will receive the recording upon registration. 

Depending on government restrictions, we’re hoping to include an extra guided tour at the Tate Modern in London for students residing in London (at an extra cost of £10 per person).