09.21.2011 — 03.05.2012
As part of the celebrations for the museum's 10th anniversary, Malba presents a new exhibition of its permanent collection of Latin American art, based on the museum's emblematic works and a set of key pieces on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH). It includes more than 170 works, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, objects, installations, and videos.
The new curatorial script—developed by Marcelo Pacheco, Chief Curator at Malba—presents the public with a series of journeys through the artistic experiences that have taken place in the region since the emergence of the avant-garde movements around 1910, up to the latest trends that have emerged on the international scene in the first decade of the 21st century.
It is divided into four central themes: the variants of Latin American modernism and avant-garde movements of the 1920s; a collection of paintings from the 1930s and 1940s that reflects the diversity of surrealism and the affirmation of the art/politics debate as a focus of production and reflection; the abstract, concrete, optical, and kinetic trends that developed in Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela, a particularly significant section thanks to the loan of an exceptional group of works from the MFAH collection; and contemporary art from new figuration, pop, conceptualism, and minimalism to the scenes of the 1980s, with a return to painting.
“The proposal is one of many possible perspectives on the history of modern and contemporary Latin American art, arising from the combination of the most representative artists and works in the museum's collection and the range of artistic proposals that characterized the most notable moments of the chosen chronological period,” explains Pacheco.
The exhibition clearly shows the contrasts between the different centers of activity in countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, and Chile, bringing into circulation new interpretations and reinterpretations of Latin American art.
Institutional exchange with MFAH
The narrative presented is complemented by an invaluable collection of 14 pieces on loan from the MFAH. The works are: Blanco Negro (1971) by Hércules Barsotti; Tema Circular no. 1 by Aluísio Carvão (1956); Planos en una superficie modulada nro. 1 (1957) by Lygia Clark; Objeto activo (c. 1960) by Willys de Castro; Estructura en colores puros (1929) and Composición abstracta tubular (1937) by Joaquín Torres-García; Aplique de reticulárea (1969) by Gego; Gracia plena (peinador) (1971) by Beatriz González; Relevo espacial (ca. 1960) by Hélio Oiticica; Coloritmo Nro. 43 (1960) by Alejandro Otero; Cara de niño (Concentración) (1939) by David Alfaro Siqueiros; Sin Título (1959) and Sin Título (Kinetic Structure of Geometric Elements) (1956) by Jesús Rafael Soto; and Banderas verdes sobre rosa (c.1957) by Alfredo Volpi.
This loan is part of the agreement that Malba and MFAH have maintained since 2005, with the aim of stimulating the exchange of exhibitions and collections and collaborating on publications and other initiatives designed to promote Latin American art in the United States and South America. In April 2012, Malba's collection will arrive at MFAH for the first time in the United States, featuring some of the most important works from its permanent collection.
