Latin American art is taking center stage at the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV) now through January 8, 2023, in the exhibition Destination: Latin America.
Presenting works created by some of the most renowned modern and contemporary Mexican, South American, and Caribbean artists, Destination: Latin America includes more than 60 paintings, photographs, prints, books, drawings, and sculptures.
A nationally touring exhibition, Destination: Latin America is organized by the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, and its MSV display is sponsored by Shenandoah Oncology and iHeartMedia.
According to Nancy Huth, MSV deputy director of arts and education, the presentation of Destination: Latin America marks the first time an exhibition focused solely on Latin American art has been on view at the MSV. Along with illustrating how Latin American artists have responded to social, political, and economic issues from the 1950s to the late 2010s, Huth notes that the exhibition demonstrates the role of Latin American artists in the international development of geometric and abstract art and their ongoing contribution to figurative styles.
The exhibition is organized in five sections and presents a chronological journey through twentieth- and twenty-first century Latin American art. Visitors first encounter works created after the Mexican Revolution (1910–20) by artists who rejected copying of European styles and instead focused on local landscapes, daily scenes, and Mexican history. Next, paintings and sculpture created in the second half of the 1900s that demonstrate Latin America’s interest in abstraction are presented. The following three sections feature works by Caribbean and South American artists inspired by African art, Surrealism, and Magical Realism; art created as a response to military rule in several South American countries when artists faced censorship; and works by contemporary artists that address global themes of identity, political struggle, consumption, violence, and repression.
Destination: Latin America presents the work of 29 Latin American artists. Notable pieces include An Aztec Indian Scene created around 1947 by Mexican painter José Clemente Orozco (1883–1949), one of the most influential muralists of the twentieth century; four lithographs from the 1969 portfolio Mujeres (Women) by Rufino Tamayo (1899–1991)—a famous Mexican artist known for combining modern European painting styles, such as Cubism and Surrealism, with Mexican folk themes; and Bleu sur le rectangle (Blue on the Rectangle), a piece made in 1969 by Venezuelan op and kinetic artist Jesús Rafael Soto (1923–2005) that tricks the viewer’s eye and appears to shimmer and vibrate. A photograph of a New York delivery boy dressed as Superman by Mexican photographer Dulce Pinzón (b. 1974) is among the contemporary works on view. From her acclaimed series The True Story of Superheroes 2005–2010 that was created to bring awareness to the often-invisible heroes of American society—hardworking immigrants—the image is a powerful commentary on labor and community.
A regional cultural center, the MSV is located at 901 Amherst Street in Winchester, Virginia. The MSV includes a galleries building where permanent and rotating exhibitions are on view, the Glen Burnie House, seven acres of formal gardens, and The Trails at the MSV—a free-admission art park open daily from 7 a.m. to dusk. The galleries are open year-round Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (11 a.m. to 4 p.m. January through March); the house and gardens are open Tuesday through Sunday from April through December. General admission fees range from $5 to $15. Details about programming offered in conjunction with Destination: Latin America are available here or by calling 540-662-1473, ext. 235. –END–
Artists Represented in Destination: Latin America
Manuel Álvarez Bravo, José Raúl Anguiano Valadez, Julio Antonio, Henry Bermudez, Leda Catunda, Carlos Cruz-Diez, José Luis Cuevas, Arturo Duclos, Engels the Artist, Lucio Fontana, Carlos Garaicoa, Florencio Gelabert, Ignacio Iturria, Alfred Jensen, Nicolás de Jesús, Wifredo Lam, Eduardo Mac Entyre, María Martínez-Cañas, Roberto Matta, Almir Mavignier, José Clemente Orozco, Marta María Pérez Bravo, Dulce Pinzón, Betsabeé Romero, Jesús Rafael Soto, Gerardo Suter, Rufino Tamayo, Luis Tomasello, and Eugenia Vargas.
Destination: Latin America is organized by the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, and curated by Patrice Giasson, the Alex Gordon Curator of Art of the Americas, with the curatorial assistance of Marianelli Neumann. Generous support for this exhibition has been provided by the Alex Gordon Estate, the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art, and the Purchase College Foundation. The MSV display of Destination: Latin America is generously sponsored by Shenandoah Oncology and iHeartMedia.