Press

ALBANY, NY – Latin American and Caribbean Art: Selected Highlights from the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) opens Saturday, May 17 at the New York State Museum.

On view through October 13 in the Museum’s West Gallery, the exhibition is the 19th installment of the Bank of America Great Art Exhibition and Education Program, which brings art from New York State’s leading art museums to the State Museum. This also is the fourth exhibition in the Bank of America Great Art Series drawn from the Museum of Modern Art’s collections.

The exhibition will showcase a selection of more than 50 works from MoMA’s collection of Latin American and Caribbean art, ranging from early modern to contemporary, tracing significant stylistic trends and movements found in works from this region. With some 3,500 works, MoMA currently holds the world’s most comprehensive collection of Latin American and Caribbean art.

Included in the exhibition are significant works of artists as varied as Wifredo Lam, Diego Rivera, Joaquín Torres-García, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Emilio Pettoruti, Hector Hyppolyte, Marisol, Alejandro Otero, Lygia Clark, Hélio Oiticica, Felix Gonzalez-Torres and others. This exhibition is organized in two sections. The first includes significant examples of early modernism in Latin

America — embracing Mexican muralism, Caribbean early modern figuration, surrealism, late modern figuration and landscape, and Latin American pop art. The second section includes radical examples of the concrete and neo-constructivist movements that offered a fertile field for the transformation of constructivism in Latin America, from the early modernists to mid-20th century artists. This section of the exhibition ends with a selection of contemporary artists whose works both reflect, and radically transform, historical traditions and precedents.

Together, the works in this exhibition deliver a lesson not only about Latin American art, but about modern art in general: that modernity was never completely unified but, rather, existed as various constellations of artists, singular individuals, and complex collective experiences.

The exhibition is organized by Luis Pérez-Oramas, the Estrellita Brodsky curator of Latin American Art, and Geaninne Gutiérrez-Guimarães, curatorial assistant with the Museum of Modern Art.

MoMA’s long history of collecting Latin American and Caribbean art began in the 1930s, when it became the first institution outside of Latin America to collect, display, and study this art. Through these activities, MoMA played an important role in shaping the perception of Latin American and Caribbean art in the United States. Alfred H. Barr, MoMA’s founding director, and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, co-founder, were early champions for inclusion of Latin American artists in MoMA’s collection. Mrs. Rockefeller donated the first such works, with a gift of 36 paintings and 105 drawings, including important works by Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco. The tradition continued throughout the 20th century, with important gifts from former Governor Nelson Rockefeller and David Rockefeller, and continues today under the leadership of MoMA Director Glenn D. Lowry. Over the past 10 years, more than 500 works have been acquired from Latin American and Caribbean artists.

The State Museum has several programs planned to complement the MoMA exhibition. Creative Art Day is a free program designed for families to participate in artful activities, based on Museum exhibitions. A program focusing on the exhibition will be held Saturday, May 24 at 1 p.m. ARTventures is planned for Saturday, September 13 at 1 p.m., and will include a visit to the exhibition, followed by a hands-on, art-making experience, led by instructor Peggy Steinbach. The program is free to State Museum members and $5 for non-members. Pre-registration is suggested. Creative Quest: Museum ART Camp is available during two weeks in August, with one session for ages 3-6 and another for ages 7-12. The fee for each week is $60 for Museum members and $70 for non-members, plus a materials fee of $5. Registration for ART Camp or for ARTventures may be made by calling 518-473-7154 or emailing psteinba@mail.nysed.gov to reserve a space.

The New York State Museum expresses its gratitude to Bank of America, the New York State Senate and New York State Assembly for making this exhibition possible. Additional support is provided by The Times Union, Time Warner Cable/Capital News 9 and Potratz Partners Advertising.

The New York State Museum is a cultural program of the New York State Education Department. Started in 1836, the Museum has the longest continuously operating state natural history research and collection survey in the United States. Located on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Admission is free. Further information can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the Museum website.

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