Latin American Art History: From Pre-Columbian to Modern Movements

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of Latin American art history, tracing its evolution from pre-Columbian indigenous cultures through the colonial period, marked by European influences, and into the modern era. It examines the impact of movements like constructivism, modernismo, impressionism, expressionism, cubism, surrealism, and abstract expressionism on the region's artistic landscape. The essay highlights key artists such as Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Roberto Matta, and Wilfredo Lam, analyzing their significant contributions and the socio-political contexts that shaped their work. It delves into the Mexican Muralist movement, exploring its social and political messages, and discusses the emergence of postmodernism and contemporary trends. The essay emphasizes the enduring legacy of Latin American art and its distinct identity within the global art history narrative, referencing various art styles, artists, and their notable artworks.

Running head: LATIN AMERICAN ART HISTORY
Latin American Art History
Student’s name
University
Author’s note

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American art is a collective artistic expression of Central America, South America,
Mexico and the Caribbean. The history of American art has its root in the indigenous cultures of
the region, and was heavily influenced by spiritual and religious concerns. A result of the fusion
of African, European and Native American cultures, it was collectively referred to and known as
Pre-Columbian art. During the colonial period, the visual artistic tradition of the region was
significantly influenced by Portuguese, Spanish, French and most importantly, Dutch Baroque
paintings, which was in turn heavily influenced by the works of the great Italian masters (Giunta
and Flaherty 2017). However, the Eurocentric influence on American art started to fade away
during the early 20th century with the onset of the constructivist movement. Initiated by Russian
artists Vladimir Tatlin and Alexander Rodchenko, the artistic philosophy of constructivism
adhered to the notions of austere and abstract, while aiming to reflect the urban space in the
modern industrial society. The movement also discarded aesthetic stylization to favour the social
and practical purposes of life. Most importantly, it was closely associated with Russian avant-
garde and Soviet Socialism. Manuel Rendon and Joaquin Torres were the stalwarts who ushered
in and promoted the constructivist movement to Latin America (Bailey 2005).
At the turn of 20th century, the Latin American artists also started to shift from the
realistic styles of the colonial Europe and started to develop a more spontaneous, looser
techniques that could manifest deeper emotions. This marked a new era of Latin American Art,
to which the scholars referred as Modernismo- using the Spanish term that was used to denote
the Hispanic literary movement, which promoted innovative, poetic metaphors and sensuous
imagery over realistic descriptions (Baker 2016). The highly aesthetic form of art used
exaggerated use of colours and lines, and shifted the focus of their art to the subject matter,
distinct from the European tradition that emphasized the formal design (Bailey 2205). However,

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the Modernismo style of art encompassed the artistic works that were indirectly influenced by
Impressionism of the 19th century France. Impressionist paintings involved an effort to capture
the optical sensation of light, which was reflected in the use of vibrant colors and pigmentations
in the canvases of Modernismo painters (Rasmussen, Bercht, and Ferrer 1993).
Apart from Impressionism, another artistic style that influence American Modernismo to
a great extent was that of Expressionism. Like Impressionists, Expressionist painters also used
vibrant colors and intensified color contrasts (Davies, C., 2017). Many Latin American painters
were also influenced by the European avant-garde style of Cubism. Which twisted and flattened
the forms of the subject matters and presented from different viewpoints (Barr Jr. 2019). Among
several Latin American artists, Diego Riviera, the famous Mexican muralist was one of the
pioneering figures of Latin American art history, who received and proliferated Cubism in his
works. Rivera was sent to Europe to study art with a scholarship from the Mexican Government.
He eventually ended up in the Cubist circle of Paris and was deeply influenced by the works of
Pablo Picasso and Goerges Braque, the originators of Cubism. Upon his arrival at Mexico,
Rivera continued to adopt abstract forms and still lifes of Cubism in his works, although he kept
abreast of the contemporary developments and movements in Mexico and incorporated them as
his subject matters (Catlin 1996).
Rivera was recognized as the most influential artist of 20th century Mexico. Together with
José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros, he started a movement that became to be
known as the Mexican Muralist movement. Mexican Muralism refers to the proliferation of
mural painting that started back in 1920s Mexico. With the social and political messages as a
part of their subject matters, the Muralists tried to reunify the country under the post-Mexican
revolution government. Since 1920 to 1970, an array of murals with nationalistic messages and

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socio-political themes were erected across Mexico and had a deep impact on the overall political
environment of Latin America, including the USA, where it played a key role to initiate the
Chicano movement (Anreus, Folgarait and Greeley 2012). By 1915, Mexico was caught up in a
major social revolution with the advent of the followers of Emiliano Zapata as they fought for
the ownership of the land. Rivera combined his political and social concerns in his artworks and
expressed them through the Cubist form. In his Zapatist Landscape (1915). He arranged the
abstract elements of a Zapata follower, straw hat, serape and rifle, against the simplified
backdrop of a snow-capped volcano in a flattened collage. This is a prime example of the
amalgamation of Rivera’s Cubist style and political inclination, which is expressed through a
synthetic Cubist form. Rivera was commissioned by the new Mexican government to work on
several national buildings and libraries (Craven2002). Rivera, combining the styles of the Italian
fresco paintings and the pre-Columbian heritage of Mexico, depicted significant concerns in his
murals, including social inequality, the history and fate of Mexico and the relation of nature,
technology and industry. As an atheist and lifetime server of the Communist party, Rivera’s
work reflected his outspoken commitment to social and political causes, depicting subject
matters such as American workers, Mexican peasants and revolutionary figures such as Zapata
and Lenin. His important artworks include the Zapatista Landscape (1916), Motherhood (1916),
View of Toledo (1915), En el Arsenal (1928) and Tierra Fecundada (1927). (Rasmussen, Bercht,
and Ferrer 1993).
Throughout the course of Latin American art history, surrealism was also a guiding force
along with constructivist and muralist movements. A certain section of the artist community
enthusiastically accepted and adopted the surrealist emphasis on irrationality and the personal,
emotional and subconscious aspects of art (Ades, Eder and Speranza, 2012). The Chilean artist

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Roberto Matta was one of the pioneers of surrealist art in Latin America. He worked in Le
Corbusier in Paris as an architect before moving to Chile. He was also an early mentors of
abstract expressionism, Matta blended in his mature works elements of figuration, abstraction
and multi-dimensional spaces into cosmic complex landscapes. The unique features of Matta’s
works reflects in his dialogue with the surrealist philosophy and subsequently breaking to
stereotypes of surrealism by adding the elements of social and political concerns. Moreover, his
fantastically conceived elements abstraction and figuration introduced a novel element in Latin
American art history—the element of three-dimensional space. His endeavour with the dialogue
between surrealism and dramatic landscapes using elements of three-dimensional space, he
produced several important artworks in his lifetime, among which Cruxificion (1938), Etre Avec
(Being with, 1946) and The Earth is a Man (1942) are most notable examples. (Rasmussen,
Bercht, and Ferrer 1993).
Along with Matta, Frida Kahlo was another significant surrealist painter of the 20th
century Mexico. She was known for her numerous portraits, self-portraits and figurations. Her
works were immensely inspired by artifacts of Mexican heritage and nature (Kettenmann and
Kahlo 2000). She employed a significant style of naïve folk art in her paintings that was
primarily aimed at addressing the issues of gender, race, class, post-colonialism and identity in
the post-revolution Mexico. Her artworks majorly involved autobiographical elements mixed
with fantasy and realism She used the visual symbolism to express pain and suffering to pinpoint
the overflow of emotional pain, which was prevalent throughout her life (Herrera 1993).. Kahlo
was also a significant character in the contemporary feminist discourse, as she was the first
female artist to explore the aspects of pain, loss, death, suffering and selfhood through artistic
language. Prior to Kahlo, no woman ventured to investigate the intrinsic pain and emotions of

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womanhood, whereas Kahlo, not only took up the task, but also developed her own artistic
language to express them (Broude 2018). She even literally exposed interior female organs and
depicted her own body in a broken and bleeding state in her self-portraits to open up a dialogue
to discuss self-identity, womanhood, loss and pain. No artists, other than Goya and Munch, has
captured pain and death in their arts in such vivid manner. However, Kahlo herself denied to be a
surrealist, claiming that her art reflected her own dreams and reality (Rasmussen, Bercht, and
Ferrer 1993).
Along with Rivera, Matta, and Kahlo, Wilfredo Lam was another significant figure of
their contemporary Latin American art history. The Cuban artist was deeply influenced by
Braque, Matisse, Picasso, Miró, Rivera and Kahlo. However, he developed his unique style,
which was characterized by the prominence of hybrid figures (Rasmussen, Bercht, and Ferrer
1993). Lam’s masterpiece, The Jungle, reflects his signature style of polymorphism, juxtaposing
aspects of plants, animals and humans. It depicts monstrous, hybrid characters and evokes a
claustrophobic feeling, which, according to Lam, is an attempt to portray a spiritual state
(Winkiel, L., 2017).
The late 20th century Latin American art history was abstract expressionism, which
emerged as a branch of surrealism. Also, there was a subtle transition from abstract
expressionism to formalism. However, since the late 1950s, the artists adopted a style of personal
transformation, creating a new era of art leaning on the notions of postmodernism (Benezra
2020). There was also a trend of recreating masterpieces of the past artists such as Goya, Picasso,
Velázquez etc. with renewed stylistic approach, often with a caricatured style to challenge the
received European culture (Silverman 2017). In the beginning of 1950s, Columbian artist
Fernando Botero transformed several famous European paintings, such as those of Ruben. He

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employed an unrealistic proportion, often using rotund figures that gave the political figurations
a pompous absurdity. Later in his life, he used the same rotund figures in her bronze sculptors to
make his point in a larger than life, three-dimensional form (HELALI 2016).
The tradition of Latin American art has evolved with the renewed worldviews and
stylistic adaptations of the 21st century. Nonetheless, it has retained the impact of its cultural and
artistic heritage. With so many notable artists and their artworks, Latin America has secured a
special place in the course of art history of the world, claiming a distinct identity and
appreciation of its own.

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