Sur Moderno: Journeys of Abstraction

My thesis aims to investigate Latin American art at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) through the study of its collection and exhibitions. In particular, I focus on the exhibition Sur Moderno: Journeys of Abstraction—The Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gift. I will argue that Cisneros influenced the museum’s collecting decisions, and its exhibitions of Latin American art. Sur Moderno is one of the most recent examples of this argument. In this exhibition, there were artists from four Latin American countries: Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Through the CLACS Tinker Foundation Field Research Grant, I was able to travel to Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Montevideo, and Punta del Este to conduct research.

In Brazil, I visited the Projeto Hélio Oiticica, an exhibition space dedicated to the artist’s work. The main focus of the space is the Penetrables series, participatory installations which are meant to involve the viewer. Given Oiticica’s prominence in Brazilian modernism and to the Sur Moderno exhibition, this was a central place for my research. Another museum that was very important for my thesis was the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), as I will compare it to MoMA and other museums in Latin America, including the Museum of Latin American Art (MALBA) in Buenos Aires. MASP is a paradigmatic example in modernist architecture, realized by Lina Bo Bardi. The Italian-born architect also designed the exhibition displays. At MASP, works of art are not hung on walls, but on glass panels that occupy the galleries. Visitors have to walk around the artworks and are able to see the verso, where the labels with information are placed. This allows for people to have a first encounter with a work that is purely visual. However, the exhibition design invites visitors to participate by physically surrounding the space.

In Uruguay, I visited the Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales (MNAV). This museum has a robust collection of works by Joaquín Torres García, another artist included in Sur Moderno. The father of Universalismo Constructivo, Torres García is one of the pioneers in introducing the languages of the avant-garde in Latin America. The MNAV was also important in my research as one of the Cisneros Collection exhibitions was held there. Titled Geo-metrías, the exhibition was first presented at MALBA and then traveled to the museum in Montevideo. This example will be used to trace the journeys of the collection within the South American countries it seeks to represent.

In conclusion, through the research trip, I was able to visit museums and consult primary sources that are central to my thesis. Additionally, I visited other spaces of art circulation, including commercial art galleries and the newly opened Museum of Contemporary Art (MACA) in Uruguay.