The Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, CA, is the only museum in the western United States that exclusively features contemporary Latin American art—that is, works by artists who have lived and worked in Latin America since World War II. The museum was founded by Dr. Robert Gumbiner in 1996; this past June, it reopened after a major expansion and renovation project that more than doubled its capacity and included the creation of a 15,000-square-foot sculpture garden. A portion of the museum’s permanent collection is now presented in A Bridge to the Americas, an exhibition featuring 80 works organized both geographically and thematically in two galleries. Here are three artworks from the exhibit, representing Mexico, Chile, and Argentina.
Rafael Coronel (Mexico), Tiberio, Acrylic, 39 3/8 x 31 1/2, on loan from the Robert Guminer Foundation |
Mexico
Young Rafael Coronel had a swift rise to success, much like his contemporary José Luis Cuevas. Coronel is perhaps the best known painter to be associated with Nueva Presencia (New Presence), a group of Mexican artists who made a definitive break with the earlier generation of muralists. This new group oriented itself to a newly arising professional class rather than to the masses. They created easel paintings and drawings instead of murals, and looked to international sources for inspiration.
Coronel’s early phase focused on a dark and grotesque neo-Expressionism. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he produced garish depictions of skeletons and prostitutes, often on paper. Beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, however, Coronel completely changed his style. He began depicting the desolation and anguish of the human condition through beautiful representations reminiscent of Michelangelo de Caravaggio, Diego Velázquez, and Francisco de Goya.
The examples of Coronel’s art in the collection are beautifully rendered figures placed in a shadowy, undefined environment. These works still convey the existentialist pain of Nueva Presencia, but express it through an inward tension. Using dramatic lighting and classic contours that show an influence from European 17th-century masters, Coronel has created an intense and almost spiritual encounter for the viewer.
Antonio Berni (Argentina), El Matador (1964), Woodcut with embossing, 43 1/4 x 23, on loan from the Robert Guminer Foundation |
Argentina
Antonio Berní began his passion for art early in life; his first solo exhibition was at the age of 18. This exhibition and other work led to an art scholarship in Paris, France. Although Berní showed an early interest in Surrealism, the social crisis in Argentina during the 1930s changed his focus towards Social Realism and its themes of protest. Early works have a dramatic perspective that gives the figures (such as groups of unemployed or protesting workers) a dramatic, almost monumental appearance.
Berní’s art in later years used new methods of printmaking, incorporating collages of industrial rubbish and everyday objects. He is perhaps best known for his Juanito Laguna and Ramona Montiel series of paintings based on strong social criticism. His work was particularly concerned with marginalized people such as the working poor, orphans, and prostitutes. Antonio Berní died in 1981.
Mario Gomez (Chile), Untitled (1998), oil, 50 x 62, on loan from the Robert Gumbiner Foundation |
Chile
Mario Gómez received a degree in fine art at the Catholic University in Chile and has been very successful in his native country. His style is based on academic figuration. His latest work includes more graphic and three-dimensional qualities. A member of the 1990s generation of artists, Gómez is obsessive about his personal universe, painting a fantastic world of vast, barren landscapes. Thematically, the artist depicts childhood memories with modern day images and ideas.
Mario Gómez received a degree in fine art at the Catholic University in Chile and has been very successful in his native country. His style is based on academic figuration. His latest work includes more graphic and three-dimensional qualities. A member of the 1990s generation of artists, Gómez is obsessive about his personal universe, painting a fantastic world of vast, barren landscapes. Thematically, the artist depicts childhood memories with modern day images and ideas.
Featured in August 2007