Modern Contexts: Posts

The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1980-1985 Organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, by Maurice Tuchman with the assistance of Judi Freeman. Published by Abbeville Press Publishers, New York, 1989 435 pages The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1980-1985  was published by Abbeville Press Publishers, New York  in conjunction with the exhibition with the same name […]

The Stone & The Thread: Andean Roots of Abstract Art By Cesar Paternosto and translated by Esther Allen Published by University of Texas Press, Austin,1996 296 pages The ancient art of the Andes achieved its most sophisticated expression in weaving and painted pottery, as well as stone sculpture. Yet these objects have long been dismissed […]

Pre-Columbian Art and the Post-Columbian World: Ancient American Sources of Modern Art By Barbara Braun Published by Harry N. Abrams in 1993 340 pages Pre-Columbian Art and the Post-Columbian World: Ancient American Sources of Modern Art by Barbara Braun and published by Harry N. Abrams in 1993,  is one of the few books written on the […]

Lo[S] Cinético[S] Curated by Osbel Suárez 2007 Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía Madrid, Spain The exhibition explores the presence of Kineticism from the beginning of modernity to the latest artistic expressions. For this reason, it explores its presence through a transversal perspective throughout more than a century, far from strict periodizations and classifications […]

América fría : la abstracción geométrica en Latinoamérica (1934 – 1973)  Curated by Osbel Suárez 2011 Fundación Juan March, Madrid, Spain Cartografiar la historia —compleja y fragmentada— de la abstracción geométrica en Latinoamérica, para mostrar la renovación y el carácter diferenciado de sus invenciones y construcciones respecto a la abstracción geométrica europea es el propósito […]

Geometric Abstraction in Latin America. Arte en Colombia / ArtNexus, Anthological Texts Edited by Ivonne Pini ArtNexus- Spanish edition  2013 English and Spanish editions. 296 pages This book groups an anthological selection of texts on geometric abstraction, published in Arte en Colombia/ArtNexus magazine. Abstraction has been present in the magazine since its inception during the […]

Beyond Geometry: Experiments in Form, 1940s – 1970s  Lynn Zelevansky (Editor) June 1, 2004 Los Angeles County Museum of Art 240 pages The 2004 LACMA-organized, Lynn Zelevansky curated Beyond Geometry: Experiments in Form, 1940s-70s exhibition provides a look at the art of an era that pulsated with the excitement of experimentation-when artists still believed in an avant-garde.  It examined the […]

Force Fields-Phases of the Kinetic By Guy Brett and Suzanne Cotter July 1, 2000 ACTAR , Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona 334 pages A comprehensive study of the field of kinetic art which, although practiced by many notable artists, has remained relatively hidden from a large audience because of its under-representation in art museums and […]

The Experimental Exercise of Freedom: Lygia Clark, Gego, Mathias Goeritz, Helio Oiticica, And Mira Schendel By Rian Carvajal and Alma Ruiz Essays by Catherine David, Suely Rolnik, Sonia Salzstein, Osvaldo Sanchez January 2, 2000 MOCA 259 pages This catalogue accompanied the exhibition Exercise of Freedom, on view at MOCA October 17 1999 – January 23, 2000. Encompassing approximately one […]

The Geometry of Hope, Latin American Art from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection by Gabriel Perez-Barreiro (Author and Editor), Cecilia de Torres (Author), and Patricia Phelps de Cisnernos (Preface) July 1, 2007 The Blanton Museum of Art 344 pages Colorful and playful kinetic sculptures, experimental objects designed to be catalysts for community building, manifestos […]

The Sites of Latin American Abstraction Edited by Juan Ledezma. Foreword by Ella Fontanals-Cisneros. Introduction by Cecilia Fajardo-Hill Charta / CIFO The history of Latin American abstraction has not yet been completely written, but what has been written owes much to the Miami-based Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation. This substantial new publication includes 146 abstract geometric artworks from […]

Cecilia Fajardo-Hill: Abstraction as an Empty Sign Debates May 8, 2014 Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros International abstraction, and more specifically, abstract geometric art is considered one of the greatest, most ambitious and elegant forms of modernity, despite still being widely misunderstood and despite the pervasiveness  of representational art to the present day. In the […]

Inverted Utopias, Avant-Garde Art in Latin America Mari Carmen Ramírez and Héctor Olea et al. August 11, 2004 608 pages In the twentieth century, avant-garde artists from Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean created extraordinary and highly innovative paintings, sculptures, assemblages, mixed-media works, and installations. This innovative book presents more than 250 works […]

Barbara Rose. Monochromes from Malevich to the Present, University of California Press, Berkley, Los Angeles, London, 2004 The first comprehensive study of the modern history of monochrome art, Monochromes traces the development of single-color artwork—painting, sculpture, photography, video, and installations—up to the present. With almost 160 full-color reproductions, this stunning book examines fundamental aesthetic issues raised by […]

Briony Fer. Inventing Abstraction, 1910-1925, ArtForum, June 2013 Few episodes in the History of Art attract so many origin myths as the history of abstraction. As a plotline, it’s hard to beat—an intoxicating, utopian rhetoric of a revolutionary new beginning through art—and ever more entrenched now…

On Abstract Art, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1997 (2008) Many people are intrigued by the abstract work of artists like Mondrian and Jackson Pollock yet find it difficult to explain why. In this timely and original book, Briony Fer introduces abstract painting and sculpture of the twentieth century and explores new ways […]