Argentinian Art in the Twentieth Century

Political shifts within twentieth century Argentina, particularly over its last four decades, do not permit an art history that can be smoothly stated. A series of surges in creative practice can nevertheless be identified and these are each represented within this collection: through the works of mid-century movements such as Concretism, through the renewal in later decades of movements that had their roots in the twenties, such as Surrealism, and through the works of a generation of artists developing their careers after the rupture inflicted by the rule of the military junta (1976-1983).

Across South America, the 1920s saw the emergence of radical artistic developments. Movements such as Expressionism, Dada, and Cubism were translated into innovative forms in the cosmopolitan art centres of the region. These developments ruptured the conservative tradition of Fine Art institutions established during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Argentina was no exception; the artists Emilio Pettoruti and Xul Solar returned to the country after intense involvement with the Parisian avant-garde and established themselves in Buenos Aires via exhibitions and lectures, and published reviews that circulated and debated ideas beyond national boundaries. One publication to be particularly influential was Martin Fierro, a journal which had Jorge Luis Borges as its leading writer. This review asserted American independence but conceded the inevitable presence of European influence.

The history of Surrealism in Argentina also began in this decade with the founding of the journal 'Qué' by Aldo Pellegrini. Pellegrini is one a number of Surrealist poets to have exercised a considerable influence inside and outside the country. The importance of collective organisation and the dissemination of debate via independent publishing re-emerges through Argentina's definitive contribution to the Constructivism of the 1940s and 50s. Stemming from, but at the same time striking against, Torres-Garcia's Americanist abstraction in neighbouring Uruguay, three schools of abstract art in Buenos Aires (motivated by a new avant-garde internationalist magazine: Arturo) sprung up. Madi, Arte Concreto-Invencion and Perceptismo signalled a new adherence to the broad alliance of abstract artists who adopted the term 'concrete'. Within UECLAA, there are works by three foremost representatives of this period of activity: Martin Blaszko, Gyula Kosice and Melé. Both Surrealism and Constructivism have maintained an influential presence in Argentina. Artists within this Collection to have carried out work in close engagement with the country's surrealist tradition include Víctor Chab, Artemio Alisio and Catalina Chervin. Both Chab and Alisio were members of a later Surrealist group Movimiento Espejo (Mirror Movement). Founded in 1972 on the occasion of a group exhibition at Galería Imagen, Buenos Aires, the group's manifesto was written by the country's original Surrealist, Aldo Pellegrini.

The roots of the political upheaval that would irrevocably change artistic practice in the last decades of the twentieth century may be traced right back to the 1930s, when governments attempted to contain the currents of economic and political change that eventually led to the ascendance of Juan Domingo Perón. Part of a miltary coup in 1943, Perón became elected president in 1946. A struggle between followers of Perón and the power of the miltary characterised the next thirty years. Standing aginst surges of military power and conservatism were several actions within the field of artistic practice, examples being Tucumán Arde (1968), a collective combining art with political action and the Centro de Estudios de Arte y Comunicación (1968), which organised encounters between international artists and held seminars and discussion groups with well-known intellectuals. This period of activity was brought to a violent stop in 1976, when a coup removed María Estela Isabel Martínez de Perón - Peron's third wife and widow, from power.

The armed forces exercised power through a junta composed of the three service commanders until December 10, 1983. They applied brutal measures against terrorists and suspected sympathisers. The human costs of what became known as "El Proceso," or the "Dirty War" were high (conservative counts list between 10,000 and 30,000 persons as "disappeared"). UECLAA contains works by many artists who were active during this devastating period of political history. Remo Bianchedi is one example of many artists who returned at this time to the certainty of tradition, as his Artist Statement testifies: "artists in Argentina began to paint, draw, print, and sculpt again. To external disorder we respond with an internal order, the ontological order of language."

With artists, including Marcelo Brodsky and Léon Ferrari, amongst those who were persecuted by the regime, explicit freedom in expression was reserved for those who, like Ferrari and Marisa Rueda, were forced into exile. Serious economic problems, mounting charges of corruption, public revulsion in the face of human rights abuses and the country's 1982 defeat in the war over control of the Falklands/Malvinas Islands combined to discredit the Argentine military regime. The junta lifted bans on political parties and gradually restored basic political liberties.

With the return to democracy, political calls issued by Human Rights organisations were accompanied by aesthetic actions undertaken by artists such as those involved in the C.A.P.A.T.A.C.O (Colectivo de Arte Participativo Tarifa Común) or GAS.TAR (Grupo de Artistas Socialistas por la Transformación) These groups made posters, and carried out urban interventions and performances with the purpose of confronting the extent of the Dirty War's genocide. The activities of the Grupo Escombros grew out of this wave of affirmative action. With the aim of using art as an "amplifier of collective consciousness" they were formed in 1988 and published their first manifesto 'aesthetics of the broken' a year later. From their inception to the present day, this group has consistently fulfilled their original intent with a constant stream of projects including poem-mailings, installations, performances and interventions. For this reason they are cited as one of the most lasting and active collectives involved in non-commercial, socially engaged practice.