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Museum of Fine Arts, Houston to display Movements in Latin American Art

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Written by rubin   
Tuesday, 21 April 2009 16:18

Gyula Kosice, Argentinean, born 1924 - La Ciudad Hidroespacial, 1946-1972 - Acrylic, plexiglas, paint and light, variable dimensions. - Museum purchase funds provided by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund.

HOUSTON, TX.- North Looks South: Building the Latin American Art Collection, opening June 7 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), celebrates the museum’s major Latin American art acquisitions since 2001, with more than 80 works in every medium, ranging in date from the 1920s to the present. North Looks South is organized around unexpected juxtapositions between artists and works from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Uruguay, the United States, and Venezuela. The exhibition will be on view through September 28, 2009, in the Upper Brown Pavilion of the Caroline Wiess Law Building.

Rather than a traditional, chronological timeline, North Looks South is instead organized around the Latin American art movements that have come to define the collection, advancing dialogue between varied works from different periods: Constructivism, Kinetic and Op art, Surrealism, Latin Pop, installation art, and contemporary video. The arc of the exhibition moves from ethereal works that play with light and space, to darker works that wrestle with social issues.

Featured artists include Gego, Jesús Rafael Soto, Carlos Cruz-Diez and Roberto Obregón (Venezuela); Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Clark, Alfredo Volpi, Franz Weissman, Waldemar Cordeiro and Luis Sacilotto (Brazil); Xul Solar, Antonio Berni, Marta Boto, Carmelo Sobrino, Miguel Angel Ríos and Juan Carlos Distéfano (Argentina); Roberto Matta and Alfredo Jaar (Chile); David Alfaro Siqueiros, Frida Kahlo, Gabriel de la Mora and Teresa Margolles (Mexico); Julio Alpuy, José Gurvich and Joaquín Torres-García (Uruguay); and Beatriz González and Oscar Muñoz (Colombia).

Julio Alpuy - 'Paisaje urbano con tren' ( Note: Not Shown in this Exhibition )"This exhibition is an extraordinary opportunity for the MFAH to envision how its Latin American collections could be installed in a future, permanent space," commented Dr. Peter C. Marzio, MFAH director. "As this exhibition has come together, the works that so far comprise this collection have revealed unusual and even unexpected relationships and counterpoints among artists, movements and objects."

"In just eight short years since the Latin American art department was established at the MFAH, we have pursued a collecting mission aimed at identifying, researching and collecting renowned masters of Latin American modern art, as well as those artists who challenge preconceived notions about the region," said Ramírez. "In this exhibition, we will showcase some of the museum’s major acquisitions, including outstanding recent gifts, along with long-term loans and works that the museum hopes to acquire".

In addition, the MFAH will showcase a major new acquisition, La Ciudad Hidroespacial (The Hydrospatial City; 1946-72), by Argentinean artist Gyula Kosice. An ambitious undertaking first begun in 1946, Kosice worked on the project for over 25 years. While components of this artist’s signature piece have been exhibited, the MFAH will be the first museum to display this immense work in its entirety. The installation, to be presented in a 200-square-foot room, demonstrates Kosice’s vision for the future: space architecture for a new, utopian civilization. The centerpiece of the work is a 9-by-9-foot installation filled with a ?galaxy? of clear plastic mobiles–each a unique habitat—that dangles from the ceiling. The installation also includes a manifesto and fifteen drawings.

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