Latin American Artists: From 1785 to Now, a dynamic, A-Z survey of more than 300 artists who were born or who have lived in the 20 Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking parts of Latin America, will be published on 5 October 2023 courtesy of Phaidon.
Spanning over 230 years, the featured artwork ranges across all styles and media, demonstrating the region’s rich creative output just as Latin American artists, past and present, are gaining wider international attention and recognition than ever before.
Latin American Artists differs from existing publications on the subject by taking a deep dive into a substantially wider view of the region’s varied histories of art. Created in close collaboration with an esteemed panel of advisors, including art historians, critics, curators, writers, collectors, and other specialists in the field, the book includes well-known names alongside those who are yet to gain attention beyond their local contexts.
From the start of the post-colonial era to the present day, the book also highlights several artists of Indigenous identities, as well as Black artists who frequently draw on Afro-Atlantic histories in their work. In short, it is one of the broadest studies of Latin American art history in existence.
Each artist is represented by one key artwork and a specially commissioned short text, written by one of nearly 50 art experts, to provide background information about the artist and discuss the illustrated work.
Artists who are prominent in the global art world, from Fernando Botero, Frida Kahlo, and Remedios Varo to contemporary art stars Adriana Varejão, Ernesto Neto, and Tomás Saraceno appear alongside rising art stars and often overlooked artists whose names are not yet so well known outside of their countries.
Instead of following the logic of art history told as chronological canon, the book’s A to Z composition enables each artist to be experienced on equal terms and allows for unexpected juxtapositions to arise as artworks from different periods, places, and movements fall side by side.
