Alejandro Anreus – författare

In this comprehensive collection of essays, three generations of international scholars examine Mexican muralism in its broad artistic and historical contexts, from its iconic figures - Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siquieros - to their successors in Mexico, the United States, and across Latin America. These muralists conceived of their art as a political weapon in popular struggles over revolution and resistance, state modernization and civic participation, artistic freedom and cultural imperialism. The contributors to this volume show how these artists' murals transcended borders to engage major issues raised by the many different forms of modernity that emerged throughout the Americas during the twentieth century.

Between 1931 and 1932, painter Ben Shahn (1898–1969) created a series of twenty-three gouaches and temperas on the infamous trial of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. Sacco and Vanzetti  were arrested in 1920 for the murder of a guard during a robbery of a shoe factory in South Braintree, Massachusetts. The two men were Italian immigrants as well as committed anarchists. Their radicalism and their ethnicity, far more than the ambiguous evidence in the case, became the basis for the prosecution against them. In 1927, Sacco and Vanzetti were executed. Theirs was one of the most controversial trials of the twentieth century.Identifying strongly with these men, Ben Shahn returned again and again to this subject. Spanning the early 1930s up through the end of his career, in 1967, he also produced paintings, an ink drawing, three serigraphs, and a mosaic mural on the trial.From May through August 2001, the Jersey City Museum will present all paintings in existence from the 1931–32 series-17 in all-as a first-time event. Many of Shahn’s other Sacco and Vanzetti works will also be displayed. The exhibit will place the art within the context of the trial itself, as it will include photographs from the courtroom and the newspapers of the day.With its twelve color and thirty-two black-and-white illustrations, Ben Shahn and “The Passion of Sacco and Vanzetti” brings the exhibit-and the trial-to life. The catalog will include articles exploring such topics as the artist’s strong identification with the two men on trial; the 1930–32 series’ critical reception from the 1930s to today; and a historical overview of the case itself.

Cuban American artist Luis Cruz Azaceta addresses what author Alejandro Anreus calls the “wounds and screams” of the human condition. Although Cruz Azaceta’s work is extensively exhibited and widely collected, this is the first book on the artist’s life and creations.Anreus traces Cruz Azaceta’s career and explores the themes that are the focus of his singular art. Anreus discusses how the Cuban diaspora, above all, has shaped the artist and how the experience of exile has found expression through starkly forceful self-portraiture in many of his works. Anreus also examines the artist’s ongoing concern with current events. Cruz Azaceta has responded to national crises, such as the AIDS epidemic, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina, with graphically powerful paintings, mixed-media pieces, and installations.Over the past four decades Cruz Azaceta has experimented with his visual vocabulary, moving from the flat, pop style of his early canvases, through neo-Expressionism, and into the abstraction of more-current work. His commentary on humanity, however, has not changed. His art continues to remind us that there are no easy solutions to the presence of violence and cruelty, exile and dislocation, and solitude and isolation.

In-depth scholarship on the central artists, movements, and themes of Latin American art, from the Mexican revolution to the presentA Companion to Modern and Contemporary Latin American and Latinx Art consists of over 30 never-before-published essays on the crucial historical and theoretical issues that have framed our understanding of art in Latin America. This book has a uniquely inclusive focus that includes both Spanish-speaking Caribbean and contemporary Latinx art in the United States. Influential critics of the 20th century are also covered, with an emphasis on their effect on the development of artistic movements.By providing in-depth explorations of central artists and issues, alongside cross-references to illustrations in major textbooks, this volume provides an excellent complement to wider surveys of Latin American and Latinx art. Readers will engage with the latest scholarship on each of five distinct historical periods, plus broader theoretical and historical trends that continue to influence how we understand Latinx, Indigenous, and Latin American art today. The book’s areas of focus include: The development of avant-garde art in the urban centers of Latin America from 1910-1945The rise of abstraction during the Cold War and the internationalization of Latin American art from 1945-1959The influence of the political upheavals of the 1960s on art and art theory in Latin AmericaThe rise of conceptual art as a response to dictatorship and social violence in the 1970s and 1980sThe contemporary era of neoliberalism and globalization in Latin American and Latino Art, 1990-2010With its comprehensive approach and informative structure, A Companion to Modern and Contemporary Latin American and Latinx Art is an excellent resource for advanced students in Latin American culture and art. It is also a valuable reference for aspiring scholars in the field.