MoMA - THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF ART IN LATIN AMERICA

Breaking beyond the limits of the frame, pushing line into three-dimensional form, using movement and bold new shapes—with these techniques and more, South American artists revolutionized painting, sculpture, design, and architecture at midcentury. Sur moderno: Journeys of Abstraction—The Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gift celebrates the radical ways that artists from Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, and Uruguay used abstraction to reinvent art and, in turn, transformed society and contemporary life. Through this comprehensive collection, the exhibition is a journey through the vibrant history of modern Latin American art and includes works by Lygia Clark, Gego, Hélio Oiticica, Jesús Rafael Soto, and more.

Sur moderno is currently being presented as part of MoMA’s Virtual Views series. Celebrate modern Latin American art during a Q&A with Inés Katzenstein, Curator of Latin American Art and Director of the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Research Institute for the Study of Art from Latin America at MoMA, and Gabriel Perez-Barreiro, Senior Advisor to the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.

*cover artwork: María Freire (Uruguayan, 1917–2015). Untitled. 1954. Oil on canvas, 36 1⁄4 × 48 1/16″ (92 × 122 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros through the Latin American and Caribbean Fund in honor of Gabriel Pérez‑Barreiro