Author Description

The Peruvian journal Amauta (1926-1930) was founded and directed by the writer, journalist and political thinker José Carlos Mariátegui (1894 -1930). Its broad network of agents and correspondents in Latin America and Europe helped to cultivate the publication, with a sizeable print run of between three and four thousand copies, and shape its substantial international impact. It is this open and diverse approach that has enabled the present exhibition to constitute a panoramic survey of Latin American avant-garde movements. Featuring over 250 works, this show brings together not only those reproduced in Amauta but also a wide-ranging selection inspired by the exchanges that took place on the pages of the journal; works which are largely contemporary to the publication and span different mediums and formats -- from painting, drawing, sculpture and photography to popular art and documentation. The artists represented include Ramón Alva de la Canal and Diego Rivera (Mexico); Camilo Blas, Martín Chambi, Julia Codesido, Elena Izcue, César Moro and José Sabogal (Peru); Norah Borges, Emilio Pettoruti and Alejandro Xul Solar (Argentina); Carlos Mérida (Guatemala); and Tina Modotti (Italy), to mention but a few