Art Museums of Latin America ― Structuring Representation

Since the late nineteenth century, art museums have played crucial social, political, and economic roles throughout Latin America because of the ways that they structure representation. By means of their architecture, collections, exhibitions, and curatorial practices, Latin American art museums have crafted representations of communities, including nation-states, and promoted particular group ideologies. This collection of essays, arranged in thematic sections, will examine the varying and complex functions of art museums in Latin America: as nation-building institutions and instruments of state cultural politics; as foci for the promotion of Latin American modernities and modernisms; as sites of mediation between local and international, private and public interests; as venues for the contestation or reinforcement of Eurocentric notions of culture; and as projects linked to globalization.

Michele Greet is Associate Professor of modern Latin American and European art and director of the Art History program at George Mason University.

Gina McDaniel Tarver is Associate Professor of modern and contemporary Latin American and European art history at Texas State University.