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.
This exhibition is included in our Virtual Views series. Celebrate modern Latin American art during a live 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, and multimedia features in Spanish and English.
Organized by 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, The Museum of Modern Art, and consulting curator María Amalia García, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)–Universidad Nacional de San Martín, with Karen Grimson, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art.
