Page 54 - WOA9-eMag

In the second section, “Modern as Abstract,” the language of Luis Pérez-Oramas, who, in addition to serving as MoMA’s
abstraction is displayed as both a product of and a catalyst Latin American art curator between 2003 and 2017, was one
for the transformation of the artists’ surroundings. The of the principal curators involved in the development of the
geometrical principles of abstract painting carried over into Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.
the everyday, where artists and architects recognized one
another as allies, leading to a shared operation and set of Since its founding in 1929, The Museum of Modern Art has
ideals. collected, exhibited, and studied the art of Latin America.
Today, MoMA’s collection includes more than 5,000 works
Here, María Freire’s Untitled (1954), for example, is displayed of modern and contemporary art by artists from Latin
alongside archival materials and works from MoMA’s America distributed across its six curatorial departments,
Architecture and Design collection, in an exploration of representing important figures in early modernism,
public sculptural projects and furniture design. Expressionism, Surrealism, abstraction, architecture, and
Conceptual and contemporary art.
The final part of the exhibition is dedicated to the grid, one
of modern art’s central motifs of experimentation. Gego’s Over the last 25 years, the Colección Patricia Phelps
Square Reticularea 71/6 (1971) and Hélio Oiticica’s Painting de Cisneros has donated more than 200 works by Latin
9 (1959) are two examples of works in the exhibition that American artists to The Museum of Modern Art. In addition
approached the transformation and expansion of the to those generous donations, in 2016 the Colección Patricia
rational grid in different ways. Oiticica disrupted the strict Phelps de Cisneros established the Patricia Phelps de
geometric system with his rhythmically arranged rectangles, Cisneros Research Institute for the Study of Art from Latin
while Gego warps and deconstructs the reticular structure. America at MoMA. The Institute’s programming includes
fellowships for scholars, curators and artists, and an
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated extended research initiative that contributes to a series
catalogue, with contributions from such prominent scholars of public programs hosted by the Museum, as well as
in the field as María Amalia García, Irene V. Small, and symposia in Latin America, and publications in digital and
Mónica Amor. The volume also includes a conversation printed format.
between Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and MoMA director
Glenn D. Lowry, and a dialogue between Inés Katzenstein, Installation view of Sur moderno: Journeys of Abstraction -The Patricia
the Museum’s current curator of Latin American art, and Phelps de Cisneros Gift, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, October
21, 2019 – March 14, 2020. © 2019 The Museum of Modern Art. Photo:
Heidi Bohnenkamp

54 WORLD of ART