Modernism in Latin Art

Modernism can only be defined as one of the most important movements in latin american art to date. Like many other movements, the creation of modernism was driven by the need to reinvent a traditional style in order to sort of sav what was left of of innovative forms of expression that distinguish many styles in the arts and literature of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Modernism refers to this period's interest in:

The artistic products of the Modernist "period" in Latin America are enormously important in the development of a distinct and independent Latin American identity and culture. The earliest manifestations of Modernism in Latin America which appear around 1880 represent a fresh and distinct voice emerging from the former Spanish colonies in America. In many respects, Modernism is the first truly authentic artistic movement originating in Latin America and extending its influence back to Spain and to Europe.

"Modernism" itself, however, remains a powerfully polemical concept. Originally, critics characterized it as an artistic movement that celebrated exotic beauty and cunning formal devices without regard for the political and social realities of the Latin American nations undergoing a tormented process of modernization. But recent revisionist theories of the Modern have broadened our conceptions of what Latin American Modernism means to include a purposeful and thorough critique of the modern world. Literary and artistic Modernism may be more fully understood in its relationship to the socio-historical concept of the "Age of Modernity."

Also part of the revision in our view of Modernism is the recognition that the 20th century Avant-Garde (Vanguardia), rather than being a separate artistic phenomenon, is clearly the inevitable extension and consequence of the modernist project begun at the end of the 19th century. The Avant-Garde continues the modernist attack against bourgeois and commercial values and norms and against traditional cultural institutions.

Through careful analysis and discussion of the texts we will explore the discursive codes and verbal techniques of the modernistas and the vanguardistas, the philosophical and ideological dimensions of Modernism, and the consciousness of the problem of Latin American identity and its relationship to the socio-economic process of modernization.