ART OF THE AMERICAS
Art of the Americas: Collection of the Art Museum of the Americas of the Organization of American States is an endeavor that began four years ago, with the aim of studying, rethinking, and sharing the historical and cultural legacy of the AMA | Art Museum of the Americas and the Organization of American States with a broader audience. This has been needed for several years, since the last rigorous and comprehensive publication about the collection was published in 1985, as the exhibition catalog of Museum of Modern Art of Latin America: Selections from the Permanent Collection. This exhibition, curated by art critic and writer Marta Traba (Buenos Aires, 1930 – Madrid, 1983) and coordinated by Maria Leyva, then Curator of the Permanent Collection, in addition to its informative component, included a written section published by the Inter-American Development Bank in 1993, Art of Latin America, 1900-1980.
This new project is, after thirty years, an opportunity to present our heritage to a new generation of readers, highlighting one hundred collection pieces through new research. Along with the printed version, this project will be available in digital form, making the collection more accessible to the public. For Art of the Americas, we invited a select group of curators and scholars who have had close ties with the museum and, above all else, profound knowledge of the collection. Some of them have conducted research in our archives, others have curated AMA exhibitions, and a few are former museum employees. The most important aspect of this team effort is that they want to make this project a reality. The response and enthusiasm of the participants was overwhelming. They all understood the importance of the project, and gave us their full support.
This project was developed in three stages. The first involved selecting one hundred works for study. These were chosen through a voting process, for which a committee of external experts was comprised to select the works—external because, over time we staff members have all grown attached to certain pieces. The second stage involved creating the printed material. Here the research team, along with the editing, translation, and design teams, worked for ten months on the one hundred entries on the works, the biographies of each artist, and the three essays related to the history and trajectory of the museum. For the third stage, the museum plans on augmenting this initiative with a digital interactive tool that covers the whole collection, thus broadening the possibilities for dissemination.
We would like to thank our selection and research team: Félix Ángel, Alejandro Anreus, Alessandro Armato, Cecilia Belej, Carol Damian, Ana Franco, María Gaztambide, Michele Greet, Olga U. Herrera, Maria Leyva, Abigail McEwen, Nadia Moreno, and Mark White. And our publishing, design, and photography teams: Aram Asarian, Jill Bernstein, Jennifer Cardiff, Rafa Cruz, Catalina Echaurren, and Camila Matta.
This project would not have been possible without the commitment of the AMA team, who worked arduously on this endeavor: Nuria Clusella, Fabian Goncalves Borrega, Samantha Olsen, and Greg Svitil. We would also like to give an honorable mention to Ambassador James Lambert, Secretary for Hemispheric Affairs, who believed in the importance of the project from the very beginning. We also want to thank Andrés Navia, former Director of the AMA, who worked tirelessly throughout the early stages of this project.
Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to the main contributors to this project, the Friends of the Art Museum of the Americas, for their unconditional support from the earliest developmental stages of the initiative. Without their support and advice, we would not have been able to give you the book you now hold in your hands. Finally, we thank John Coppola, President of the Friends, and members William P. Farrand, Teresa Grana, and Olga U. Herrera for their participation in this project.
Pablo Zúñiga
Director
Art Museum of the Americas
Adriana Ospina
Collections Curator
Art Museum of the Americas
