Latin America Beyond Lo real maravilloso

Maria Clara Bernal, Ph.D. in Modern Art History and Theory, University of Essex, UK. Teaches Art History at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. Member of the research group on Surrealism in Latin America at the Getty Research Institute and currently the director of the project Intellectual Networks: Art and Politics in Latin America.

This book looks at the way in which certain encounters between Latin American and European intellectuals in the first half of the twentieth century shaped Latin Americas representation in the arts. It reviews the struggle of Latin American artists and art critics to find an appropriate language for the expression and representation of their culture. Part one examines some of the Latin American art exhibitions that took place in the decade of the 1980s. It elaborates on the stereotypes that they perpetuated and traces their origins to Alejo Carpentier s theory of Lo real maravilloso americano. Part two explores the complex relationship between Surrealism and Latin America, emphasizing the issues that arose from the struggle of intellectuals and artists to find the appropriate way for the cultural representation of Latin America. While some rejected the French Avant-garde movement, accusing it of colonialism, others especially in Martinique and Haiti - saw the movement as a liberating force . Part three centers on Cuban painter Wifredo Lam. His work changed the ideal of art produced in Latin America and anticipated contemporary theories of Creolization.