The exhibition celebrates work produced between 1940–1996 by well-known figures who pushed artistic boundaries to produce a pan-American visual language and spotlights avant-garde artists who defined foundational movements like surrealism and geometric abstraction. Featuring artists such as Roberto Matta (Chile), Sarah Grilo (Argentina), Manabu Mabe (Brazil), and Jesús Rafael Soto (Venezuela), the exhibition charts the cultural exchanges and creative tensions fostered by Latin American artists, whose experimentations with form, color, and movement created powerful dialogues within and beyond their respective countries.

Modern Movements presents a selection of 17 works drawn from a larger traveling exhibition, which IA&A will tour nationally and internationally from 2027 to 2031. The exhibition at Hillyer offers visitors a sneak peek of the exciting collaboration between IA&A and AMA | OAS. It also marks IA&A’s commitment to presenting the world-renowned artworks from its traveling exhibitions to our local Washington, DC community. In addition to the exhibition, there will be a series of public events in which specialists are invited to discuss the art historical, political, and social significance of the AMA collection.

Adriana Ospina is the Director of the Art Museum of the Americas of the Organization of American States. Since 2007, she has held the position of Educational Program Manager and, since 2014, Curator of the Permanent Collection. She has curated numerous exhibitions, including Fusion: Tracing Asian Migration to the Americas; Femininity Beyond Archetypes: Photography by Natalia Arias; A Gaze through the CINTAS Fellowship Program; A Selection of Works from the CINTAS Foundation; Arts of the Americas; and No Ocean Between Us: Art of Asian Diasporas in Latin America & The Caribbean 1945-Present. She has also co-curated exhibitions including Visual Memory: Home + Place; and Dialog: Landscape and Abstraction | Freya Grand and AMA Permanent Collection. Ospina edited the book Collection of the Art Museum of the Americas of the Organization of American States (OAS, 2017). She participated in the College Art Association Conference in 2013 and 2020. Ospina holds an MA in Art History from George Mason University.

MODERN MOVEMENTS

TUESDAY, APRIL 14TH

9 AM – 2:30 PM EST

Join International Arts & Artists (IA&A) and Art Museum of the Americas (AMA) for Modern Movements Symposium—a convening of emerging scholars exploring the transnational exchanges, cultural diplomacy, and artistic innovations that shaped Latin American and Caribbean modern and contemporary art. This symposium accompanies the DC-based exhibition Modern Movements: Selections of Latin American and Caribbean Art from the Art Museum of the Americas (April 3 through May 3lst) on view at IA&A at Hillyer in Washington, DC.

REGISTER

SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE

SESSION ONE: MODERNISM AND ITS DISCONTENTS

9:00
Welcome and Introduction

9:30 am
Alejandro Soto Chaves
Three Theses on Central American (Modernist) Abstraction, 1936-1967

9:45 am Ronan Shaw
The Face of Modernity: Germán Cueto’s Geometric Abstraction

10:00 am
Ginevra Bria

Against Modernist Primitivism: Cildo Meireles’s Cruzeiro do Sul (1969-70) and “The Savage Slot”

10:15 am
Marco Polo Juarez Cruz
Latin American or Latinoamericano? Reframing Hemispheric Modernism

10:30 am
Q and A

11:00 am
Break

SESSION TWO: REFRAMING THE HEMISPHERE

11:10 am
Panel Introduction

11:15 am Ayelen Pagnanelli
Sarah Grilo and the Success of Women’s Abstraction

11:30 am
Rachel Remick
Ideas of Brazil: Maria Martins Art and Reception in the United States

11:45 am Carlos Antonio-Colón
The Latin American Voice: Tracing the Relational Voice in the Work of Fernando de Szyszlo and Jesús Rafael Soto

12:00 pm
Q&A

12:30 pm
Break

SESSION THREE: INSTITUTIONS, EXHIBITIONS, AND CULTURAL DIPLOMACY

1:00 pm

Panel Introduction

1:15 pm
Sol Izquierdo
Andean Handicrafts at the Pan American Union: Elena Eleska and Cold war Cultural exchange

1:30 pm

Anamaría Garzón Mantilla
Exhibiting Precolombinismo: Ecuadorian Abstraction at the Pan American

1:45 pm
Abigail Lapin Dardashti
(De)materialized Archive: Brazil’s Exhibition at FESTAC and the Underpinnings of Afro-Brazilian Art History

2:00 pm
Q&A

2:30 pm
End and closing remarks

The Art Museum of the Americas is the oldest museum of modern and contemporary Latin American and Caribbean art in the United States. It is part of the Organization of American States (OAS), an international public organization whose aim is to promote democracy, peace, justice, and solidarity among its 34 member countries. Since the mid-twentieth century, AMA has played a pivotal role in shaping the parameters of regional modernism and introducing U.S. audiences to artists now recognized as masters of the period.

In addition to its role as a museum, AMA is an important space for cultural diplomacy, using art as a tool for fostering mutual understanding among the OAS member states. Over the years, the museum’s collection has grown to include over 2,000 works by more than 400 artists, making it a significant repository of modern Latin American and Caribbean art. AMA continues to organize exhibitions and programs with emerging and established artists, providing a space for cultural expression, creativity, and dialogue while highlighting issues central to the OAS (democracy, equitable development, human rights, justice, and innovation) through the arts.