Until about three decades ago, prejudiced paradigms limited viable Anglophone scholarship on, and global appreciation of, the Art of Latin America, especially Modern and contemporary art, and facilitated its omission from the established narratives of art history.
The overwhelming paradox that is the artistic production of the diverse and disparate countries of North, Meso, and South America was contorted into a cultural and aesthetic monolith called “Latin American Art,” and reduced further through the application of 19th- and 20th-century “-isms” to Latin American art-historical movements.
Sensitive to past precedent, the multiculturally minded curators and scholars of today are revisiting past strategies and developing compelling transnational approaches. Artnet is honoring these regions by following suit with our Art of the Americas sale.
Our current iteration is live on Artnet Auctions through January 25, and is graced by great Latin American and Latinx masters of the past and present.
Rubem Valentim, Emblema (1984). Available now in Art of the Americas on Artnet Auctions. Est. $12,000–18,000.
Due to the influence of innovators like Estrellita Brodsky, Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, and Ella Fontanals-Cisneros, premier cultural institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, and Tate, are now devoting greater resources to the art of Latin America. Collectors all over the world are following suit.
Furthermore, there is added pressure, applied to the US in particular, due to what Mari Carmen Ramirez coined “Latinization”: the rising influence of those of Latin American descent as they become the largest ethnic group in the country.
This growing population has led to the meteoric rise of Latin American and Latinx art (with its Latino and Latina cognates) throughout every stratosphere of the art world.
This long-overdue transnational understanding is translating into historic commercial events, like the Latinx focus of this year’s Armory Show, a plethora of blockbuster exhibitions, and the most obvious financial indicator of success: auction results.
René Portocarrero, Paisaje no. 6 (circa. 1944). Available now in Art of the Americas on Artnet Auctions. Est. $100,000–150,000.
Tomás Sánchez is undoubtedly one of the greatest living contemporary artists.
Sánchez’s Nube baja desde la montana (1987) transcends the landscape painting genre through its visual interpretation of vistas both felt and seen.
Meditation has been an active part of his artistic method for over 50 years, and Sanchez explores issues of globalization and spirituality in the face of overwhelming ecological change through his immersive environments.
Tomás Sánchez, Nube baja desde la montana (1987). Available now in Art of the Americas on Artnet Auctions. Est. $350,000–450,000.
Nearly twice the size of similar works that have recently sold at auction for $378,000, Nube baja desde la montana (1987) has an unprecedented estimate of $350,000 to $450,000.
Works by the artist on the primary market currently sell well into the high six figures, and are a rarity as the artist has shifted his focus to photography over the past five years.
Therefore, the lot in our sale presents a truly unique acquisition opportunity to own one of the artist’s most iconic works at an astonishing value.
Rufino Tamayo, El Encuentro (1961). Available now in Art of the Americas on Artnet Auctions. Est. $400,000–500,000.
El Encuentro (1961) by Rufino Tamayo is emblematic of his mythological masterworks that find their aesthetic and thematic origins in pre-Columbian art and engage with a Modernist visual vocabulary that recalls both gestural and geometric abstraction.
In the pink-and-red palette that made his Watermelon paintings so compelling, Tamayo enchants the viewer with glowing figures that recall his coveted Tres Pesonajes compositions of the 1970s. El Encuentro was given as a gift of gratitude and friendship to its original owner; a letter by the artist will be included with the sale of this special lot.
As a top-selling artist globally at auction, Tamayo lots of this caliber average well over $1 million. Estimated at $400,000 to $500,000, the sale of El Encuentro is the opportunity of a lifetime.
Armando Morales, Still Life: Avocado, cheese, broccoli (1976). Available in Art of the Americas on Artnet Auctions. Est. $23,000–27,000.
As demand for Latin American and Latinx art skyrockets, opportunities to collect pieces by masters such as Rufino Tamayo and Tomás Sánchez will grow increasingly rare.
Don’t miss your chance to embrace the art history of these regions. Art of the Americas is live on Artnet Auctions through January 25.