Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art

E. Carmen Ramos addresses the whole issue of the definition of "Latino art" and how this emerged within the context of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s as American artists of Latino descent (Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban American, and, more recently, Dominican) began to give a tangible face to their culture and history. Highlights include an installation altar by Amalia Mesa-Bains, the "recycled" films of Raphael Montañez Ortiz, and a 1960 geometric painting by Carmen Herrera. Other notable artists include Olga Albizu, Melesio "Mel" Casas, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, Margarita Cabrera, Enrique Chagoya, Teresita Fernández, Ken Gonzales-Day, Luis Jiménez, Ana Mendieta, Pepón Osorio, Sophie Rivera, Freddy Rodríguez, and John M. Valadez, among many others. Winner of first prize in the Association of Art Museum Curators (AAMC) award for excellence, 2014 Author and curator is the Smithsonian American Art Museum's curator of Latino art. She has organized numerous shows, including the fifth biennial at El Museo del Barrio in New York City in 2007. , the "grandfather" of this subject, and formerly associate director for creativity and culture at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, has written and published extensively on US/Latino cultural issues. Accompanies an exhibition with the following venues: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, October 25, 2013–March 2, 2014 The Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International Universityin Miami, FL,March 28, 2014–June 22, 2014 Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, CA, September 21, 2014–January 11, 2015 Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City, UT, February 6, 2015–May 17, 2015 Arkansas Art Center in Little Rock, AR, October 16, 2015–January 17, 2016 Delaware Museum of Art in Wilmington, DE, March 5, 2016–May 29, 2016