Latin American Artists of Italian Descent - IADB Cutural Gallery - Washington D.C.

The IDB Cultural Center announces the opening of the exhibition

LATIN AMERICAN ARTISTS OF ITALIAN DESCENT

August 15 to October 21 2011

Mon-Fri, 11 AM to 6 PM

Among the artists included are: Hector Borla, Ricardo Crivelli, Sergio Camporeale, Eduardo Medici, Emilio Pettoruti, and Rogelio Polesello (Argentina), Lycia Palombini (Brazil), Umberto Giangrandi (Colombia), Francisco Amighetti (Costa Rica), Roberto Matta (Chile), Javier Bassi, Miguel A. Battegazzore, Pedro Figari, Antonio Frasconi, and Diego Masi (Uruguay), among others.

The IDB Cultural Center joins this year’s official celebrations in Washington, DC on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, with a number of activities scheduled for the second part of 2011. The first is the exhibition LATIN AMERICAN ARTISTS OF ITALIAN DESCENT (August 15 to October 21, 2011), featuring 25 works drawn from the IDB Art Collection, representing a number of Latin American countries with a significant Italian migration, and calling attention to the important cultural synergy that has intertwined the destinies of Italy and Latin America for more than five hundred years. Most of the names of the artists are already familiar to the general public, such as Amighetti, Figari, Pettoruti, Matta, and Frasconi, to name a few. The works were selected by Félix Angel, Director and Curator of the IDB Cultural Center. The Center has invited Cristina Rossi, Professor of Latin American Art and researcher at the Julio E. Payró Institute for the Theory and History of Art of the University of Buenos Aires, to cooperate as guest essayist for the catalogue, and discuss the interaction of experiences between Italy and Latin America.
In her essay, entitled ART IN TRANSIT: Artistic Exchanges among Italian and Latin American Artists, Dr. Rossi explains the continuity of many traditions old and new in the development of the region’s modern artistic identity. According to her, “the mutual influences of Italians and Latin Americans cannot be understood simply by tracing names or ancestral ties for vestiges of “Italian-ness” devoid of historical context or conflict. Those influences are properly grasped only by acknowledging the accumulated knowledge and experience that seeped into the culture and expanded in the course of dialogue, creation, and negotiation.”
The IDB Cultural Center has distinguished itself in Washington and abroad for the high quality and professional excellence of its programming. The Center has recently been acknowledged by the magazine Arte al Día International as one of the world top institutions promoting the culture of Latin America and the Caribbean. Already in its twentieth year of uninterrupted activity, the Center is proud to reaffirm such a commitment to excellence, hoping that it will be maintained and reinforced in the years to come.

2011 - Inter-American Year of Culture

Free and open to the public

Inter-American Development Bank

Cultural Center GALLERY

1300 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC.

One block from Metro Center, 13th Street exit.

T. 202.623.1213

e-mail IDBCC@iadb.org

www.iadb.org/cultural