Latin American Art, Artists, Artworks, Art Galleries, Museums, Art Community and Art Resources.

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General

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Artistas, Collections, Collectors, Contemporary Art, Exhibitions, Bellas Artes, General Artes Visuales, Carlos del Valle, Centro Cultural Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Colegio de México, El Chaman, Escuela de Arte del Lago, Escultor Mexicano, Escultura, José Clemente Orozco, La Esmeralda, Picasso, Pintor Mexicano, Pintura, Renato González, Rufino Tamayo

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Artistas, Contemporary Art, Exhibitions, Galleries, General, Photography architecture, Arquitetura, Brazilian artist, choreograph, coffee, exhibition, geometric, installation, landscape, Lima, Lucía de la Puente, Lucia Koch, perspectives, Peru, photography, physical space, public spaces, sculpture, spatial

Fine Art Funds – Taking the soul out of art investing?

AUGUST, 2011

Throughout history, retailers and individual collectors have been trading valuable works of art, whether for pleasure or investment potential. As far back as the 1800’s art trading clubs were formed and investors would gather to discuss their collections and potentially trade works. It wasn’t until after the year 2000 that commercial art funds began to gain traction as investment vehicles. At that time a number of entrepreneurs from the financial and arts industries who had a strong personal or vocational interest in art set up these funds, a number of which have fizzled out over the years. An art fund, much like a hedge or private equity fund, provides commercial rewards to both the capital providers and the fund managers. Considered by those involved to be a sophisticated type of alternative investment, art funds provide a long-term hedge during periods of financial crisis and inflation. For this feature, ALI spoke to two prominent fine art funds as well as to top art advisors to understand and analyze strategies of art investment funds as well as the recent growth in the Latin American sector Read More…

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Artistas, Collections, Exhibitions, Bellas Artes, Galleries, General, Museum art advisors, art funds, art investment, art investors, art trading, collections, collectors

The Artistry and Stability of Colombian Gold

Gold Art Investment in Colombia

The history of pre-columbine gold mining dates as far back as the years 1-1000 A.D. Some of the world’s earliest discoveries have been made in Northeastern Colombia from the Tairona Culture, Early Zenu Culture and the Muisica Culture.

The important gold mining center of Buriticá, in the mountains of Colombia’s northern Antioquia Province, exploits rich… Read More…

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Artistas, Collections, Bellas Artes, Galleries, General, Museum Antioquia Province, Buriticá, Early Zenu Culture, gold, Muisica Culture, pre-Columbian, pre-columbine, Tairona Culture

Alicia Framis photograph of a naked man spikes traffic

We could have not imagined that the #5 “Pageviews” listing in our traffic report would be a photo of a naked man by Spanish artist Alicia Framis called: “8th June, female models have a day off, Madrid”. We have had Picassos, Diego Riveras, Frida Kahlos, Gabriel Orozcos boost our traffic at any given day and it is expected to see an increase. This one really caught our attention as we were looking at the link trying to imagine what artwork could have been ahead of so many others that you would think of. You must see this image; it is a great photograph. Warning: if images of naked people offend you, do not open the link below.

Alicia Framis’ Photograph

Until Next Time,

Laura Cunningham
Director

Artistas, Bellas Artes, Galleries, General, Pageviews, Photography, Traffic Alicia Framis, artwork, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Gabriel Orozco, listing, naked people, Pageview, photographs, Picasso, traffic, warning

The New Soumaya Museum is Inaugurated

Replacing a smaller museum located in the south part of Mexico city and with works by great masters like Diego Rivera, Auguste Rodin and Leonardo Da Vinci amongst what will be a rotating exhibition of close to 66,000 artworks so far – and counting, the Soumaya Museum was inaugurated last Tuesday in the northwest part of Mexico City. The museum will open to the public on March 28, 2011 and will be closed on Tuesdays. Admission will be free.

The Soumaya will display one of the vastest collections of European and Latin American Art in Mexico. The collection is owned by the world’s richest man, telecom billionaire Carlos Slim Helu and its name comes after Slim’s late wife Soumaya Domit Slim. The six-story modern building, beautifully designed by Slim’s son-in-law architect Fernando Romero is covered by 16,000 aluminum panels with a curvy landmark design on the outside, and the spectacular 183,000 feet of interior halls interconnected by stairs, ramps and elevators.

The inaugural exhibition will display some 6,200 artworks, which account for about 10% of the complete collection. The 800 million dollar building has a steel structure and it is armed with the latest technology such as controlled temperature and humidity to hold its artworks in the best of conditions.

The first and second floors hold gold and silver pieces, viceroyalty coins, Mesoamerican ceramic, stone and shell pieces. The third and fourth floors exhibit old European masters, New Spain masters, landscapes, portraits and various other art objects. The fifth floor exhibits an impressive collection of what refers to “The Mexican School of Painting” lead by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, amongst many more such as the initiators of the called “The Rupture Movement”; a group of artists from the 1950’s heralding a huge change in Mexican aesthetic expression and it is known to be responsible for the cosmopolitan direction in which art in Mexico has been developed since. With Auguste Rodin as the main theme, the sixth floor holds “The Rodin Era”, also with works by Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, Camille Claudel, and one of his pupils Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux; it is said to be the most spectacular of all halls and the second most important Rodin collection in the world.

The Soumaya Museum has the most important collection of European art and Latin American art in all Latin America and it is the fastest growing private art collection in the world. Are Mexicans proud of getting a museum from their fellow citizen named the richest man in the world? At least Slim is not keeping his collection to himself. I am proud to have a country inundated with art wherever you go, rich areas, poor areas, parks, corners, circles; art is abundant and it is one of our biggest assets. Mexico is one of the most cultural cities in the world where people, rich and poor, identify themselves with culture in general; it is part of who we are. Mexico City is located on what was the capital of the Aztec Empire in pre-Columbian times and you may feel the power of the Aztecs in areas such as at the Templo Mayor. It is common to see old people, young people, families or groups of friends gather together to go to the museum for the newest exhibition or to check the permanent exhibition once again.

The Soumaya Museum just adds to that. And I am also excited for the upcoming museum that will hold the Jumex Collection, which will be the most important collection of Contemporary art, and it is being built right by the Soumaya and flanked by a new theatre as well.

Until next time,

Laura Cunningham
Director

Artistas, Collections, Exhibitions, Bellas Artes, General, Museum Auguste Rodin, Aztec Empire, Camille Claudel, Carlos Slim, ceramic, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, Emile-Antoine Bourdelle, European art, Fernando Romero, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, José Clemente Orozco, Jumex Collection, arte latinoamericano, Leonardo Da Vinci, Mesoamerican, Mexico city, Museum, pre-Columbian, Soumaya, Soumaya Domit

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General art, art business, art lover, artwork, Certificate of Authenticity, decorative art, Diego Rivera, empty walls, Established artists, Established galleries, Francisco Toledo, Francisco Zúñiga, How to buy art, Jesus Reyes Ferreira, New Year resolutions, oil paintings, original art, paintings, political movement, sculptures, Where to buy art, Why to buy art

“Latitudes: Maestros Latinoamericanos”

Right before it closed, I had the opportunity to visit the exhibition “Latitudes: Maestros Latinoamericanos” in Mexico City. This exhibition has traveled through Argentina, Spain, Brazil, United States and Mexico. At this time, the Collección FEMSA is participating in the exhibition: “José Clemente Orozco: Pintura y Verdad” in the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City. “Latitudes” displayed modern tendencies of the 20^th Century. There were 41 artworks from great artists such as José Clemente Orozco, Armando Reverón, Rufino Tamayo, Wifredo Lam, Roberto Matta, Antonio Berni, Alfredo Ramos Martinez, José Gurvich, Pedro Figari and many more.

I will describe just a few; one in particular that besides the fact that she might be my favorite female painter, I have a personal attachment from an early age to “Papilla Estelar” by Remedios Varo. Oh! What a beauty! For me, it has a peculiar magic that attracts your soul. Varo’s imagination is overwhelmingly enigmatic.

Other great works in the collection include a Juan O’Gorman “Los Mitos” (The Myths); here the artist establishes political and religious concepts on how humans have betrayed their own species thru the centuries depicting an inferno. 

A very “O’Gorman style” Frida Kahlo called “Mi Vestido Cuelga Aquí” (My Dress Hangs Here). Painted while living in New York City as Diego Rivera was painting a mural in Rockefeller Center, this is her only collage. In a very detailed cityscape, the “tehuana” dress is hanging on a blue ribbon attached to a toilet sitting on top of a column on the left, and a trophy also on top of a column on the right. The painting is filled up with buildings, factories and the Statue of Liberty. A great David Alfaro Siqueiros “Mujer Dormida – La Primavera” (Sleeping Woman – Spring)

And to close this note on a cynetic twist, this is a Luis Tomasello “Atmósfera Cromoplástica” (Chromoplastic Atmosphere) – Detail. This Argentinean artist has a real talent playing with geometric forms and managing color, light and shadows which I find phenomenal.

Until next time,

Laura Cunningham
Director

General Alfonso Michel, Alfredo Ramos Martinez, Ángel Zárraga, Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, Antonio Berni, Armando Morales, Armando Reverón, Carlos Mérida, Cordelia Urueta, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, FEMSA, Fernando Botero, Francisco Matto, Frida Kahlo, Gerardo Murillo (Dr. Atl), Jean Charlot, Joaquín Torres-García, José Clemente Orozco, José Gurvich, Juan O’Gorman, Latitudes, Leonora Carrington, Luis Tomasello, Maestros Latinoamericanos, Oswaldo Guayasamín, Pedro Coronel, Pedro Figari, Remedios Varo, Roberto Matta, Rufino Tamayo, Wifredo Lam

When we launched latinamericanart.com we had the daunting task of selecting a competent dedicated server provider and we chose 800hosting. Since our inception we knew that eventually we had to chose a provider that would be able to hold our hand, help us when needed and most of all, keep the web sites up.  Art and technology are much more compatible now than back in the day, but it’s rare to find an art nut who is also a full blown technical wizard. So we oftens time find ourselves able to handle the front end (updating our sites) but with little or no comprehension of how the backend works. Things like data backup in case our system fails or keeping our servers free of viruses have become very important to us. Read a few blogs and you will quickly learn that not so nice things happen to nice web sites far too frequently.

The only time we had an issue was when one of our dedicated servers started to have a slowness issue but that was quickly resolved with a simple phone call. 800hosting has been helpful when needed and has always been prompt to reply by phone or email so we have been very satisfied with our choice and while they are not the least expensive, we sleep better at night knowing that they are keeping a watchful eye on our servers.

So we want to publicly thank 800hosting for doing a great job and helping us make latinamericanart.com the best Latin American Art portal on the web.

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