Latin American artists in modernist Paris: a difficult consecration ¹

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to problematize the recognition possibilities of Latin American artists in modernist Paris. Based on theories of artistic consecration, this article analyzes the process of musealization of works by Latin American artists, who became part of French public collections between the 1910s and the founding of the Musée National d’Art Moderne in 1947. The research, carried out in the Archives Nationales, made it possible to identify how many and which, among the more than three hundred Latin American artists who developed their work in Paris, were chosen to become part of these collections. As we will see, only a minuscule few actually managed to have their works included in a French public collection. Even when they did, this was hardly a guarantee of visibility, as revealed by certain blatant absences in the MNAM collection.

KEYWORDS:
Latin American artists; Modernism; Paris; Musealization; Musée National d’Art Moderne