“Sur moderno: Journeys of Abstraction – The Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gift” consists primarily of paintings, sculptures and works on paper donated to the Museum by the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros. This extraordinarily comprehensive collection provides the basis for a journey through the history of South American abstract and concrete art in the mid-20th century. The exhibition explores the transformative power of abstraction in Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina and Uruguay, focusing both on the ways artists reinvented the art object itself and on the role of art in reshaping the social environment.
Organized by Inés Katzenstein, Curator of Latin American Art and Director of the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Research Institute for the Study of Art from Latin America, The Museum of Modern Art, and consulting curator María Amalia García, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) – Universidad Nacional de San Martín, with Karen Grimson, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art.
The Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Research Institute for the Study of Art from Latin America is a platform dedicated to encouraging, supporting and disseminating new understandings of Latin American modern and contemporary art in relation to broader cultural issues in a global context. The exhibition runs through March 14 on the third floor, 3 East, at MoMA, NYC.