Last week, the Library was fortunate to receive a visit from PLAS Visiting Scholar Agustín Díez Fischer and students participating in his seminar Art Archives in Latin America to view and discuss more than twenty items related to Chile’s Escena de Avanzada, most of which are part of the Rare Books section of the Marquand Library of Art and Archaeology.
The ample selection of exhibition catalogs, brochures and books by and about experimental artists such as Carlos Altamirano, Eugenio Dittborn, Paz Errázuriz, Alfredo Jaar, Ronald Kay, Carlos Leppe, and Nelly Richard, among others, allowed students to look closely at and discuss how, after the Military Coup of 1973, Chilean artists reconceptualized traditional artistic practices, languages, techniques and genres.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446528106421
The term “escena de avanzada” was first coined by the eminent art critic, cultural theorist and editor Nelly Richard in Una mirada sobre el arte en Chile (1981). Richard was a key figure of the movement, crucial to the international dissemination of its propositions.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446642106421
The engaging visit ended with a discussion about the first edition of La Manzana de Adán = Adan’s Apple, a remarkable series of photographs taken by Paz Errázuriz in the 1980s, documenting the lives of male-to-female cross dressing prostitutes in Chile. Addressing a topic that the military dictatorship considered highly subversive, La Manzana de Adán stands to this day as a powerful symbol of resistance and defiance.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/997171403506421
As in class last week, I will not pass the opportunity to remind students and researchers interested in the topic that Princeton holds the papers of Diamela Eltit. Eltit was a member of the Colectivo Acciones de Arte (CADA), a performance artists collective that figured prominently during the Escena de Avanzada.
“Escena de Avanzada” titles shown in class:
Altamirano / Dittborn / Leppe visualizan: ‘Purgatorio’ de R. Zurita. Santiago: Coordinación Artistica Latinoamericana / Galería C.A.L., 1979.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446527106421
Cuatro artistas chilenos en el CAYC de Buenos Aires: Díaz, Dittborn, Jaar, Leppe. Buenos Aires: Centro de Arte y Comunicación, 1985.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446739006421
Desacato: sobre la obra de Lotty Rosenfeld. Zegers, Francisco, ed. Texts by Gonzalo Muñoz, Nelly Richard, Diamela Eltit, Raúl Zurita and María Eugenia Brito. Santiago: F. Zegers, 1986.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/995000763506421
Dittborn, Eugenio and Ronald Kay. E. Dittborn: Centro de Arte y Comunicación, junio – julio 1979. Buenos Aires: CAYC, 1979.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446526906421
Dittborn, Eugenio. Estrategia y proyecciones de la plástica nacional. Santiago, 1981. https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446740706421
Dittborn, Eugenio. Final de pista: 11 pinturas y 13 graficaciones: E. Dittborn. Santiago: Galería Epoca, 1977.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446527406421
Dittborn, Eugenio. Pinturas postales de Eugenio Dittborn: Dittborn, Millán, Muñoz, Oyarzún, Richard. Santiago: Francisco Zegers Editor, 1985.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446738906421
Dittborn, Eugenio and Ronald Kay. V.I.S.U.A.L. Santiago: coedición v.i.s.u.a.l. y Galería Epoca, 1976.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446528106421
Errázuriz, Paz. Un cierto tiempo: fotografías: 20 de junio al 7 de julio de 1991. Santiago: Dirección de Bibliotecas Archivos y Museos, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, 1991.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446532106421
Errázuriz, Paz. El combate contra el ángel. Santiago: Galería de la Plaza, 1987.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446643206421
Errázuriz, Paz and Claudia Donoso. La manzana de Adán = Adam’s apple. Santiago: Zona Editorial, 1990.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/997171403506421
Galaz, Gaspar and Milan Ivelić. Chile, arte actual. Valparaíso: Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, 1988.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/997044053506421
In, out: four projects by Chilean artists, Washington, D.C., March 18 – April 23, 1983. Washington, D.C.: Washington Project for the Arts, 1983.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446740106421
Kay, Ronald. Del espacio de acá: señales para una mirada americana. Santiago: Editores Asociados, 1980.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99109220243506421
Meza, Fernán. Dadá, Surrealismo y Pop. Santiago: Universidad de Chile, 1970 or 1971.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446528606421
Richard, Nelly and Bernice Murphy, eds. Art from Latin America = La cita transcultural. Sydney: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1993.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446839406421
Richard, Nelly. Cuerpo correccional. Santiago: Francisco Zegers, 1980.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446642506421
Richard, Nelly. Margins and institutions: art in Chile since 1973. Melbourne: Art & Text, 1986.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/9945463973506421
Richard, Nelly and Juan Dávila. The Mechanism of illusion in Davila. Melbourne: Tolarno Galleries,1977.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446527506421
Richard, Nelly. Una mirada sobre el arte en Chile. Santiago, 1981.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446642106421
Rosenfeld, Lotty and Florencia de Amesti. Lotty Rosenfeld: Grabados: 13 al 24 de diciembre de 1972. Santiago: Instituto Cultural de Las Condes, 1972. Brochure. https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446636706421
Vostell, Wolf. Vostell: “El Huevo” (environment), Documenta 6, documentation: exposición en Galería Epoca, septiembre-octubre 1977, Santiago de Chile. Santiago: Galería Epoca, 1977.
https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/99125446527606421