Geometric Abstraction: Latin American Art from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection

Widely praised for its fine collection of Latin American geometric abstract art, the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros of Caracas, Venezuela, contains the compelling work of such leading artists as Uruguayan Joaquín Torres-Garcia, Brazilians Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica, Venezuelans Gego and Jésus Rafael Soto, and Argentinians Tomás Maldonado, Raúl Lozza, and Alfredo Hlito.

This lavishly illustrated book presents a selection of more than eighty paintings, drawings, and sculptures from the Cisneros collection, representing some two dozen Latin American artists. The works were completed between 1934 and 1988, but the vast majority date from the “heroic” years of geometric abstraction, 1948–1966.

This special bilingual volume explores in both English and Spanish the history and importance of the major movements that were dedicated to geometric abstraction. These movements include Concretism and Neo-Concretism in Brazil, Constructivism in Uruguay, the Madi Group and Concrete artists in Argentina, and Kinetic Abstraction and Neo-Constructivism in Venezuela. The book also offers biographies of the artists and an intriguing selection of their statements and manifestos.