Photography in Argentina: contradiction and continuity

Abstract

"From its independence in 1810 until the economic crisis of 2001, Argentina was perceived as a modern country with a powerful economic system, a strong middle class, a large European-immigrant population, and an almost nonexistent indigenous culture. This perception differs greatly from the way that other Latin American countries have been viewed, and underlines the difference between Argentina's colonial and postcolonial process and those of its neighbors. Comprising three hundred works by sixty artists, this exhibition examines crucial periods and aesthetic movements in which photography had a critical role, producing--and, at times, dismantling--national constructions, utopian visions, and avant-garde artistic trends"--Publisher's description

Contents

Introduction / Idurre Alonso and Judith Keller -- Plates. Civilization and barbarism -- National myths -- The gesture -- Fissures -- Essays. Photography of views and customs in nineteenth-century Argentina / Abel Alexander and Luis Priamo -- Processes of modernization in Argentine photography, 1930-1960 / Valeria González -- Argentina : myth of light and shadow / Carlos Masotta -- Putting the body : captured gestures, persistence, and drifts / Ana Longoni and Natalia Fortuny -- Fissures / Rodrigo Alonso -- Constructions and deconstructions : reconsidering documentary photography from Argentina and beyond / Idurre Alonso.