IN 2001, THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, HOUSTON (MFAH), under the inspired leadership of Director Peter C. Marzio, made a long-term, multi-million dollar commitment to Latin American and Latino art by establishing a curatorial department and its research arm—the International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA)—dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, researching, and educating audiences on the work of Latin American and Latino artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The ICAA’s mission was to contribute in a significant way to the development of this emergent field by stimulating research and debate on Latin American and Latino artists and artistic movements. Since its inception, the ICAA has organized four international symposia and published eleven books and exhibition catalogues.
Early on, however, it became clear that the field needed more than the organization of exhibitions and symposia, or the publication of books. Consequently, in October 2001 and then again in November 2002, with seed monies provided by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Getty Foundation, the MFAH invited a group of thirty-five art historians, scholars, and curators from Mexico, South America, and the Latino United States to assist the museum in charting a viable course for the ICAA’s programmatic development. The concerns shared by everyone present in these meetings centered on the poor state—or the non-existence in some cases—of archives and an efficient archival infrastructure in Latin America and the U.S. Latino communities, as well as on the urgent need to both preserve and provide access to primary documents and materials related to the visual arts. At stake was the task and the responsibility of preserving for future generations the theoretical and intellectual foundations of this art.
The results of these discussions led to the establishment of the Documents of 20th-Century Latin American and Latino Art Project (ICAA Documents Project), an initiative involving a digital archive and a projected thirteen-volume book series comprised of primary documents of Latin American and Latino art. With this groundbreaking effort, the MFAH sought to bring about a long-term transformation in these budding fields of study and research. The crux of this project involved a highly structured, team-based initiative that expanded across the Americas. Between 2002 and 2004, the ICAA set out to identify institutional partners as it simultaneously developed the project’s administrative and professional infrastructure. In 2004, the seventeen-member editorial board was appointed and the project’s Editorial Framework was developed and approved. The first three teams began operations in 2005; they were followed by seven other teams in a staggered timeline. The ICAA provided all of the equipment and training for the teams and oversaw their document-recovery efforts. Six years later, the Recovery Phase of the project was completed. The project’s second phase—involving the labor-intensive tasks of processing and cataloguing these documents and their publication in both digital and book series formats—began in 2009. In 2012, the countless hours of work by the ICAA and its hundreds of international partners culminated in the publication of this volume and the simultaneous launch of the ICAA Documents Project Digital Archive.
Initiatives of this nature can test the capacity of institutions to meet their complex demands and intricate logistical requirements. Having been charged by Dr. Marzio with the responsibility of overseeing this effort from its inception, I am extremely proud of what the museum and the center have achieved. Fully understanding the value of research as the foundation for promoting scholarship, innovative exhibitions, and visionary collecting efforts, the MFAH’s Board of Trustees wholeheartedly endorsed this enterprise from the beginning. Similarly, the museum’s Latin American Art Subcommittee has championed the ICAA Documents Project’s growth, development, and fund-raising initiatives every step of the way. Enthusiasm for the ICAA’s mission also extended to the entire institution, and a number of key departments worked relentlessly over the past decade to bring the ICAA’s digital archive and book series to fruition. These include: administration, development, publications, information technology, marketing and communications, the Hirsch Library, human resources, and volunteer services. My thanks and appreciation go to all of them for their hard work and contributions to making this ambitious undertaking a reality.
I also wish to recognize the exceptional scholarship and dedication of Mari Carmen Ramírez, the Wortham Curator of Latin American Art and director of the ICAA. For Volume I of the ICAA book series, Dr. Ramírez has collaborated intensely with Héctor Olea and Tomás Ybarra-Frausto, both of whom I also would like to thank for their contributions and deep commitment to the Documents Project. María C. Gatzambide was instrumental as well to this endeavor, and she served tirelessly as the point person for the ICAA team. Furthermore, the MFAH is extremely grateful to the ICAA Document Project’s partner institutions, researchers, advisors, editors, cataloguers, and consultants for the time and effort they dedicated to recovering, classifying, annotating, and editing the documents that make up the core of this landmark initiative.
Bruno Favaretto, of the São Paulo–based firm Base 7, merits special mention for his extraordinary work engineering the project’s database and website. I also extend sincere thanks to Diane and Bruce Halle and the project’s sponsors who generously supported the work of the teams as well as the digital archive and book series.
Peter C. Marzio’s faith in this project stemmed from a simple idea: the capacity of documents to stimulate interest in the artistic production of an extremely rich, yet under-recognized area of the world. He envisioned a college freshman stumbling upon this digital archive and the book series to discover Latin American art for the first time, and he believed that such an experience had the potential to be truly transformative both for this student and, indeed, for the future of the field. When Dr. Marzio passed away in December 2010, the ICAA had begun its countdown toward the launch of the digital archive and the book series. I believe both the project’s website and the present volume will fulfill his high expectations.
GWENDOLYN H. GOFFE
INTERIM DIRECTOR
THE MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, HOUSTON