III.4.5 DIGITAL ARCHIVE 749636
THE EXHIBIT OF ART OF THE AMERICAS arranged under the auspices of the United States New York World’s Fair Commission is one of the outward expressions of the new relationships that are being established between the American nations. In the Declaration of American Principles adopted at Lima by the last Pan American Conference, intellectual interchange was given a coordinate place with the peaceful settlement of international disputes, nonintervention, the outlawry of force, the observance of treaties and the precepts of international law, and economic reconstruction. The Declaration says:
“Peaceful collaboration between representatives of the various States and the development of intellectual interchange among their peoples is conducive to an understanding by each of the problems of the other as well as of problems common to all, and makes more readily possible the peaceful adjustment of international controversies.”
Furthermore, the interchange of art exhibits, an important factor in intellectual cooperation, was the subject of a convention signed at Buenos Aires in 1936 by all the American Republics, because they were “desirous of improving their spiritual relationships through a better acquaintance with their respective artistic creations.”
The signature of such a convention and participation in the present exhibit are thoroughly in harmony with the cultural tradition of the Latin American Republics, since their governments have long fostered art by supporting free national schools and giving fellowships to talented students for study abroad, as well as in many other ways.
The present marked tendency among painters in the Americas to choose national themes is especially helpful in promoting international understanding. The nationally-minded artist is preoccupied not only with the beauty of his country, the typical scene, the custom loved from childhood, but also with the stress of toil, the sordidness of poverty, the incertitudes of modern life. Although expressed in aspects strange to citizens of other countries, these preoccupations take on universality when transmuted by genius.
In making available to the visitors to the New York World’s Fair this notable exhibit of Latin American contemporaneous art and thus advancing cultural relationships in this hemisphere, the United States Commission is performing an important service to the people of the United States as well as to the nations of Latin America.