From portraits of family friends and famous individuals to the aesthetics of religious traditions from Puerto Rico to the American Southwest, "Arte Latino" is a lavishly illustrated Smithsonian American Art Museum guide that celebrates Latin art, innovation and tradition. 52 color illustrations.

Explores how one group of Latin American artists express their relationship to American art, history and culture.

A Hispanic and Latino presence in what is now the United States goes back to Spanish settlement in the sixteenth century in Florida and the progressive U.S. conquest of the Spanish-controlled territory of California and the Southwest by 1853 and the Gadsden Purchase. Mexicans in this newly American territory had to struggle to hold on to their land. The overlooked history and the debates over new immigration from Mexico and Central America are illuminated by this first state-by-state history of people termed Latinos or Hispanics. Much of this information is hard to find and has never been researched before. Students and other readers will be able to trace the Latino presence through time per state through a chronology and historical overview and read about noteworthy Latinos in the state and the cultural contributions Latinos have made to communities in that state. Taken together, a more complete picture of Latinos emerges. The information allows understanding of the current status-where the Latino presence is now, what types of work they are doing, and how they are faring in places with only a small Latino presence. All 50 states and the District of Columbia are covered in individual chapters. A chronology starts the chapter, giving the main dates of Latino presence and important events and population figures. The historical overview is the core of the chapter. The cast of Latino presence and how they have made their livelihood along with relations with non-Latinos are discussed. A Notable Latinos section then provides a number of short biographical profiles. Cultural contributions are showcased in the final section, followed by a bibliography. A selected bibliography and photos complement the chapters.

"This anthology of more than 165 seminal writings by influential twentieth- and twenty-first century artists and critics who explore and challenge complex definitions of what it means to be 'Latin American' or 'Latino' is designed to be an indispensable tool for the study of Latin American and Latino art"--

Seventies “Hispanics,” identifying with Latin American emergence and increasing immigration to the U.S., adopted the epithet 'latino', soon written as Latino. Media fast-tracked, English Latino would eventually tilt presidential elections, advocate national programs, and protest policies, with native and immigrant subgroups presumed homogenous. Enunciated identically as 'latino' and presumed to be 'latino' or its exact translation, “Latino” proved to be a transliteration that since its coining started diverging from 'latino'. Latino became the political mask of unity over discrete subgroups; its primary agenda identity politics as a racialized, brown consciousness divested of its Hispanic cultural history. In contrast, 'latino' retains its Spanish transracial semantics, invoking an 'hispano' cultural history. Nationally Latino represents the entire Hispanic demographic while internecinely not all subgroups identify as Latinos. Latino is defined by immediate sociopolitical issues yet when needed invokes the 'latino' cultural history it presumably disowns. Intellectual inconsistency and semantic amorphousness make Latino a confusing epithet that subverts both speech and scholarship. Collective critical thinking on its semantic dysfunction, deferring to solidarity, is displaced with politically correct but circumventing tweaks, creating Latino/a, Latin@, Latinx. On the other hand, Latino exists because its time had come, expressing an aspiration for a more participatory identity in a multicultural America. Julio Marzán, author of 'The Spanish American Roots of William Carlos Williams', suspends solidarity to articulate the intellectual challenges of his Latino identity. Writing to academic standards in a style accessible to the general reader, Marzán argues that from 'latino' roots Latino evolved into an American identity as a demographic summation implying a culture that actually origin cultures provide, ambiguously an ethnicity and a nostalgic assimilation. “Latino” are American-germane sociopolitical extrapolations of 'latino' experiential details, the often-conflicted distinction illustrated in Marzán’s equally engaging essays that revisit iconic personages and personal events with more nuance than seen as Latino.

In-depth scholarship on the central artists, movements, and themes of Latin American art, from the Mexican revolution to the present A Companion to Modern and Contemporary Latin American and Latinx Art consists of over 30 never-before-published essays on the crucial historical and theoretical issues that have framed our understanding of art in Latin America. This book has a uniquely inclusive focus that includes both Spanish-speaking Caribbean and contemporary Latinx art in the United States. Influential critics of the 20th century are also covered, with an emphasis on their effect on the development of artistic movements. By providing in-depth explorations of central artists and issues, alongside cross-references to illustrations in major textbooks, this volume provides an excellent complement to wider surveys of Latin American and Latinx art. Readers will engage with the latest scholarship on each of five distinct historical periods, plus broader theoretical and historical trends that continue to influence how we understand Latinx, Indigenous, and Latin American art today. The book’s areas of focus include: The development of avant-garde art in the urban centers of Latin America from 1910-1945 The rise of abstraction during the Cold War and the internationalization of Latin American art from 1945-1959 The influence of the political upheavals of the 1960s on art and art theory in Latin America The rise of conceptual art as a response to dictatorship and social violence in the 1970s and 1980s The contemporary era of neoliberalism and globalization in Latin American and Latino Art, 1990-2010 With its comprehensive approach and informative structure, A Companion to Modern and Contemporary Latin American and Latinx Art is an excellent resource for advanced students in Latin American culture and art. It is also a valuable reference for aspiring scholars in the field.