1810-1910-2010. Dependent independencies. Art and national identities in Latin America

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Henrik Karge
• Subject Area: Art History
• Term: from 2014 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 252524646

The year 2010 saw the bicentennial celebrations of the first declarations of independence by Latin American states; as early as the first half of the nineteenth century, former Spanish and Portuguese viceroyalties and colonies on the subcontinent became sovereign nations. These countries forged their own paths into the modern era, each characterised by social and cultural disruptions and contradictions.The artistic implications and consequences of this process, which lasted into the 20th century, was the subject of a conference that took place in Dresden in 2010, jointly organised by the Department of Art History, Technische Universität Dresden, and the Carl Justi Association for the Promotion of Art Historical Cooperation with Spain, Portugal and Latin America. It was the only event of international standing marking the anniversary of the events of 1810, which concentrated on the visual arts and architecture of Latin America and their relationship to Europe.This volume comprises a series of representative case studies presenting the results of current research in a field that has hardly been explored by the international community of art historians. Collected here are 27 essays by renowned authors from Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, France and Germany. In a common effort, these scholars imagine a future framework for art history, in which the relationship between Europe and Latin America in the postcolonial era will be understood as a central field of investigation, not as a marginal issue. The essays are grouped in five sections:- The image of Latin America as it was perceived in 19th- and early 20th- century European and North American culture;- The new gaze toward Europe and the emancipation of art institutions in Latin America;- The invention of traditions – the construction of national histories;- The centennial celebrations of 1910 – staging the independence of Latin America;- The role modern art and architecture played in establishing models for national identity.The title of the proceedings, 1810 – 1910 – 2010. Independencias dependientes – Conditional Independencies, is meant to convey the idea that the construction and establishment of national identities was of vital importance for the sovereignty of the young Latin American states. Against this backdrop, visual arts and architecture played a major part in the invention of autochthonous traditions; in presenting them, however, artists called upon European structural and thematic models. One of the special qualities of Latin American art of the 19th and early 20th centuries is its multifaceted engagement with the traditions and new movements of European art, which were utilised with singular intensity to found an autonomous art for the American continent.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants