Debates at the Centre: Abstract and Figurative Art in the Collection of the Museo de Arte Moderno 1950-1970, curated by Marcelo E. Pacheco – Advisor to the Patrimony Department at the Moderno − was an opportunity to explore how figurative and abstract movements came into conflict, co-existed and complemented each other between the 50s and 70s. Based on a historical timeline that brings together the different movements, schools and groups involved, it identified moments when the two languages vied for domination of the artistic scene.
Debates at the Centre explored the tensions and convergences, differences and conversations between figurative and abstract art across the decades. The strength of the clashes and resonances varied as it followed the twisting paths of both languages at a time when modern art was making the shift into contemporary art. The exhibition examined a set of artists who defined their scenes but who play very different roles in the historiography.
All the works selected form part of the Museo’s Collection and were either acquired by the Museo’s first two directors, Rafael Squirru and Hugo Parpagnoli, leading figures on the sixties’ cultural scene, or the Fondo Nacional de las Artes, which in that decade ran an important donation programme of artworks to museums across the country.
Artists featured in the exhibition:
Juan Del Prete, Josefina Robirosa, Silvia Torras, Víctor Chab, Luis Barragán, Luis Centurión, Juan Grela, Laura Mulhall Girondo, Eugenia Crenovich (Yente), Juan Eichler, Carlota Reyna, Luis Seoane, Anita Payró, Salvador Presta, Víctor Magariños D., Carlos Silva, Líbero Badii, Manuel Álvarez, César Ambrossini, Noemí Gerstein, Eduardo Sabelli, Enio Iommi, Marie Orensanz, Aldo Papparella, Julián Althabe, Osvaldo Stimm, Ricardo Carpani, Juan Carlos Castagnino, Pablo Suárez, Ricardo Carreira, Luis Fernando Benedit, Ricardo Garabito, Nicolás García Uriburu, Fernando Maza, Oscar Capristo, Antonio Llorens, Germaine Derbecq, Manuel Espinosa, Adolfo Estrada, Miguel Ocampo and José Antonio Fernández Muro.
