Hispanic Art in the United States

Book excerpt: Issued in conjunction with an exhibition held at Houston's Museum of Fine Arts in 1987, and in other museums, this volume presents some 200 paintings and sculptures by 30 contemporary Hispanic artists living and working in the United States. Beginning with a piece on what it means to be Hispanic and what in particular it means to be a Hispanic artist, the volume includes interpretive essays defining and illuminating the challenging variety of contemporary Hispanic art, ranging from folk-inspired religious carvings to politically-motivated satirical work, modernist abstraction, ethnically-infected Neo-Surrealism, and impassioned New Imagism. The authors also discuss the origins of Hispanic art and the influences that have shaped it, and provide biographical sketches of the artists. ISBN 0-89659-688-5: $45.00 (For use only in the library).