Pablo Facse – The Andes as the Axis of a Regional Modernity: Artistic Networks Between Argentina, Bolivia and Perú (1912 – 1929)

In this research project I intend to investigate the networks formed by artists and intellectuals from Argentina, Bolivia and Perú between 1912 and 1929. The constant movement of agents through the Southern and Central Andes, the creation of cultural magazines of transnational reach and the visual imaginaries centered in the region are indicators that point to the existence of a cultural process that developed through the three mentioned countries. Influenced by the ideas of an incipient cultural nationalism and the “spiritual crisis” that was taking place in Europe, those artists and intellectuals found in the “Andean world” an archeological, ethnographic and architectonic heritage that could become the inspiration for an aesthetic identity that stood as an alternative to the European models.

This project is a continuation of my doctoral dissertation, entitled “The northwest and the institutionalization of the arts in Argentina: transits, dialogues and tensions between region and nation (1910-1955)”, which was presented at the end of 2017. That dissertation focused on the process of institutionalization of the arts at the Argentine Northwest, which led me to investigate the construction of Nativist visual imaginaries as a way of highlighting the region in the context of the debates about “national art”. The influence of cultural nationalism and Americanism in these debates turned artists to the representation of landscapes, human types, and the remains of indigenous and colonial past, all of which were considered symbols of an identity who had not been altered by the immigratory process and social modernization. These ways of imagining the Argentine Northwest necessarily led artists to contemplate the links between this region and the present territories of Bolivia and Perú, as the cultures and landscapes they referred to in their images exceeded the geographical limits of each nation.

In this new instance, my goal is to focus on a framework that highlights the formation of a common agenda for the cultural fields of the three mentioned countries. At this stage of research, I will address a relatively limited period of time, starting with the first itineraries trough the Andean region (in 1912 the Peruvian painter José Sabogal arrived at Buenos Aires and then travelled to Jujuy) and ending with the confluence of the agendas of intellectuals and artists in a common scenario: the 1929 Iberoamerican Exhibition of Seville. At the same time, the research will focus on some artists (like the Argentine Alfredo Guido, the bolivian Cecilio Guzmán de Rojas and the peruvian José Sabogal), intellectuals (as Martín Noel, Ricardo Rojas and Luis Valcárcel) and events (such as Bolivia’s centennial exhibition, Sabogal’s exhibition at Amigos del Arte in Buenos Aires and the aforementioned Iberoamerican Exhibition). The general objective of this research project is to deepen our understanding about a topic of Latin American Art History that has been partially addressed by historiography. The results of this investigation will not only allow us to rediscover and value a part of the artistic heritage in collections of museums and cultural institutions, but also to establish a dialogue between the historiographic traditions of the countries focused on this project. This type of inquiry will favor a decentered interpretation of Latin American Art History that questions stylistic categories, geographical frames, and traditional periodization. Also, this project aspires to place itself among the revisions of the category of aesthetic modernity produced during the last decades in the field of Art History: the investigation will elucidate some of the nuances of this concept that will enable us to understand the specificities of the projects led by the artists that centered their attention on the Andean region.

Pablo Fasce holds a PhD in History from the Interdisciplinary School of High Social Studies of the National University of San Martín (EIDAES-UNSAM), and a bachelor’s degree and professor of Arts from de University of Buenos Aires (UBA). His investigation focuses on the formation of art institutions and the networks of artists and intellectuals in the Andean region during the first half of the XXth century. He is a researcher at the Consejo nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) and an assistant professor at UNSAM and UBA. He is the author the book Del taller al altiplano. Museos y academias artísticas en el norte argentino (Unsam Edita, 2021), as well as several articles in academic journals.