AS/COA

Americas Society

 

Council of the Americas

Uniting opinion leaders to exchange ideas and create solutions to the challenges of the Americas today

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Visual Arts at Americas Society

Arts and Culture

Americas Society Gallery does not accept unsolicited submissions and materials. Our staff is not authorized to receive or review artist or exhibition proposals.

The Visual Arts program boasts the longest-standing private space in the U.S. dedicated to exhibiting and promoting art from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada; it has achieved a unique and renowned leadership position in the field, producing both historical and contemporary exhibitions. The Visual Arts program present three exhibitions annually, each accompanied by a series of public and educational programs featuring outstanding artists, curators, critics and scholars. The Visual Arts program produces exhibition catalogues as well as scholarly publications, including the seminal work, A Principality of Its Own: 40 Years of Visual Arts at the Americas Society.

 

Funders

The exhibition Within the Light Trap: Cruz-Diez in Black and White is made possible by the generous support of Chevron as Lead Sponsor.

The catalogue of the exhibition Cristóbal Lehyt: Iris Sheets is generously supported by the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, Boris Hirmas Said, The Tinker Foundation Inc., and ProChile.

The Winter 2014 Visual Arts Program is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

The Society’s Visual Arts department, dedicated to fostering a better understanding of art in the American regions beyond U.S. borders from the pre-Columbian era to the present day, produces gallery exhibitions, illustrated catalogs, and a variety of public programs. The quality of our exhibitions attests to the diversity and heritage of the Americas, and upholds the mandate of the Americas Society to foster a better understanding of the art made in these regions from the pre-Columbian era to the present day.

The visual arts program boasts the longest-standing private space in the United States dedicated to exhibiting and promoting art from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada. Americas Society is recognized for its catalyzing role in establishing Latin American art markets in the United States and helping to expand the notion of modernity in the western hemisphere. The success of the department is rooted in its role as not merely a consecratory venue, but also as a platform for new artistic visions and achievements from throughout the Americas.

UPCOMING EVENTS PAST EVENTS   

Current Exhibition

Unity of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt and the Americas
April 29 - July 26, 2014
Guest Curators: Georgia de Havenon and Alicia Lubowski-Jahn

Americas Society presents Unity of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt and the Americas, the first exhibition in New York to focus on Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), the Prussian scientist, explorer, and author, who during his lifetime was renowned for his exploration of the Americas. The exhibition, guest curated by Georgia de Havenon and Alicia Lubowski-Jahn, examines Humboldt's scientific thoughts on nature in relation to aesthetics and imagery, in addition to how these ideas were interpreted by landscape artists from the nineteenth-century. His scientific work contributed to the understanding of the tropical landscape in the Western hemisphere. The show includes paintings and drawings by Frederic Edwin Church, Louis Rémy Mignot, Titian Ramsay Peale, and Norton Bush, as well as a selection of European artists, such as Ferdinand Bellerman, Johann Moritz Rugendas, Albert Berg, Anton Goering, Eduard Ender, and the Victorian woman traveler Adela Breton. Unity of Nature also gathers a selection of rare first edition publications, letters by Simón Bolívar and Humboldt, maps, and scientific instruments, alongside a cabinet by contemporary artist Mark Dion, as his response to the tradition of scientific drawing and the systematic categorization of species.

Learn more about the exhibition.

The Visual Arts program boasts the longest-standing private space in the U.S. dedicated to exhibiting and promoting art from Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada; it has achieved a unique and renowned leadership position in the field, producing both historical and contemporary exhibitions. The Visual Arts program present three exhibitions annually, each accompanied by a series of public and educational programs featuring outstanding artists, curators, critics and scholars.

Explore our exhibitions below, and view a timeline of Visual Arts exhibitions dating back to 1967.

Eduard Ender (Austrian, 1822-1883). Alexander von Humboldt and Bonpland in the Jungle Hut, ca. 1850. Archive of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Past Exhibitions

Cristóbal Lehyt: Iris Sheets

September 10, 2013

The Fall 2013 exhibition offers site-specific installations by the Chilean artist that call into question perceptions of sight and space. ... Read More

For Rent: Marc Latamie

May 15, 2012

In his first solo exhibition in the United States, artist Marc Latamie reflected on the colonial trade and cultural exchange between Martinique and France. ... Read More

Observed: Milagros de la Torre

February 08, 2012

The artist’s first monographic show in New York, Milagros de la Torre's Observed comprised of stark, object-based images, examining contemporary issues related to violence, memory, and the socio-political construction of identity. ... Read More

Antonio Manuel: I Want to Act, Not Represent!

September 15, 2011

In Antonio Manuel's first solo exhibition in the Unites States, the show focused on his preeminent role in the development of the groundbreaking neo-avant-garde movement that emerged in Rio de Janeiro during the 1960s. ... Read More

For Rent: Consuelo Castañeda

May 17, 2011

For Rent: Consuelo Castañeda was the first of three exhibitions devoted to mid-career artists from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada to be presented annually from 2011 to 2013 by Americas Society’s Visual Arts program in our gallery. ... Read More

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Note: The gallery will be closed on Friday, July 25. It will reopen for the final day of Unity of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt and the Americas on July 26.

The gallery is free and open to the public.

Hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 12-6 p.m.

Address:
680 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10021
(212) 249-8950
View a map of this location.

Take the  train to 68th Street/Hunter College or the   train to Lexington Ave/63rd Street. We are located on the northwest corner of East 68th Street and Park Avenue.

Special editions of books covering visual arts of the western Hemisphere and published by the Americas Society.

The Visual Arts department offers a variety of beautifully illustrated catalogues that chronicle past Americas Society exhibitions.

Antonio Manuel: I Want to Act, Not Represent!

Friday, September 30, 2011

The publication Antonio Manuel: I Want to Act, Not Represent! is produced in conjunction with the eponymous exhibition held at Americas Society’s Art Gallery. This catalogue features reproductions of Antonio Manuel’s artwork from the 1960s and 70s, in which he manipulates images appropriated from the mass media, explores performance and video art techniques, and reinterprets the human body itself as a vehicle for art. ... Read More

Arturo Herrera: Les Noces (The Wedding)

Friday, December 31, 2010

Americas Society released a fully illustrated publication about the exhibition Arturo Herrera: Les Noces (The Wedding), which explored the relationship between abstraction, animation, modern dance, and music. The catalogue features essays by Nuit Banai, Lynn Garafalo, and Gabriela Rangel, as well as interviews with Herrera, Christopher Newton, and Dame Monica Mason. ... Read More

Tiempos Violentos / Shattered Glass

Monday, November 8, 2010

Americas Society is pleased to announce the December 9 presentation by Americas Society Visual Arts Director Gabriela Rangel of the Tiempos Violentos/Shattered Glass catalague at the Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil in Mexico City. This bilingual publication includes essays by guest curators Bertha Aguilar, Alejandra Olvera and Sandra Zetina. It is also fully illustrated and presents over 75 color images, including all the pieces exhibited as well as many others. ... Read More

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