This catalog represents the "Arte Latino" round of the Treasures to Go Smithsonian exhibitions touring the US in 2002. Some 50 Latino artists from the US and Puerto Rico explore their identity and influence on US culture over the past two centuries via various media.
Arte Latino: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum commemorates Treasures to Go, a series of eight exhibitions from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, touring the nation through 2002.
Arte Latino highlights more than 200 years of Latino art from the United States and Puerto Rico. Of the fifty artworks depicted in this book, the earliest are from Puerto Rico, which became a U.S. territory in 1898. Others reflect the heritage of the Hispanic Southwest, from eighteenth-century religious carvings to recent works. The Chicano movement of the 1960s inspired artists to address social and political issues. Many Cuban American artists and other immigrants express a divided identity, having left family and a past behind them.
Powerful, provocative, contemplative, and proud, these artworks explore place and honor a people and a culture. They attest to the uniqueness of the individual and to the rich and varied experience of being Latino in the United States.
