Hola! MoLAA Widens Its Presence

The Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach becomes an official affiliate Wednesday of the Smithsonian Institution, meaning Southern Californians will soon get a chance to view works of Latin American masters once seen mostly in Washington. These include the art of Uruguay’s Joaquin Torres Garcia, Colombia’s Fernando Botero, Chile’s Roberto Matta, Rufino Tamayo of Mexico and Antonio Segui of Argentina, among others.

What makes the treat possible is the Smithsonian’s affiliations program, established in September 1996 to share with wider audiences some of the Smithsonian’s collection of 140 million objects and other resources.

MoLAA, as the Long Beach institution is known, is an up-and-coming small museum. It began in 1996 with the private collection of physician Robert Gumbiner and now boasts a wider collection with a strong emphasis on the Caribbean and Central America.

American interest in Latin American art has come in waves. In the early 1930s, the daring creativity of some Mexican artists won recognition, climaxing in a Diego Rivera exhibit at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. The Guggenheim Museum led a survey in 1966 of the most relevant Latin American artists of the time. And, in the 1990s, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art mounted a groundbreaking exhibit, “Mexico: 30 Centuries of Splendor.”

In the end, however, a more systematic approach is needed. LACMA’s recent addition of its Latin American art wing and now MoLAA’s affiliation with the Smithsonian are two steps in the right direction.