Ruptures and Reimagined Traditions: Avant-Garde Movements and Modernities 

Oriented initially to archaeology, anthropology, and other social sciences disciplines, the Latin American Library continually enhances its holdings relating to literature, cultural studies, and the arts to reflect changing scholarly approaches and interests.

A focus in recent years is avant-garde literary and cultural movements, supporting the study of a period of great significance for the region’s cultural history when Latin American writers and artists made a decisive rupture with European aesthetic and ideological dominance while simultaneously reimagining their own social realities, identities, and cultures. Displayed is a selection of cultural magazines, rare books, manuscripts, and art pieces from Peru, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay that illustrate the thematic and aesthetic variety of these movements, their experimental language, and innovative spirit.

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• Title: Amauta
• Caption:
  Amauta is a landmark cultural and literary magazine published in Peru from 1926 to 1930. Directed by José Carlos Mariátegui (1894–1930), a towering figure of Peruvian and Latin American intellectual and political history, the magazine was a platform for Latin American critical thought. A key focus was indigenismo, a political and cultural movement from the 1930s that positioned Indigenous people and cultures as central to the nation-state.
• Date: 1926–1930

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• Title: Print block from Peruvian engravers artists featured in Amauta section "Arte Peruano"
• Caption:
  Wood and linoleum
  Amauta was a platform for intellectuals and artists to reflect on Peru's historically marginalized Indigenous population. Unlike criollo discourse that considered Indigenous culture as a problem for the nation, indigenismo embraced a more inclusive vision, recognizing Amerindians as a vital element of its identity and future.
• Source: Rare Books Collection

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• Title: Print block from Peruvian engravers artists featured in Amauta section "Arte Peruano"
• Caption:
  Wood and linoleum
  Amauta was a platform for intellectuals and artists to reflect on Peru's historically marginalized Indigenous population. Unlike criollo discourse that considered Indigenous culture as a problem for the nation, indigenismo embraced a more inclusive vision, recognizing Amerindians as a vital element of its identity and future.

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• Title: Amauta
• Caption:
  Enrique ["Enrike"] Peña Barrenechea (1904–1988)
  "Elogio a Miss Backer [sic]"
  
  Martín Adán (1908–1985)
  "Contra Josephine Backer [sic], Nota polémica"
  
  Assessments of Josephine Baker, a cultural icon of modernity, that underscore how jazz was critically received, particularly in countries such as Mexico and Peru where indigenismo was a dominant framework. Here, a poetic tribute to Baker is juxtaposed to a harsh critique that rejects her as a symbol of "Yanqui" capitalism.
• Date: 1928-03-13

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• Title: Jazz Magazine
• Caption:
  Carlos Tealdo Alizieri and César Di Baja
  Buenos Aires, 1945–1974
  By constrast, jazz garnered huge followings in Buenos Aires, a genuine love affair evidenced by these fan magazines.
• Source: Rare Books Collection

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• Title: Jazzmanía
• Caption:
  Walter Thiers and Nélida Rebagliati de Thiers
  Buenos Aires
• Source: Rare Books Collection
• Date: 1957–1959

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• Title: Jazzmanía
• Caption:
  Walter Thiers and Nélida Rebagliati de Thiers
  Buenos Aires
• Source: Rare Books Collection
• Date: 1957–1959

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• Title: Untitled poem addressed to Patricia O'Brien
• Caption:
  Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902–1987)
  Rio de Janeiro
  In 1969, local New Orleans resident Mary "Pat" O'Brien received her PhD from Tulane's Department of Spanish and Portuguese with a dissertation about renowned Brazilian poet, Carlos Drummond de Andrade. In 2023, Pat donated to the library twenty years of correspondence with the poet, including an unpublished Christmas poem in Concretist form.
• Source: Manuscripts Collection
• Date: 1970-12

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• Title: Letter to Patricia O'Brien
• Caption:
  Carlos Drummond De Andrade (1902–1987)
  Rio de Janeiro
  
  In 1969, local New Orleans resident Mary "Pat" O'Brien received her PhD from Tulane's Department of Spanish and Portuguese with a dissertation about renowned Brazilian poet, Carlos Drummond de Andrade. In 2023, Pat donated to the library twenty years of correspondence with the poet. This letter from Drummond recalls their first meeting at the National Library in Rio de Janeiro.
• Date: 1969-12-22

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• Title: La ciudad sin nombre
• Caption:
  Joaquín Torres García (1874–1949)
  Montevideo: Asociación de Arte Constructivo, 1941
  A seminal work by influential Uruguayan writer and artist Joaquín Torres García, one of the foremost figures of the Latin American avant-garde.
• Source: Rare Books Collection
• Date: 1941

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• Title: Galáxias, Glass Words, Handle with Care
• Caption:
  Haroldo de Campos and Antonio Dias
  Lucia Bertazzo, producer
  Rio de Janeiro: UQAprazível Edições, 2014
  Haroldo de Campos (1929–2003) was a prominent avant-garde figure and pioneer of the Concrete poetry movement in Brazil. Galáxias is a multi-part art book that incorporates poetry as visual art.
• Date: 2014