Kelly Donahue-Wallace surveys the art and architecture created in the Spanish Viceroyalties of New Spain, Peru, New Granada, and La Plata from the time of the conquest to the independence era. Emphasizing the viceregal capitals and their social, economic, religious, and political contexts, the author offers a chronological review of the major objects and monuments of the colonial era. In order to present fundamental differences between the early and later colonial periods, works are offered chronologically and separated by medium--painting, urban planning, religious architecture, and secular art--so the aspects of production, purpose, and response associated with each work are given full attention. Primary documents, including wills, diaries, and guild records are placed throughout the text to provide a deeper appreciation of the contexts in which the objects were made.

Designed as a survey and focused on key examples/paradigms arranged chronologically from 1903 to 2003, this volume covers a myriad of countries; historical, social, and political conditions; and projects/developments that range from small houses to urban plans to architectural movements. The book is structured so that it can be read in a variety of ways--as a historically developed narrative of modern architecture in Latin America, as a country-specific chronology, or as a treatment of traditions centered on issues of art, technology, or utopia. This structure allows readers to see the development of multiple and parallel branches/historical strands of architecture and, at times, their interconnections across countries. The authors provide a critical evaluation of the movements presented in relationship to their overall goals and architectural transformations.

This volume documents the golden period of Latin American architecture that was inaugurated in September 1929, when Le Corbusier was invited to lecture in Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. These countries were eager to apply -- and transform -- a European-born modernism, and within a few decades, they captured international attention with an array of extraordinary buildings, exemplified by the Ministry of Education and Health in Rio de Janeiro and the Brazilian pavilion at the 1939 New York World's Fair. The contributors to this insightful collection of essays (which grew out of a 2002 conference organized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the New School University) offer contemporary reflections that underline the importance of reexamining this almost forgotten work in light of the contemporary crisis in global architectural production. Each essay examines a particular aspect of the cultural transformation that took place in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Venezuela, and Mexico. Among the topics explored are the influence of Le Corbusier on the region, the early work of Oscar Niemeyer, the roots of Mexican modernism and its radical transformation in the work of Luis BarragÁn, and the creative collaboration between Venezuelan architect Carlos Raul Villanueva and sculptor Alexander Calder.