SECRETARY GENERAL
Luis Almagro
Artistic and cultural expression is a precious and vital element of our human condition. As vehicles of individual and collective expression, art and culture help to define our experiences and aspirations.
The history of our region, with its glories, its failures, its breathtaking diversity and its essential humanity, is reflected back to us in the work of great artists. Diego Rivera, Raquel Forner, Fernando Botero, and Wifredo Lam speak to us today just as they have rallied artistic movements and spoken to social and political concerns in their homelands.
That is why the AMA | Art Museum of the Americas is an intrinsic part of the Organization of American States (OAS).
In supporting free and unfettered expression, including drawing on the voices of marginalized communities, the ongoing work of the Art Museum of the Americas is closely aligned with the efforts of the OAS to ensure “More Rights for More People.”
As an instrument of the Organization’s public and cultural diplomacy, it delivers an invaluable service to member states and the people of the Americas. The production of the first fully comprehensive catalog in more than 30 years should be celebrated.
The Art Museum of the Americas has over the course of four decades assembled a collection of more than 2,000 vital works from throughout the hemisphere. It sets the narrative of the region.
Under the guidance of longtime curator and critic, José Gómez Sicre, who directed the Visual Arts Division and then the Museum for more than 30 years, this collection grew to be a milestone and rallying point for painters and sculptors throughout the Americas.
Connecting artists with international audiences at their moment of emergence, it became the first collection to document and define a modern and contemporary artistic canon in the region.
I wish to extend my gratitude to the dedicated staff of the AMA whose vision and dedication to cultures of the Americas continues to ensure the relevance and the visibility of this collection.
Their efforts are multiplied by the support received from the volunteer Friends of the Art Museum of the Americas (FAMA) group, whose dedication I gratefully recognize as well.
I hope this volume will help encourage a new public to explore the rich history of the Permanent Collection of the Art Museum of the Americas and the complex and fascinating story that it tells.
Luis Almagro
Secretary General
Organization of American State
