50 Years, 50 works. The Art of Latin America and the Caribbean in the 20th Century

An exhibition gathering 50 artworks (paintings, drawings and engravings) by some of the most important Latin American and Caribbean 20th century artists, drawn from the collections of the Inter-American Development Bank and the Organization of American States, in Washington, D.C., open to the public on March 16th, 2009, at the Museo de Antioquia, in Medellín, Colombia, as part of the preamble to the celebration in the City of the 50th Annual Meeting of Governors of the IDB, and the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Bank in 1959. The President of the IDB, Luis Alberto Moreno, said recently in Washington that, "Few cities in the Americas have made more progress in overcoming the obstacles of poverty, violence and inequality than Medellín... The city has transformed itself, often with financial and technical support from the IDB. Today Medellín is a model of creative urban renewal and high-quality services for all income levels." "The exhibition presented today, comprising of works from the collections of the Inter-American Development Bank and of the Art Museum of the Americas of the Organization of American States, is yet another example of that commitment. The IDB recognizes the critical role played by the Museo de Antioquia in promoting, appreciating, and preserving the artistic heritage of Antioquia and Colombia. The Bank applauds the support given by artists born in Medellín, like the master Fernando Botero, whose generosity has made possible the remarkable progress in recent years of the Museo de Antioquia. Among the artists included in the exhibition whose works never or very rarely have been seen in Medellín are the Argentine Emilio Pettoruti (1892-1971), a seminal figure in the development o of modernism in that country in the 1920s.. An artist practically unknown in Medellín is the Uruguayan Pedro Figari (1861-1938). The group of artworks assembled represents the most cherished group of Latin American and Caribbean among them the Mexicans Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros; the Uruguayan Joaquín Torres García; the Guatemalan Carlos Mérida; the Colombian Alejandro Obregón; the Haitian Joseph Jean Gilles; the Bolivian María Luisa Pacheco; the Cuban Amelia Peláez; and the Jamaican Everald Brown, among many others.