Spotlight
Significant works by contemporary Latinx and Latin American artists acquired by National Gallery
joseph rodriguez
Sep 5, 2024
“Our collection has grown in exciting ways over the past few years as we strived to capture a fuller view of the history of art, both nationally and globally,” said E. Carmen Ramos, the National Gallery’s Chief Curatorial and Conservation Officer. “Collectively, these artists bring forth noteworthy practices and perspectives that are new to our collection. Their works fill in major gaps and empower us to tell complex and compelling stories in our galleries that can connect with our audiences. The ongoing, insightful work to broaden our collection will continue with the recent arrival of our new associate curator of Latinx art, Natalia Ángeles Vieyra, whose work will expand, study, and interpret our evolving collection of modern and contemporary Latinx art.”
Joseph Rodríguez (b. 1951)
The National Gallery acquired 10 works from Spanish Harlem (1985–1988), Rodríguez’s photographic series that depicts the cacophony of a busy neighborhood in saturated color. Not shying away from the hardships experienced by many in the community, Rodríguez’s lens seeks to capture, as he puts it, “the struggles of everyday life.” Yet many of the photographs in the series also portray communal life in Catholic rituals, social clubs, and moments of joy on the street.
Throughout his decades-long career, Rodríguez has sought to document the “domestic landscape of America” in his photographs. He grew up in Brooklyn, then studied photography at the School of Visual Arts. After earning a photojournalism and documentary diploma from the International Center of Photography in 1985, he began a career as a photojournalist, working for the Black Star photo agency and numerous news organizations and publications including New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, and New York Magazine.
Rodríguez has published several photobooks and pursued independent and wide-ranging projects in Puerto Rico and the United States, as well as in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Mauritius, among others. Seeking out marginalized people and communities, and often focusing on the criminal justice system, Rodríguez works in the social documentary tradition to tell stories of people in a way that foregrounds shared realities rather than differences.
Significant works by contemporary Latinx and Latin American artists acquired by National Gallery
The National Gallery of Art has acquired over 40 significant works by contemporary Latinx and Latin American artists of different generations, includ
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