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14 Latino Art Shows Not to Miss in 2017

2017 is proving to be a banner year for major Latino art shows, with many of America's top museums hosting important and innovative exhibitions.
Juchitan River (Rio Juchitan) Panel 4, 1953-1955
Juchitan River (Rio Juchitan) Panel 4, 1953-1955(C) 2017 Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

2017 is proving to be a banner year for major Latino art shows, with many of America's top museums hosting important and innovative exhibitions. Spanning a broad spectrum of styles, mediums, eras and regions — from 18th century Mexican painting to 21st century Chilean sculpture — these 14 shows taking place throughout the year highlight the constant evolution and incredibly rich diversity of Latino art.

Picasso and Rivera: Conversations Across Time

LACMA, Los Angeles

Through May 7, 2017

Both bigger-than-life personalities and arguably the most prominent artists of their respective countries in the early to mid 20th century, Spain's Pablo Picasso and Mexico's Diego Rivera each tapped into ancient traditions to help create modernism. This exhibition of 150 paintings, etchings and watercolors shows both the thread running between the two artists as well as the connections each had with objects from the deep past.

Pablo Picasso, Studio with Plaster Head, June 1925,oil on canvas, 38 5/8 x 51 5/8 in., Museum of Modern Art, New York
Pablo Picasso, Studio with Plaster Head, June 1925,oil on canvas, 38 5/8 x 51 5/8 in., Museum of Modern Art, New YorkCourtesy of The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, NY

Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium

Abstract Experiments: Latin American Art on Paper after 1950

Doctrine and Devotion: Art of the Religious Orders in the Spanish Andes

The Art Institute Of Chicago

Through May 7, 2017

Influential 20th century Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica, a leader of the so-called Neo-Concrete Movement, gets his first major American retrospective with To Organize Delirium, a show that debuted at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Art last year, and will move on next to New York's Whitney Museum (July 14–October 1, 2017). Complementing the Oiticica exhibition in Chicago is Abstract Experiments, culled mostly from the Art Institute's own collections, exploring the development of abstractionism in South America. A third Art Institute show, also running through May 7, presents a collection of 13 works used by various Catholic factions to promote Christianity in the Spanish Andes from the 17th to the 19th centuries.

Dreamland: A Frank Romero Retrospective

Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach

Through May 21, 2017

The half-century career of pioneering LA Chicano artist Frank Romero gets a comprehensive overview in this first-ever solo exhibition for a Chicano artist at MOLAA. With more than 200 works, the show includes his time as co-founder of the influential Los Four collective, and reveals his deep appreciation for Los Angeles, the Chicano experience, Latin American heritage and American pop culture.

Frank Romero (U.S., b. 1941)
Le Monde,	2006
Oil on canvas, 7 ½ x 16 ft.
Frank Romero (U.S., b. 1941) Le Monde, 2006 Oil on canvas, 7 ½ x 16 ft. Courtesy of Target Corporation

Daniela Rivera: The Andes Inverted

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Through September 17, 2017

Chilean artist Daniela Rivera, whose installations are generally site-specific and respond to the spaces in which they're installed, presents this show based on Chile's Chuquicamata copper mine, using materials, images and sounds gathered from the actual site, and exploring the mine's powerfully disruptive impact.

México 1900–1950: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, José Clemente Orozco, and the Avant-Garde

Dallas Museum of Art

Through July 16, 2017

In its only American stop, this major international show is a sweeping survey of nearly 200 works that showcase Mexico's cultural and artistic renaissance in the first half of the 20th century, with pieces by the titans of Mexican Modernism and lesser-known pioneers, as well as several rarely-seen works by female artists.

Diego Rivera: Juchitan River (Rio Juchitan) Panel 4, 1953-1955;
Diego Rivera: Juchitan River (Rio Juchitan) Panel 4, 1953-1955; 2017 Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico, D.F. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Tania Pérez Córdova: Smoke, Nearby

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

Apr 15–Aug 20, 2017

This just-opened show highlights the work of Mexico City-based artist Tania Pérez Córdova, whose pieces turn everyday items like SIM chips and credit cards — "contemporary relics," as she calls them — into sculptures.

Tania Perez Cordova, Portrait of a woman unknown (detail), 2014.
Tania Perez Cordova, Portrait of a woman unknown (detail), 2014.Courtesy of Tania Perez Cordova and josegarcia, mx.

Frida Kahlo: Through the Lens of Nickolas Muray

Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach

April 29, 2017 - September 3, 2017

Hungarian-born American photographer Nickolas Muray met Frida Kahlo on a trip to Mexico in 1931, kicking off a ten-year romance and life-long friendship, as well as innumerable photographs including these 50 or so from the decade between 1937 and 1946. They include some of the most iconic images of Kahlo that were not self-portraits.

Through the Len of Nickolas Muray, Frida with Olmeca Figurine, Coyoacan, 1939
Through the Len of Nickolas Muray, Frida with Olmeca Figurine, Coyoacan, 1939Nickolas Muray / Courtesy of Museum of Latin America Art

Luis Tapia: Cada mente es un mundo

Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach

June 10, 2017 - September 3, 2017

Blending four centuries of New Mexican wood carving tradition with contemporary culture, self-taught Santa Fe artist Luis Tapia has had a career spanning 45 years, with works that depict the richness of the modern Chicano experience. This MOLAA show will feature new and recent works.

Playing with Fire: Paintings by Carlos Almaraz

LACMA, Los Angeles

August 6, 2017–December 3, 2017

Another founding member of LA's iconic Los Four collective, Chicano artist Carlos Almaraz gets his first major retrospective with this show that focuses mainly on his large-scale paintings, more than 60 works that trace the evolution of his work from political to more personal and mystical, before his untimely death at the age of 48 in 1989.

Carlos Almaraz, Crash in Phthalo Green, 1984, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of the 1992 Collectors Committee
Carlos Almaraz, Crash in Phthalo Green, 1984, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of the 1992 Collectors CommitteeCourtesy of Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985

Hammer Museum (UCLA), Los Angeles

September 15–December 31, 2017

Part of a broad exploration of Latino art in Los Angeles called Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, this revolutionary show will focus on the contribution of Latin American women to contemporary art, with 260 works in photography, video, and other experimental visual mediums, from more than 100 artists hailing from 15 countries.

Painted in Mexico: Pinxit Mexici, 1700–1790

LACMA, Los Angeles

November 19, 2017–March 18, 2018

With more than 120 works, this groundbreaking show will explore 18th century painting in Mexico, a vibrant period that saw major stylistic developments and the invention of new iconographies.

Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz, Portrait of Dona Tomasa Duran Lopez de Cardenas c. 1762, Oil on canvas, 40 3/16 x 33 1/16 in. (102 x 84 cm),
Juan Patricio Morlete Ruiz, Portrait of Dona Tomasa Duran Lopez de Cardenas c. 1762, Oil on canvas, 40 3/16 x 33 1/16 in. (102 x 84 cm),Courtesy LACMA, Collection of Felipe Siegel, Anna and Andrés Siegel, Mexico City

Adiós Utopia: Dreams and Deceptions in Cuban Art Since 1950

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis

November 11, 2017 – March 18, 2018

In this most comprehensive exhibition of modern and contemporary Cuban art in the United States since World War II, more than 100 of the country's most important works by more than 50 artists reveal how revolution and disillusionment have shaped Cuban art since the middle of the 20th century.

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