Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CPPC) is a privately held Latin American art organization based in

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

founded by Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and

Gustavo Cisneros Gustavo Alfredo Jiménez de Cisneros y Rendiles (1 June 1945 – 29 December 2023) was a Venezuelan businessman and Chairman of '' Grupo Cisneros''. A onetime billionaire, according to ''Forbes,'' his net worth peaked at US$6.0 billion in 2007 ...

History

In the 1970s, during Patricia Phelps de Cisneros' travels across Latin America with her husband,

, she spent her time visiting artists in their studios and seeing art in local galleries and museums, and began actively purchasing and collecting artwork. Primarily collecting indigenous work during frequent expeditions through

, especially around the

Orinoco The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...

in the

Amazon River Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

. As her collection grew, Cisneros saw that Latin American art was under-represented in the international art community, so the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CPPC) was formed in the 1990s, with a goal of bringing visibility and impact to the way Latin American art history is viewed and appreciated. That effort has included a four-pronged approach: An ambitious approach to lending artworks around the world, working with scholars and academics to learn more about the artists and their works, the creation of a publications program to provide supporting information about the artists and their work, and building an online forum for the artwork.

Collection

The CPPC is best known for its collection of Modernist geometric abstraction from Latin America and also comprises holdings of Latin American landscapes by traveler artists to Latin America in the 17th to 19th centuries; furniture and art from Latin America's colonial period; contemporary art from Latin America; and an important group of art and artifacts from indigenous peoples of Venezuela's Amazonas region, the

Collection. The mission of the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros is to enhance appreciation of the diversity, sophistication, and range of art from Latin America. Gradually, Cisneros began acquiring geometric abstract artwork that had been under-appreciated. It gradually grew into a significant holding of 20th century Latin American abstract art. She has appeared on top collector lists every year since 1998. Cisneros has been lending her collections to international exhibitions and institutions since 1999. Cisneros credits her understanding of the importance of stewardship as a collector to her great-grandfather, William H Phelps, who meticulously cataloged his ornithological collection. She has said that her aesthetic developed as a result of having grown up in the modernist society of Caracas in the 1950s and 1960s. The collection is organized in five categories that are areas of focus: Modern art, Contemporary art, Colonial art, the Orinoco collection, which is an ethnographic collection that traces the cultural production of 12 indigenous groups from the Orinoco River Basin, and the Traveler Artists to Latin America collection.

Modern art

The modern art collection is made up of works by Latin American artists who were active in the twentieth century. The focus is on artists who work in the geometric abstraction movements of modern art in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela, with additional focus on artists working in both Europe and North America that have a connection to the history of Latin American art. ''La Invención Concreta'' is a micro-site, publication, and series of exhibitions that reflect the growth of geometric abstraction movements in South America from 1930 to late 1970.

Contemporary art

This collection consists of contemporary artists from Latin America as well as other artists from other areas. In addition to the collection of work by contemporary artists, the collection provides support for artists residencies and grant funding. The collection is actively involved in education-based programming.

Colonial art

The Colonial art collection is focused on Colonial art and furnishings. This collection is made up of painting, furnishings and religious objects made in Venezuela from the

Colonial Venezuela Spanish expeditions led by Christopher Columbus, Columbus and Alonso de Ojeda reached the coast of present-day Venezuela in 1498 and 1499. The first colony, colonial exploitation was of the pearl oysters of the "Pearl Islands". Spain established ...

era that began in 1717 and continued throughout the Hispanic and Republican periods, leading up to the middle of the 19th century. It follows the independence of Venezuela and reflects the history of Venezuela's early development as a country.

Orinoco collection

The Orinoco collection is an

ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

collection that traces the cultural production of materials by 12 indigenous groups from the Venezuelan Orinoco River Basin (also known as the Amazonas region) through the collection of ethnographic objects and documents from the following areas: * Baniva * Baré * De'áruwa (

Piaroa The Piaroa people, known among themselves as the ''Huottüja'' or ''De'aruhua'', are a South American indigenous ethnic group of the middle Orinoco Basin in present-day Colombia and Venezuela, living in an area larger than Belgium, roughly circ ...

) * E'ñepa ( Panare) * Híwi ( Guahibo) * Hoti * Puinave * Wakuénai ( Curripaco) * Warekena * Tsase ( Píapoco) *

Yanomami The Yanomami, also spelled Yąnomamö or Yanomama, are a group of approximately 35,000 indigenous people of the Americas, indigenous people who live in some 200–250 villages in the Amazon rainforest on the border between Venezuela and Brazil. ...

* Ye'kuana The collection began in the 1970s during vacations in the Orinoco region with Cisneros' family, when Cisneros realized the materials were quickly disappearing.

Traveler Artists to Latin America

The Traveler Artists to Latin America collection includes

landscape art Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction in painting of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coh ...

created by artists traveling to Latin America during the period that started in 1638 to the late 19th century. This collection reflects the development of Latin American landscape art, which started with

Frans Post Frans Janszoon Post (17 November 1612 – 17 February 1680) was a painter during the Dutch Golden Age. He was the first European artist to paint landscapes of the Americas, during and after the period of Dutch Brazil. In 1636 he traveled to ...

coming to Brazil from Amsterdam in 1637. The collection traces the trend of European and American artists coming to the region, an influx of visiting artists that led to the development of various national schools of paintings. The collection includes a Landscapes of the Americas collection, which is made up of drawings, paintings, photographs, prints, and watercolors from this time of active political change and reflects cultural exchange between Latin America and Spain and Portugal.

Partnerships

Cisneros and the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros have long-term relationships with various cultural institutions globally. Among these are

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery in London, housing the United Kingdom's national collection of international Modern art, modern and contemporary art (created from or after 1900). It forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Live ...

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía The ''Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía'' ("Queen Sofía National Museum Art Centre"; MNCARS) is Spain's national museum of 20th-century art. The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992, and is named for Queen Sofía. I ...

, among many others. In 2010, the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Professorship in Latin American Art at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City, United States. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools ...

was established with a $1 million donation. Cisneros has had a long-term relationship with the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York. The 2016 donation of 102 modern and contemporary Latin American artworks from the 1940s to 1990s to the

, which establishes the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Research Institute for the Study of Art from Latin America at MoMA, join the previous donation by Colección Cisneros of over 40 other previously donated works. The gift is meant to be transformative and impactful on how Latin American art is valued and recognized globally. The gift includes works by

Lygia Clark Lygia Pimentel Lins (23 October 1920 – 25 April 1988), better known as Lygia Clark, was a Brazilian artist best known for her painting and Installation art, installation work. She was often associated with the Brazilian Constructivist moveme ...

Lygia Pape Lygia Pape (7 April 1927 – 3 May 2004) was a Brazilian visual artist, sculptor, engraver, and filmmaker, who was a key figure in the Concrete movement and a later co-founder of the Neo-Concrete Movement in Brazil during the 1950s and 1960 ...

, Jesús Rafael Soto,

Alejandro Otero Alejandro Otero (El Manteco, Bolívar, March 7, 1921 — Caracas, August 13, 1990) was a Venezuelan painter of Geometric abstraction, a sculptor, a writer and a cultural promoter. He was a founding member of the Los Disidentes group. Early ...

, and Tomás Maldonado. Additional highlights are works by Willys de Castro,

Hélio Oiticica Hélio Oiticica (; July 26, 1937 – March 22, 1980) was a Brazilian visual artist, sculptor, painter, performance artist, and theorist best known for his participation in the Neo-Concrete Movement, for his innovative use of color, and for what ...

, Juan Mele,

Mira Schendel Mira Schendel (June 7, 1919 – July 24, 1988) was a 20th-century Brazilian contemporary artist. She was known for her drawings on rice paper and was also active as a painter, poet, and sculptor. Her work drew upon the art of language and poetry, ...

, and

Gego Gertrud Louise Goldschmidt (1 August 1912 – 17 September 1994), known as Gego, was a modern German-Venezuelan visual artist. Gego is perhaps best known for her geometric and kinetic sculptures made in the 1960s and 1970s, which she described ...

. The Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Research Institute for the Study of Art from Latin America is projected to open as a new wing at MoMA in 2019. In 2018, it was announced that Inés Katzenstein was appointed as the director of the newly formed Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Research Institute for the Study of Art from Latin America as well as the Curator of Latin American Art at the

. In January 2018, it was announced that more than 200 artworks, many from contemporary artists, would be donated by the collection to six institutions: the

, who will receive 90 works; the

Bronx Museum of the Arts The Bronx Museum of the Arts (BxMA), also called the Bronx Museum of Art or simply the Bronx Museum, is an American cultural institution located in Concourse, Bronx, New York. The museum focuses on contemporary and 20th-century works created by ...

; the

in Madrid, Spain; the

Museo de Arte Moderno The Museo de Arte Moderno (MAM) is a museum dedicated to modern Mexican art located in Chapultepec Park in Mexico City. The museum is part of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura and provides exhibitions of national and internat ...

in Buenos Aires, Argentina; the Museo de Arte de Lima in Lima, Peru; and the

Blanton Museum of Art The Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art (often referred to as the Blanton or the BMA) at the University of Texas at Austin is one of the largest university art museums in the U.S. with 189,340 square feet devoted to temporary exhibitions, permanent co ...

at the

University of Texas, Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 20 ...

in Austin, Texas. The gifts include works by

Amalia Pica Amalia Pica (born 1978 in Neuquén, Argentina) is a London-based Argentine artist who explores metaphor, communication, and civic participation through sculptures, installations, photographs, projections, live performances, and drawings. Pica cu ...

(Argentina), Jac Leirner (Brazil), Luis Camnitzer (Uruguay), and

Regina José Galindo Regina José Galindo (born August 27, 1974 Guatemala City) is a Guatemalan artist who specializes in performance art. She is currently one of the main artists working in this medium in Latin America, and is also a poet. Her work is characterized b ...

(Guatemala). As part of a discussion commemorating of the start of its fifth decade collecting art, in February 2018 Cisneros announced the upcoming donation of over 100 images from the traveler artists working in Latin America collection to Wikimedia Commons.

Selected artists in the Colección

* Federico Herrero * Fernanda Laguna *

* Jac Leirner * Jesús Rafael Soto * Juan Melé *

* Tomás Maldonado * Willys de Castro

Selected exhibitions

Since 1999, CPPC has loaned and curated over 60 Latin American exhibitions globally. * 2001: "Geometric Abstraction: Latin American Art from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection."

Fogg Museum of Art The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

(

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

). March 3–November 4, 2001 * 2006: "The Rhythm of Color: Alejandro Otero and Willys de Castro – Two Modern Masters in the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros."

Aspen Institute The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., but also has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, its original home. Its stated miss ...

(

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

). June 29–November 1, 2006 * 2007: "The Geometry of Hope: Latin American Art from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection."

at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

. February 20–April 22, 2007;

Grey Art Gallery The Grey Art Museum, known until 2023 as the Grey Art Gallery, is New York University's fine art museum. As a university art museum, the Grey Art Gallery functions to collect, preserve, study, document, interpret, and exhibit the evidence of h ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. September 13–December 8, 2007 * 2010: "Desenhar no espaço (Fundação Iberê Camargo): Artistas abstratos do Brasil e da Venezuela na Coleção Patricia Phelps de Cisneros." Fundação Iberê Camargo (

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

). July 29 – October 31, 2010 * 2010–2011: "Desenhar no espaço (Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo): Artistas abstratos do Brasil e da Venezuela na Coleção Patricia Phelps de Cisneros." Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

). November 27, 2010 – February 6, 2011 * 2013: "La Invención Concreta: Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros."

(Madrid, Spain). January 23–September 16, 2013 * 2014: "Radical Geometry: Modern Art of South America from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection."

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

(London, England). July 5–September 28, 2014 * 2015–2016: "Boundless Reality: Traveler Artists' Landscapes of Latin America from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection."

and the

Americas Society The Americas Society is an organization dedicated to education, debate, and dialogue on the Americas. It is located at Percy R. Pyne House, 680 Park Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and was established by David Rockefeller in 1965. ...

(New York, New York). October 30, 2015 – January 23, 2016 * 2017: "Vistas del sur: Traveler Artists' Landscapes of Latin America from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection." New Britain Museum of American Art (

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

, Connecticut). January 20–April 16, 2017 * 2017: "Overlook: Teresita Fernández Confronts Frederic Church at Olana."

Olana State Historic Site Olana State Historic Site is a historic house museum and Landscape architecture, landscape in Greenport, Columbia County, New York, Greenport, New York, near the city of Hudson, New York, Hudson. The estate was home to Frederic Edwin Church (182 ...

( Columbia County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

). May 14–November 5, 2017 * 2017–2018: "Making Art Concrete: Works from Argentina and Brazil in the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros."

Getty Center The Getty Center, in Los Angeles, California, United States, is a campus of the Getty Museum and other programs of the Getty Trust. The $1.3 billion center opened to the public on December 16, 1997, and is well known for its architecture, garde ...

(Los Angeles, California). August 29, 2017 – February 11, 2018 * 2018: "Concrete Matters."

Moderna Museet Moderna Museet is a state museum for modern and contemporary art located on the island of Skeppsholmen in central Stockholm, opened in 1958. In 2009, the museum opened Moderna Museet Malmö in Malmö. History The museum opened in Stockh ...

(

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

). February 24–May 13, 2018

Selected publications

* – Catalog of an exhibition held at Fundação Iberê Camargo, Porto Alegre, Brazil, July 29-Oct. 31, 2010 and at Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, Nov. 27, 2010-Jan. 30, 2011 * – Exhibition catalog of ''Cold America, Geometric Abstraction in Latin America (1934–1973),'' Fundación Juan March, Madrid, February 11-May 15, 2011 ** * – Published on the occasion of an exhibition of the same name held at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain, January 22-September 16, 2013 * – Obra publicada con motivo de la exposición homónima celebrada en el Museo Reina Sofía del 22 de enero al 16 de septiembre de 2013 * – Catalogue qui accompagne une exposition de la "Fundación Cisneros Orinoco Collection", tenu au "Museo Centro Gaiás" dans la "Cidade da Cultura de Galicia." * – Published in conjunction with an exhibition organized by and held at the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

, Sept. 20, 2013-Jan. 12, 2014. Also held at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, Feb. 16-May 18, 2014, New Orleans Museum of Art, Jun. 20-Sept. 21, 2014, and the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Oct. 17, 2014-Jan. 11, 2015 * * * *

References

External links

* * – Geometric abstract art from South America (1930s–1970s) * {{Authority control Arts organizations based in Venezuela Arts organizations based in New York City Art collections in the United States Art collections in Venezuela Arts organizations established in the 1970s