Explore Latin American Printmaking at the Blanton’s New ‘Paper Trails’ Exhibit

A new exhibition at the Blanton Museum of Art offers a rare look at modern Latin American print portfolios, tracing their development through international biennials, corporate commissions and the rise of a middle-class art market.

Opening Dec. 20 and on view through April 19, “Paper Trails: Latin American Art in Print (1950–1995)” highlights a printmaking boom in Latin America during the mid-to-late 20th century. The exhibition features 15 curated portfolios from the museum’s permanent collection, meaning sets of prints—often by multiple artists—assembled and circulated as unified collections. Some have not been exhibited in decades, according to Florencia Bazzano, assistant curator of Latin American art at the Blanton.

The exhibition is divided into three thematic galleries. The first presents general portfolios from the late 1950s and ’60s, showcasing the diversity of themes and styles that emerged from the print boom. The second focuses on three countries with particularly robust printmaking traditions: Mexico, Puerto Rico and Brazil. The final gallery features selections from Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay, placing special emphasis on lesser-known artists and national efforts to enter the international art scene.

Among the standout works is “Pictografía 60” by Bolivian artist Gustavo Medeiros Anaya, a vivid 1988 screenprint from the “I Portfolio of Bolivian Art.” Bazzano called the print “really impactful,” noting its combination of vivid color and textile-inspired form. “It is historic… but also very contemporary,” she said.

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“Fuga para o Egito” (1965) by Raimundo de Oliveira, a ten-color screenprint from the portfolio “Raimundo: 5 Serigraphs.” (Courtesy of the Blanton Museum of Art)

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“Gráfica latinoamericana” (1971) by Antonio Frasconi, a screenprint from the portfolio “Latin American Graphic Art.” (Courtesy of the Blanton Museum of Art)

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“Surmandalismo” (1971) by Rogelio Polesello, a screenprint from the portfolio “Latin American Graphic Art.” (Courtesy of the Blanton Museum of Art)

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“Cangrejeros” (1951) by José Antonio Torres Martino, a color screenprint from the portfolio “Grabados: La Estampa Puertorriqueña.” (Courtesy of the Blanton Museum of Art)

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“Helios” (1972) by Mercedes Pardo, a color screenprint from the portfolio “21 Printmakers of Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela.” (Courtesy of the Blanton Museum of Art)

Latin American art on an international stage

The exhibition situates these portfolios within a broader cultural moment. Beginning in the 1960s, Latin America saw a boom in art biennials, which are international exhibitions held every two years, that helped establish artists on the global stage. These events, such as the Bienal de São Paulo and the Bienal de San Juan, served as springboards for printmakers to gain international recognition.

Crucially, many of the portfolios on display were sponsored by multinational corporations, including subsidiaries of the U.S.-based Container Corporation of America. These companies, particularly active in Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia, funded and distributed prints as part of corporate public relations campaigns, further expanding the reach of Latin American art abroad.

“Every portfolio has a little story behind it,” Bazzano said. She noted that in some cases, curated sets functioned as “a sort of mini exhibition,” allowing institutions to present a “ready‑to‑go show on Latin American art.”

Prints were also widely accessible, created for an emerging middle class eager to collect art. While not overtly political—particularly compared to earlier revolutionary prints from the 1930s and ’40s—these works tackled themes of identity, abstraction, landscape and the personal over the ideological.

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“Amazona (equestrienne)” (1968) by Trindade Leal, a color woodcut from the portfolio “History of Engraving in Brazil I.” (Courtesy of the Blanton Museum of Art)

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“Sin título” (undated) by José Gamarra, a color screenprint from an untitled portfolio from Uruguay. (Courtesy of the Blanton Museum of Art)

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“La cita” (1972) by Enrique Grau Araujo, a color screenprint from the portfolio “21 Printmakers of Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela.” (Courtesy of the Blanton Museum of Art)

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“Muñeca 2” (circa 1970) by Leticia Tarragó, an etching and aquatint in color from the portfolio “Diez grabados mexicanos.” (Courtesy of the Blanton Museum of Art)

Printmaking for all

Technically, the portfolios reflect a range of methods, from linocuts and woodcuts influenced by Mexico’s Taller de Gráfica Popular, to screenprinting in Bolivia, where the medium was used to reproduce works by artists who weren’t traditionally printmakers. Puerto Rican portfolios frequently combined intaglio with silkscreen, resulting in rich, textured compositions.

Bazzano hopes the show underscores both the geographic breadth of Latin American printmaking and the accessibility of the medium itself.

“I want people to recognize the beautiful art coming from countries we don’t often hear about, like Paraguay or Nicaragua,” she said, “and I hope visitors join the market and buy prints because they’re really affordable.”

“Paper Trails: Latin American Art in Print (1950–1995)” runs Dec. 20 through April 19 at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin. Tours in English and Spanish will be offered on select dates and are included with admission.

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