Alternative Latin Investor speaks with Latin American Art Museum of Amersfoort

 

LAKMA started with a foundation dedicated to the Spanish artist José Gausachs. Gausachs was an artist who emigrated from Spain during the Spanish Civil War, before the Second World War. For many, Gausachs is an unknown name; however, he is of great importance to Latin America's art history. He was the disciple of great masters such as Isidre Nonell and Felix Mestre. He cultivated friendships in Paris with other famous painters of his time, such as Amadeo Modigliani, Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. He was appreciated by intellectuals like Tristan Tzara, whose friendship and support made a great difference for Gausachs during the exile. Furthermore, he was praised by great writers of that time: Hemingway acquired one of his paintings, and the poet Carles Ribas dedicated a poem to the remarkable painter after the inauguration of Gausach’s last exposition in Barcelona.

The Gausach Art Foundation has undertaken the project of creating the first museum in The Netherlands dedicated to Spanish, Mexican, Caribbean, and Central and South American contemporary art. The museum's collection will serve as a cross-cultural exchange gateway between Latin America and the diverse population of the Netherlands. The museum will offer numerous research and study possibilities with its cultural center Casa Latina through various exhibitions and programs.

ALI: What inspired you to start a museum for Latin American Art in the Netherlands?

LAKMA: We saw that there was a need for a macro institution to support on a nonprofit basis the promotion of Latin American culture and arts. We had a good collection but not a lot of support—when we had a proposal for an exhibition it always would come out of the Latin American embassies here. The embassies, however, they don’t have a multi-year budget—they are working with a one-year budget. They aren’t interested in something that might take place in three years, as they don’t know if they will even be established still in the country. The museums on the other hand have full exhibition schedules for years in advance and need to have a long perspective of the programming for their sponsorship. Therein lay the problem—so in order to create movement and interest in Latin American art, whose effects can be felt in commerce, politics, dialogue, education, one macro organization needed to be in place to solidify all of the smaller foundations and culture departments of the embassies. We had a concept of “united we stand.” We started just under three years ago—there were a number of stakeholders needing networking with the embassies and with the artists, and we finally got enough momentum going to start the projection of a museum. They thought of which city would be best—wanted a big and prestigious museum.....




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