num_pages: 403
description: The life of Carmelo Arden Quin, the pioneering South American modernist, chronicles the birth throes of abstractionism in Argentina in the 1940s and its fruition in post World War II Paris. Thriving in the ferment of cafe life and artistic innovation in Buenos Aires where he had arrived in 1938, Arden Quin and the poet Edgar Bayley founded the review Arturo, which championed pure invention free from naturalism and symbolism, and the confluence of all branches of the arts. From these experiments came Madi, Arden Quin's brand of geometric art insisting on playfulness, irregular shapes and canvasses, decoupage and the importance of space, kinetic and transformable pieces, and the dissolution of the barriers between spectator and work of art. The largely uncharted history of South America's enormous contributions to 20th century art unfolds through the adventures, personal histories, friendships, amours, and bitter conflicts that fill the pages of this book. It is distinguished by a sustained immediacy and intimacy rarely seen in art history, which comes from four decades of frienship between the author and the artist. Over 200 black and white documentary photos and 60 color plates of the artist's work, together with a detailed Bibliography and Chronology of Exhibitions.
language: English
title: Carmelo Arden Quin: When Art Jumped Out of its Cage
titlecomplete: Carmelo Arden Quin: When Art Jumped Out of its Cage
publisher: The Madi Museum and Gallery