Barbara Douglass December 15, 2010
Shifra M. Goldman
Biography Shifra Meyerowitz Goldman is a social art historian, critic and educator who has laid the groundwork for contemporary Latin American art history. She's known as a "pioneer" to the study of contemporary Latin American art, and has been a proponent for the acknowledgment of Latin American artists. She's made an immense contribution to the field, and has been a strong advocate for giving Latin American art the scholarly recognition it's due. She was born in New York in 1926 to Russian Jewish parents, a waiter and a seamstress, and attended the High School of Music and Art. She then went to college at UCLA where she was involved as an activist in the Civil Rights Movement. She received her B.A. in art from UCLA in 1963 and went on to receive her Master's in Art History from Cal State Los Angeles in 1966. She received her Ph.D. from UCLA in 1977 even though she had to wait three years to begin her dissertation because no professor would oversee her work on a modern Latin American art subject. She's been an art history professor in California for over 20 years, and is a Professor Emeritus from Santa Ana College, Santa Ana, CA. She became a research associate at UCLA's Latin American Center in 1994. She's also traveled extensively for her research, has given lectures all around Europe and countries in Latin America, and attended panel discussions around the U.S. inserting the subject of modern Latin American art into the conversation. Her publications began in the 1970s, where she primarily focused on Mexican and Chicano art, but her work was not well-known in the U.S. given her articles were published in Mexico, Europe, Spanish-language and alternative presses in the U.S. With her book Contemporary Mexican Painting in a Time of Change, published in 1981 she became established and began 1
forming networks with progressive artists and art historians around the world, primarily by traveling. She's won several distinctive awards including the College Art Association's (CAA) Frank Jewett Mather Award for distinction in art criticism in 1992, and the Women's Caucus for Art for outstanding achievement in the visual arts in 1993. In addition, her book Dimensions of the Americas, was granted the Hubert Herring Award for high achievement by the Pacific Coast Council on Latin American Studies in 1996. Goldman explains her pursuits best saying, "My charge as an art historian, was twofold: to do the research on modern and contemporary Latin American and Latino artists that would permit me to consider their personal production in the context of the sociohistory of their countries and of the art world; and, second to attempt to deflect and correct the stereotypes, distortions, and Eurocentric misunderstandings that have plagued all serious approaches to that art since the 1950s." The Donald C. Davidson Library at the University of California Santa Barbara has the 'Shifra Goldman Papers' in their special collections, which has all her research materials including slides, video, her personal notes and books.
Annotated Bibliography
1974 Goldman, Shifra. “Siqueiros and Three Early Murals in Los Angeles.� Art Journal 33, no. 4 (1974): 321. One of Goldman's career pursuits it to try to dispel the stereotype that Latin Americans are this exotic people who eat fruit and dance around in tropical weather all the time, a stereotype that still exists today. She wants the art of Latin Americans to be taken seriously and be given a voice within the discourse of the history of art because until the 1980s it was not. In this article, Goldman talks about Siqueiros the Mexican muralist who sought political asylum in the U.S. in the 1930s. While in the U.S., Siqueiros painted three somber, dark murals: Tropical America, Street Meeting and Portrait of Mexico Today. Their themes charged the U.S. for its global imperialism and exploitation of workers, Tropical America being particularly strong in its indictment. In Tropical America, an Indian is tied to a cross, crucifixion-style underneath the wingspan of an imperialist eagle. Goldman says the Mexican muralists had largely been excluded from conversations about art history until the late 60s with the publication of Francis V. O'Connor's research on the federally-funded projects under the New Deal. Goldman knew Siqueiros well and was involved in the restoration efforts for his murals. Goldman, Shifra. Chicano Art: April 22-May 9, Santa Ana College. Santa Ana Calif. Gallery Santa Ana College, 1974. 2
Barbara Douglass December 15, 2010 1976 Goldman, Shifra. Siqueiros: Revolución Plástica. México D.F. Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura, 1976. 1977 Goldman, Shifra. Nueva Presencia: the human image in contemporary Mexican art. Ph. D diss., 1977. Goldman, Shifra. “Resistance and Identity: Street Murals of Occupied Aztlán.” Latin American Literary Review 5, no. 10 (1977): 124. 1980 Goldman. Mexican Muralism its Social-Educative Roles in Latin America and the United States. [Austin] : Institute of Latin American Studies, University of Texas, Austin, 1980. This was written as a kind of guide for educators using murals as historical teaching devices, and gives a succinct overview of Mexican muralism. Muralism was an art of advocacy, made in order to question social hegemony and possibly inspire social consciousness and political action. It was also educative in that it acknowledged an indigenous, pre-Columbian heritage for Mexican peoples (a new concept in the 1920s,) mestizaje and the history of the Mexican Revolution. Goldman explains that artists however are not historians and a historical perspective is needed when teaching history through art. She says, "All art is more meaningful and emotionally stimulating when considered within a historical and cultural context... Art except on a formal or decorative level is neither eternal or universal." She goes on to talk about the neo-indigenist revival that happened in Chicano muralism in the 1970s and how until then "art history was revised as the Mexican School, South American social realism, U.S. Regionalism, and New Deal art were written out of the history books" possibly because of their highly charged political content that depicted homages to Vladimir Lenin and such. Goldman, Shifra. “Thorns and Roses.” Artweek 11, no. 30 (Sept 1980) 1. 1981 Goldman, Shifra. “Chicano Art--Looking Backward,” Artweek XII/22 (20 June 1981) 3-4. Goldman, Shifra. Contemporary Mexican painting in a time of change. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981. I. The Mexican Mural Movement, Cultural Nationalism, and Social Realism II. A Contemporary Overview: The Seeds of Confrontation III. A Time of Confrontation IV. Insiders and New Imagists V. Outsiders As Well as Insiders VI. Belkin, Icaza, Cuevas: The Artists Genesis of Interiorismo VII. Artists of the Nueva Presencia
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The literature on Mexican art is sparse and in order to write a book on this subject, Goldman had to travel extensively for years to compile adequate information. She completed interviews with artists, art critics and gallery owners, and consulted their personal archives; she did research at government institutions and universities, and sought out Latin American newspapers and periodicals. In this book she focuses on the group known as 'Nueva Presencia' or Los Interioristas who came to be in the beginning of the 1960s. They were influenced by the anti-establishment Beats of the 1950s as well as their social environment growing up amid the Cold War and the threat of atomic warfare. Los Interioristas were said to "violate principles of refinement," creating grotesque, deformed caricatures representative of human existence, and relying on their internal psyches as a solution to the modern apocalyptic crises. This was in stark contrast to the solutions offered by the Mexican muralists and those still influenced by their work. Goldman outlines three possible developments for Mexican painting in the 1960s: social realism as a political instrument, figurative or abstract art without political or social considerations and neohumanist figurative art that was politically and ideologically nonpartisan but did express the anguish of human existence. Chatelle, Francoise and Goldman, Shifra L’art public : peintures murales contemporaines, peintures populaires traditionnelles. J. Damase, 1981. 1983 Goldman, Shifra. A Traves de la Frontera, Centro de Estudios Economicos y Sociales del Tercer Mundo/Instituto de Investigaciones Esteticas (Mexico), 1983.
Goldman, Shifra. Chicana Voices & Visions : a National Exhibit of Women Artists (catalog), Social and Public Art Resource Center (Venice, California), 1983-84. Foner, Philip S, and Schultz, Reinhard. Das andere Amerika: Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur der americanischen Arbeiterbewegung, Elefanten Press, 1983. Goldman, Shifra. Mexican and Chicano Workers in the Visual Arts, 1983. Goldman, Shifra. “Six Women Artists of Mexico.” Woman’s Art Journal 3, no. 2 (1983): 1. 1984 Goldman, Shifra. “A Public Voice: Fifteen Years of Chicano Posters.” Art Journal 44, no. 1 (1984): 50. Goldman, Shifra. "Latin Americans Aqui/Here." Artweek 15 (December 1984): 3-4. 1985 Goldman, Shifra and Ybarra-Frausto, Tómas. Arte Chicano: a comprehensive annotated bibliography of Chicano art, 1965-1981. Berkeley: Chicano Studies Library Publications Unit University of California, 1985.
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Barbara Douglass December 15, 2010 Goldman and Ybarra-Frausto composed an annotated bibliography for exhibitions of all Chicano art since 1965. Before this time, there had been one compilation of Chicano arts, Jorge Huerta's 'Bibliography of Chicano and Mexican Dance, Drama and Music' in 1972, but other than that, Chicano visual arts had not been adequately documented. This was the first comprehensive, all-encompassing bibliography for Chicano art. Goldman, Shifra. "Popular Prints of Mexico and Cuba." Artweek 16 (December 1985): 7. 1986 Goldman, Shifra M. “Art of the Americas Event Reveals Junctures and Disjunctures." New Art Examiner 13 (Feb 1986) 31-33. Goldman, Shifra. "Other horizons: Art of the Americas Event Reveals Junctures and Disjunctures." New Art Examiner 13 (February 1986): 31-3. Eder, Rita and Lauer, Mirko. Teoria Social del Arte: Una bibliografia comentada. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 1986. 1987 Goldman, Shifra. Art Bridging Boundaries: Central America and the United States; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Pacific Coast Council on Latin American Studies, 1987. Goldman, Shifra. "Homogenizing Hispanic Art." New Art Examiner 15 (September 1987): 30-3. 1988 Goldman, Shifra. "Latin Visions and Revisions." Art in America, May 1988: 138-47. Goldman, Shifra M. "Pros and Cons of Coors Exhibit." Artweek 19 (August 1988): 5-6. Goldman, Shifra M. "Inside/Outside Mainstream." Artweek 19 (June 1988): 6. Goldman, Shifra. "A Contemporary Moralist." Artweek 19 (April 1988): 3. Raven, Arlene. Feminist Art Criticism: An Anthology. Ann Arbor Mich. UMI Research Press, 1988. 1989 Guglielmo, Rudy. Movimiento Artístico del Río Salado. Chicano aesthetics : rasquachismo. Phoenix Ariz. MARS, 1989. Moore, Sylvia. Yesterday and Tomorrow: California women artists. New York: Midmarch Arts Press, 1989. Goldman, Shifra. "Sacerdotisa {L.A. Artcore Gallery, Los Angeles; exhibit}." Artweek 20 (December 1989): 23-4. 5
Goldman, Shifra. "El espíritu latinoamericano : la perspectiva desde los Estados Unidos." Arte en Colombia; 41 (Sept 1989), 48-55. Goldman, Shifra; Leval, Susana T. "Latin American Art and the Search for Identity." Latin American Art 1, no. 1 (spring 1989),41-42. Goldman, Shifra. "Latin American Art’s U.S. explosion." New art examiner 17, no. 4 (Dec 1989), 25-29. Goldman, Shifra. "A Return to Natal Earth." Artweek 20 (April 1989): 1+ 1990 Goldman, Shifra. "Art in Latin America (Book Review)." Art History 13 (December 1990): 5904. Goldman, Shifra. "Identifying Latin American art: are the lines accurately drawn?" Art History 13, no. 4 (Dec 1990), 590-594. Goldman, Shifra. “The Iconography of Chicano Self-Determination: Race, Ethnicity, and Class.” Art Journal 49, no. 2 (1990): 167. This article explains and gives a background to the iconography Chicanos of the 1960s to the 80s employed in their art using race, ethnicity and class as a framework. Goldman explains how the characterizations of race, ethnicity and class have formed the images in Chicano art, namely the celebration of indigenous roots, placing dark-skinned images at the forefront of their art, the inclusion of cultural images such as the tortilla, the bean, the cactus, the maguey plant, religious idols such as the Virgin of Guadalupe and the affirmation of field workers, industrial workers and all working class icons. Goldman, Shifra M. "Drawing the Line: Art and Cultural Identity in Contemporary Latin America." Art History 13.4 (1990): 593+. Valadez, John, Rancho Santiago Community College District. John Valadez : a decade of dignity and daring : [March 15-April 4, 1990, Rancho Santiago College Art Gallery, Santa Ana, California. [Santa Ana Calif. Rancho Santiago College, 1990. Klein, Cecelia. Art journal: depiction of the dispossessed. New York: College Art Association of America, 1990. Bert, Guillermo, Los Angeles Theatre Center. Altar Temple: recycling social images: September 7 to October 28 1990 at the Los Angeles Theatre Center : art installation. Los Angeles: The Center, 1990. Goldman, Shifra. "Transformations in the World of Chicano Art." The Chronicle of Higher Education 37, no. 14 (1990): B64. 6
Barbara Douglass December 15, 2010 Goldman, Shifra. "Tropical paradise." Artweek 21 (July 1990): 20-1. Goldman, Shifra. "Reflections of the Third World." Artweek 21 (February 1990): 1+ 1991 Goldman, Shifra. “Metropolitan Splendors.” New Art Examiner 18, no. 8 (Apr 1991), 16-19. Goldman, Shifra. “Metropolitan Splendors : the buying and selling of Mexico.” Third Text 14 (spring 1991), 16-25. Blandy, Doug. Pluralistic Approaches to Art Criticism. Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1991. --ANTHOLOGY SHIFRA CONTRIBUTED TO Goldman, Shifra. Women in Mexican art. Los Angeles CA: Iturralde Gallery, 1991. Polkinhorn, Harry. Visual arts on the U.S. Mexican border = Artes plásticas en la frontera México Estados Unidos. Binational Press/Editorial Binacional , 1991. Sánchez, Juan. Rican Structured Realities. Binghamton: State University of New York, 1991. Stofflet, Mary. Latin American Drawings Today. San Diego Museum of Art; The University of Washington Press, 1991. Goldman, Shifra. "How Latin American artists in the US view art, politics and ethnicity in a supposedly multicultural world." Third Text 16-17 (autumn-winter 1991), 188-192. 1992 Goldman, Shifra. "Updating Chicano Art." New Art Examiner 20, no. 2 (Oct 1992), 17-20. Goldman, Shifra. “3,000 Years of Mexican Art Review of Mexico: Splendors of Thirty Centuries.” Art Journal 51, no. 2 (1992): 91. 'Mexico: Splendors of 30 Centuries' was an exhibit that went on a 15-month tour in the U.S. and aimed to show the "brilliance" of Mexico and its creations. This exhibit was a manifestation of ideas and stereotypes Shifra Goldman's lifework aims to disprove. The exhibit was not only uncritical of the Spanish conquest of the indigenous populations of Mexico, it obscured the facts and utopianized the role of the Catholic Church. 100,000 Indians were killed at Tenochtitlan alone, and 90% of Mexico's Indian population was wiped out because of the Spanish conquest. The exhibit claimed that the majority of Indian deaths was due to disease, an exercise in misinformation. In addition there was no photo documentation of the murals of the 30s or any sculpture. She does acknowledge the importance of the exhibit to Mexican and Mexican American people in the U.S. and records their record numbers of attendance, but says the exhibit was meant to dazzle and that it was no coincidence that NAFTA was in the process of being considered. 7
Goldman, Shifra. Esplendores Mexicanos: La Historia Oficial y No Oficial. Art Nexus 4 (Apr 1992), 72-77.
Camnitzer, Luis. Latin American Art. New York NY: College Art Association, 1992.
Goldman, Shifra. 21st Century Chicana Scholars the Humanities in Chicano art. El Paso, Tex.: El Paso Community College, 1992.
Outterbridge, John, Rancho Santiago College Art Gallery. John Outterbridge, sculptor of oppositions : March 12-April 2, 1992 : Rancho Santiago College Art Gallery. Santa Ana CA: The College, 1992. Goldman, Shifra. “The Columbus Quincentenary and Latin American Art: A Critical Evaluation.” Art Journal 51, no. 4 (1992): 16. 1993 Goldman, Shifra. “Latin American artists of the XX century: New York, Replaying the Past.” Art Nexus 10 (Sept-Dec 1993): 84-89; 189-192. Goldman, Shifta. "La Década Crítica de la Vanguardia Cubana." Art nexus 7, (Jan 1993), 52-57. Goldman, Shifra. "The Heart of Mexican Art: Image, Myth, & Ideology." New Art Examiner 21, no. 4 (Dec 1993), 12-15; 44-45. Cockcroft, Eva. Signs From the Heart: California Chicano murals. Venice Calif.; Albuquerque: Social and Public Art Resource Center; University of New Mexico Press, 1993. 1994 Goldman, Shifra. Dimensions of the Americas: art and social change in Latin America and the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. Contents: I. In the Public Eye II. Multiples III. Women Speaking IV. Facing Big Business and the State V. Latin American Art in the United States VI. Nationalism and Ethnic Identity This book is a collection of essays dealing with a wide range of issues in Latin American art. There is not a complete, coherent and socially-framed discussion of the history of modern Latin American art, so in her book Goldman attempts to hit on as many issues as possible. Goldman says the book is an introduction to the problems of Latin American art 8
Barbara Douglass December 15, 2010 and not a complete survey of issues. She traveled extensively to collect books, literature and information on Latin American art not available in the US. For a history of Chicano art, she says it was even harder to collect information because books about them did not exist, and she had to "unearth" information from the personal archives of the artists themselves. Her method of art history is to converge art and politics or social conscience. She says, this view was disparaged since the late 1940s but she's found high approval for this method in Latin America. She explains that because of impoverished conditions and political instability, artists in Latin America aspire to be president and that social politics and art are inextricably linked. There was a reemergence of politically-oriented art in the 1980s and social art history in the 1970s and 80s especially with the issues of nuclear war and U.S. foreign policy in Central America. Jimenez, Luis, and Rudolfo A. Anaya. Man on Fire: Luis Jiménez = El hombre en llamas. Albuquerque, N.M.: The Albuquerque Museum, 1994. 1995 Burnham, Patricia; Giese, Lucretia. Redefining American History Painting. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. -- Goldman writes essay Hidden histories : the Chicano experience. OR CHAPTER IN BOOK 1996 Goldman, Shifra. "Performances in the Danger Zone, I." Art Nexus 21 (Apr-Jun1996), 62-66. Goldman, Shifra. "Performances in the Danger Zone, II." Art Nexus 21 (July-Sept 1996), 52-56. Cabrera, Roberto, Museo Paiz de Arte Contemporáneo. Roberto Cabrera : maestro de la plástica guatemalteca. Guatemala: Fundación Paiz, 1996. LeFalle-Collins, Lizzetta. In the Spirit of Resistance: African-American Modernists and the Mexican Muralist School. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1996. Goldman's essay elaborates on how the Mexican school has produced a legacy of African American Modernists. She talks of the inclusion of African Americans in the iconography of the Mexican murals of the 30s and how there has always been an African Mexican connection. 1997 Goldman, Shifra M. "Nationalist and Anti-Nationalist Modernisms in Vanguard Mexican art." Art Nexus 23 (January/March 1997): 76-81. 1998 Goldman, Shifra M.. "The Latin American-ization of the United States." Art Nexus (August/October 1998): 80-4. Kimmel, Michael, et al. "Letters." Nation 266, no. 4 (February 2, 1998): 2-68.
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Goldman, Shifra. "Josè García Cordero: journey through a fabulous labyrinth." Art Nexus (January/March 1998): 68-72. Goldman, Shifra. Los Murales de Siqueiros, Americo Arte Editores: CONACULTA: INBA, 1998. 1999 Goldman, Shifra M. "Mirror mirror on the wall . . .." Art Nexus 32 (May/July 1999): 72-6. Goldman, Shifra. Después de San Ildefonso : cambios en el quehacer muralístico y su significado. Ciudad de México (MEX) : Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso , 1999. 2000 Chagoya, Enrique. Enrique Chagoya : locked in paradise. Reno Nev. Nevada Museum of Art, 2000. Goldman, Shifra; Schubert, Birgitt; Daumann, Robert; Held, Jutta. Mexico City / Los Angeles : Performances in den Terrenos Peligroso (Gefahrenzonen). Verlag und Datenbank für Geisteswissenschaften, 2000. 2001 Barraza, Santa. Santa Barraza, artist of the borderlands. 1st ed. College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 2001. Goldman, Shifra. "Versions of the South: challenging the parameters." Art Nexus (May/June 2001): 84-8. 2003 Goldman, Shifra. "Raymundo Sesma: Signified: An Anatomy of Violence." Art Nexus 1, no. 47 (January/March 2003): 90-4. Goldman, Shifra. Tex. Latino Cultural Center: 2003 Inaugural Juried Exhibition of Dallas Fort Worth Latino artists : Exposición Inaugural con Jurado de Selection de Artistas Latinos de Dallas Fort Worth 2003. [Dallas Tex. Latino Cultural Center], 2003. 2008 Goldman, Shifra. Perspectivas Artísticas del Continente Americano. México, Universidad Autónoma de la Ciudad de México/Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, 2008.
**Goldman has also published material in La Opinión (Los Angeles,) Aztlan (California,) Casa de las Américas (Cuba), Plástica (Puerto Rico), Plural (Mexico), Studies in Popular Latin American Culture (New Mexico), and Tendenzen (Munich.) Biography Sources
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Barbara Douglass December 15, 2010 Contemporary Authors Online. "Shifra M(eyerowitz) Goldman." Detroit: Gale, 2001. Gale Biography In Context. Web. Goldman, Shifra. Dimensions of the Americas: art and social change in Latin America and the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994. Arte Mexico. http://www.arte-mexico.com/critica/sgcv.htm
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