The critical reception of Spanish contemporary art. 1974-1982

Abstract

This paper examines the critical reception of Spanish contemporary art in the English-speaking world between 1974 and 1982. It examines how the lasting impact of Franco’s cultural diplomacy efforts in the 1950s and 1960s, which promoted in particular the Spanish abstract and Informalist artists, connecting them to a specific conception of Spanishness and the artists of the Spanish golden age, left English-speaking publics with certain preconceptions about Spanish art. This, combined with a lack of understanding of the Spanish socio-political context during the transition to democracy, negatively affected the reception of later artistic movements. The paper is based on a close reading of contemporaneous primary sources – principally exhibition reviews in newspapers and specialist art magazines – and is centred around four case studies, including the 1976 Venice Biennale and major touring exhibitions in the United Kingdom and the United States.