Revealing the stories of a ‘lost generation’ of Latin American artists
Colección Bartholdson
Conservation work takes place on an artwork from Colección Bartholdson.
Colección Bartholdson comprises over 1,300 works of art by more than 80 predominantly Chilean artists, assembled over several decades.
We worked with its custodians, Jonus and Erika Bartholdson as they looked to develop their collection and begin to share it more widely.
Interviews with Jonus and Erika revealed a deep and long-standing fascination with the art and history of Chile, a country thousands of miles away from their home in Sweden. Our immersion in the collection, and a series of conversations with curators, scholars and some of the artists still living today uncovered an incredibly rich and inspiring tapestry of stories.
Two core focuses within the collection were apparent. Work by mid-20th century artists such as Ramón Vergara Grez, Gustavo Poblete, Elsa Bolívar, Matilde Pérez and James Smith Rodríguez represented an exciting abstract 'art of ideas' which melded European influences with distinctive Latin American influences and perspectives.
The other focus was on political art that captured artists’ responses to the Vietnam War, the Cuban Revolution, and the political upheavals in Chile from the late 60s through to the military coup of 1973 and dictatorship that followed. Works by these artists – such as José Balmes, Gracia Barrios, Alberto Pérez and Eduardo Martínez Bonati – were often viscerally gestural, rooted in resistance and a desire for a new role for culture and the arts in Chilean society.
Example works from Colección Bartholdson: ‘Estructura Aerea’, 1960, by Elsa Bolivar illustrates the collection’s holdings of abstract art and the presence of trail-blazing women artists; ‘No’, 1972, by José Balmes and ‘La Moneda bombardeada, Septiembre 1973’ by Luis Poiret exemplify the political focus within the collection. ‘Relaciones multilaterales’, 1973, by Ricardo Yrarrázaval represents the work of an artist who traversed both of these traditions, and others, during a long and varied career.
Many of the artworks and accompanying archival material constitute vital resources for contextualising the political situation in Chile of this period. The collection also provides evidence of a generation of pioneering Chilean women artists. However, despite their quality and significance, many of the artists represented remained neglected within Chile and, in some cases their reputations had been actively suppressed.
From these insights, we crafted a brand strategy and narrative for the collection alongside recommendations for next steps for developing and promoting it. We then worked closely with our design partner Gaggeroworks to translate this into a visual identity, and an introductory publication. Elements of the identity reference both the abstract and political art traditions within the collection, alongside a subtle nod to the founders' Swedish roots. We also drafted the opening essay, published in English and Spanish.
Visual identity and pages from the publication produced for Colección Bartholdson.
Informed by the strategy, Colección Bartholdson’s founders continue to enhance this important collection through acquisitions, conservation, digitisation and research. Works from the collection have been loaned to a number of exhibitions and institutions within Latin America, and interest in the lives and legacy of these remarkable artists has started to grow more widely.