Elite Art Worlds: Philanthropy, Latin Americanism, and Avant-garde Music

The Centro Latinoamericano de Altos Estudios Musicales (CLAEM) in Buenos Aires was a fellowship program that funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Di Tella family, allowing the region's promising young composers to study with a roster of acclaimed faculty. It produced some of the most prominent figures within the art world, including Rafael Aponte Ledeé, Coriún Aharonián, and Blas Emilio Atehortúa. Eduardo Herrera's book, Elite Art Worlds, explores regional discourses of musical Latin Americanism and the embrace, articulation, and resignification of avant-garde techniques and perspectives during the 1960s. It also reveals intricate webs of US and Argentine philanthropy, transnational currents of artistic experimentation and innovation, and the role of art in constructing elite identities.

Format: Hardback
Length: 232 pages
Publication date: 22 October 2020
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc

The Centro Latinoamericano de Altos Estudios Musicales (CLAEM) in Buenos Aires, a hub of avant-garde music, thrived for less than a decade before its closure in 1971. In his comprehensive study, author Eduardo Herrera delves into the story of the fellowship program, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Di Tella family, which brought together promising young composers from the region with a stellar roster of acclaimed faculty. This transformative initiative resulted in the emergence of influential figures in the art world, such as Rafael Aponte Ledeé, Coriún Aharonián, and Blas Emilio Atehortúa. Through a blend of oral histories, ethnographic research, and archival sources, Herrera's book, Elite Art Worlds, explores regional discourses of musical Latin Americanism and the intricate interplay between avant-garde techniques and perspectives during the 1960s. CLAEM's tale unfolds as a tapestry of interconnected narratives, revealing the intricate web of US and Argentine philanthropy, transnational currents of artistic experimentation, and the role of art in constructing elite identities. By examining CLAEM as both an artistic and philanthropic endeavor, Herrera sheds light on the complex relationships between foreign policy, corporate interests, and funding for the arts in Latin America and the United States during the Cold War era.

Weight: 554g
Dimension: 164 x 243 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780190877538