Culture in living color: for more than 30 years, the Art Museum of the Americas in the heart of the US capital has showcased the best in fine art from the OAS member countries.

• Author: Casciero, Annick Sanjurjo
• Position: GALLERY PLACE

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Just a short walk away from some of the most important monuments in Washington, DC, the Art Museum of the Americas--part of the Organization of American States (OAS)--celebrates and promotes free art from across the Western Hemisphere. Described by more than one newspaper as a "hidden gem" in the US capital, the museum opened its doors some 30 years ago, but its roots go back more than half a century. Throughout its history, with the support of the OAS member countries, this small, specialized museum has given artists of the Americas an international foothold and helped to shape a regional artistic identity.

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It was during the 1940s--back when Latin American and Caribbean art was largely unknown outside the countries that produced it; when Latin American art galleries in the United States closed as quickly as they opened; when artists from the region sought to express themselves on their own terms, but in a universal language--that what would become the Art Museum of the Americas gradually began to take shape.

At that time, the Division of Intellectual Cooperation of the Pan American Union (which later became the OAS) was open to anyone who wanted to hold cultural activities and to artists who might want to exhibit their works. The first known exhibition took place in 1941 with 23 sculptures by the well-known and recognized Bolivian artist Marina Nunez del Prado. Other shows followed.

In 1945, Jose Gomez-Sicre was named art specialist for that division, which was taking shape and establishing a monthly exhibition schedule. "I was committed to gaining respect for our art," Gomez-Sicre wrote in 1991. "The only self-imposed prerequisite guiding my selections for exhibitions was the quality with which each artist was able to translate an aesthetic message as a member of the Latin American culture." In other words, his philosophy was completely in line with what the region's artists were thinking at the time.

In fact, since the beginning of the twentieth century, with the wars of independence in the past, a sense of national identity had been taking shape in the region, along with the awareness that although their roots were European, the people of this "new world" no longer were. Yet they could not identify themselves completely with indigenous cultures either, even though these had produced a rich cultural legacy. It was necessary, then, to find a form of expression that was attuned to the needs and concerns of the times, but also one that reflected a regional perspective. In other words, to create up-to-date art at that time meant to express oneself in a visual language that could be understood by all but that would represent its own reality and essence.

To do that, it was necessary to start from scratch, with no historical models to provide guidance and little national support, whether official or from critics or...