Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
The gold-leaf surfaces of Olga de Amaral’s textiles evoke both Pre-Columbian sacred objects and the luminous altarpieces of Colonial churches. Her textiles thus merge disparate cultural traditions into a singular hybrid identity. This lecture examines these influences while positioning Amaral within the context of other modern and contemporary Latin American artists working in a visionary modes.
Susan Aberth is the Edith C. Blum Professor at Bard College, where she specializes in Latin American art, Surrealism, and the Occult. Her publications include Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art (2004) and The Tarot of Leonora Carrington (2021), along with catalogue essays for exhibitions such as “Surrealism and Magic” (Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice), “Agnes Pelton: Desert Transcendentalist” (Phoenix Art Museum), “Leonor Fini”(Palazzo Reale, Milan), as well as for the volume Surrealism, Occultism and Politics: In Search of the Marvelous (Routledge). She is currently developing an exhibition on New Age art sponsored in part by the Warhol Foundation.
#icamiami
The gold-leaf surfaces of Olga de Amaral’s textiles evoke both Pre-Columbian sacred objects and the luminous altarpieces of Colonial churches. Her textiles thus merge disparate cultural traditions into a singular hybrid identity. This lecture examines these influences while positioning Amaral within the context of other modern and contemporary Latin American artists working in a visionary modes.
Susan Aberth is the Edith C. Blum Professor at Bard College, where she specializes in Latin American art, Surrealism, and the Occult. Her publications include Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art (2004) and The Tarot of Leonora Carrington (2021), along with catalogue essays for exhibitions such as “Surrealism and Magic” (Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice), “Agnes Pelton: Desert Transcendentalist” (Phoenix Art Museum), “Leonor Fini”(Palazzo Reale, Milan), as well as for the volume Surrealism, Occultism and Politics: In Search of the Marvelous (Routledge). She is currently developing an exhibition on New Age art sponsored in part by the Warhol Foundation.
#icamiami
