PROFILBARU.COM

Luis Camnitzer
Luis Camnitzer
Born	November 6, 1937 (age 87); Lübeck, Germany
Nationality	Uruguayan
Movement	Conceptual art
Spouses	; Liliana Porter; (m. 1965; div. 1979) ; Selby Hickey; (m. 1979)

Luis Camnitzer (born November 6, 1937) is a German-born Uruguayan artist, curator, art critic, and academic who was at the forefront of 1960s Conceptual Art. Camnitzer works primarily in sculpture, printmaking, and installation, exploring topics such as repression, institutional critique, and social justice.^[1]

Early life and education

Luis Camnitzer was born in Lübeck, Germany in 1937 and moved to Montevideo, Uruguay in 1939.^[2] In 1953, he studied at the University of Montevideo's Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes, where he concentrated on sculpture and architecture. In 1957, Camnitzer received a grant from the German government to study at Akademie der Bildenden Künste München^[2] At the Akademie, Camnitzer was mentored by sculptor Heinrich Kirchner.^{[citation needed]}

Career and Practice

In 1960 Camnitzer held his first solo exhibition at the Centro de Artes y Letras Montevideo ^[3]^: 48 and the following year began teaching at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes. Camnitzer subsequently moved from Montevideo to New York City in 1964.^[3]^: 48 In New York, he and fellow artists Liliana Porter and José Guillermo Castillo founded the New York Graphic Workshop (1964–1970), a studio focused on redefining the medium of printmaking and dedicated to reviving its importance as a contemporary art form.^[4] Concurrent to his practice with the New York Graphic Workshop, Camnitzer produced foundational works that explored the reflexive relationships between the viewer and artwork by means of language, such as This Is a Mirror, You Are a Written Sentence (1966–68). Beginning in the late 1960s and evolving into the 1970s and 80s, his practice also expanded to examine socio-political issues, including the oppression and cruelty of military dictatorships in Latin America. As an example, his work Leftovers (1970) consists of 80 stacked boxes, stained with fake blood and wrapped with surgical bandages, alluding to state-sanctioned violence and repression during dictatorship.^[3]^: 48 Also in this period, Camnitzer produced a series of "object-boxes" in which ordinary items were placed inside wood-framed glass boxes with textually descriptive brass plaques.^[5] Infusing the material approach of the object-boxes with political content, Camnitzer produced one of his most important works, the Uruguayan Torture Series (1983–84). This series of photo-etchings emphasizes the artist's interest in combining socio-political critique with the psychological implications of text and images. Since the 1980s Camnitzer has produced installations and site-specific works, such as A Museum is a School (2009–present), in addition to his continuing practice in printmaking. In 2018 a retrospective exhibition, Luis Camnitzer: Hospicio Para Utopias Fallidas, opened at Museo Reina Sofia.

In 2024, Camnitzer's work was included in Every Sound Is a Shape of Time, a collections-focused group exhibition at the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida, curated by Franklin Sirmans. Luiz Camnitzer work is placed next to Jennie C. Jones, Alfredo Jaar, and Lawrence Weiner, among others.^[6]

Themes

Since the 1960s, Camnitzer has focused on political subjects including identity, language, freedom, ethics, and historical tragedy.^[3]^: 48 As Jane Farver discusses, "conceptual in nature, [Camnitzer's] work is powerful and evocative; it is often humorous, and sometimes deeply disturbing. Always, he challenges and implicates the viewer" ^[7]

Personal life

Camnitzer is a Uruguayan citizen.^[3]^: 48 He lives and works in Great Neck, New York and taught at SUNY Old Westbury, where he is currently professor emeritus.^[1] Camnitzer has written several books, including New Art of Cuba (1994) and Conceptualism in Latin American Art: Didactics of Liberation (2007). He is represented by Alexander Gray Associates.^[8]

Representation in public collections

ARCO Corporation, New York, NY
Biblioteca Communale, Milan, Italy
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France
Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Cabinet of Drawings and Prints of the Uffizzi, Florence, Italy
Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba
Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Centro Wifredo Lam, Havana, Cuba
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME
Colección Patrica Phelps de Cisneros, Caracas, Venezuela/New York, NY
Daros-Latinaamerica, Zürich, Switzerland
Fonds Régional d’Art Contemporain de Lorraine, France
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
The Jewish Museum, New York, NY
Library of Jerusalem, Israel
Malmö Stad, Sweden
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, León, Spain
Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá, Colombia
Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Museo de Arte Moderno, Cartagena, Colombia
Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo, San José, Costa Rica
Museo de Artes Plásticas, Montevideo, Uruguay
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela
Museo de Gráfica y Dibujo Latinoamericano, Roldanillo, Colombia
El Museo del Barrio, New York, NY
Museo del Grabado, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Museo La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain
Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales, Montevideo, Uruguay
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile
Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico
Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidad de São Paulo, Brazil
Museum Lodz, Łódź, Poland
Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
Museum of Contemporary Graphic Art, Fredrikstad, Norway
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Museum Wiesbaden, Germany
National Museum of Modern Art, Baghdad, Iraq
The New York Public Library, New York, NY
Pérez Art Museum Miami, FL
Queens Museum, New York, NY
São Paulo Museum of Art, Brazil
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
Snite Museum, Notre Dame University, South Bend, IN
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Yeshiva University, New York, NY

Awards and recognition

2014 Premio Anuale de Literature 2014, Ensayo de Arte, Ministry of Education and Culture, Uruguay
2012 United States Artists Ford Fellow, Visual Arts John Jones Art on Paper Award, Art Dubai: Skowhegan Medal for Conceptual & Interdisciplinary Practices
2011 Frank Jewett Mather Award, College Art Association
2002 Konex Mercosur Award for Uruguay
1998 Latin American Art Critic of the Year Award, Argentine Association of Art Critics
1996 First Prize, ES96, Tijuana Salón Internacional de Estandartes
1991 Art Matters Foundation
1982 Guggenheim Fellowship for Visual Art
1978 Creative Arts Program Services for Sculpture
1974 Prize, British International Print Biennial
1970 Prize, Biennial de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano, San Juan, Puerto Rico
1968 Purchase Prize, Museum of Trenton, New Jersey
1965 Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture
1961 Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Printmaking