SAN DIEGO, CA.- The San Diego Museum of Art will be the only West Coast venue for the very first comprehensive exhibition of Latin American portraiture ever to tour the United States. Retratos: 2,000 Years of Latin American Portraits brings together 114 objects from museums across Latin America, Europe, the United States, and private collections, most of which have never before been shown publicly in this country. The exhibition, which includes paintings, sculpture, photography, and work in mixed media, reveals the richness of Latin America's portrait tradition, from Pre-Columbian times to the present day, featuring examples by such modern masters as Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo, and Fernando Botero. Interdisciplinary in scope, Retratos offers insight into art and aesthetics, while also exploring the history and evolution of the diverse cultures of Latin America.

Retratos is organized by the San Antonio Museum of Art; the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; and El Museo del Barrio, New York.

The project, and all related national and local programs and publications, are made possible by Ford Motor Company Fund.

"SDMA's presentation of this landmark exhibition is yet another demonstration of this institution's commitment to broadening cross-cultural dialogues in our border context," states SDMA's executive director, Derrick R. Cartwright. "My colleagues and I are proud to host such a diverse showcase of two millennia of portraits. The works in Retratos are complemented by a fully bilingual interpretive program, providing a deeply immersive experience for all visitors. I hope that everyone in our community will take advantage of this unique opportunity to discover more about the visual heritage that has long shaped San Diego as a city and as a cultural center."

Retratos: 2,000 Years of Latin American Portraits was developed by the curatorial team of Dr. Marion Oettinger Jr., interim director and senior curator at the San Antonio Museum of Art and a scholar in anthropology; Ms. Fatima Bercht, the chief curator at El Museo del Barrio and art historian with expertise in modern and contemporary Latin American and Latino art; Dr. Carolyn Kinder Carr, the deputy director and chief curator of the National Portrait Gallery and an American art scholar with a specialty in portraiture; and Dr. Miguel Bretos, a senior scholar at the National Portrait Gallery and an historian with expertise in the field of Latin America.

"Ford Motor Company Fund is proud to partner with such a distinguished team of scholars to make the Retratos project possible," said Sandra E. Ulsh, president of Ford Motor Company Fund. "Ford Motor Company Fund is dedicated to celebrating cultural diversity and to supporting arts and education programs that stimulate cross-cultural exchange. Following the Ford-sponsored exhibitions El Alma del Pueblo and Visiones del Pueblo, Retratos furthers Ford Motor Company Fund's commitment to honoring the heritage and achievements of the Latino community."

Retratos: 2,000 Years of Latin American Portraits offers visitors an unprecedented opportunity to explore the vibrant tradition of portraiture in Latin America through the faces of indigenous leaders; Spanish viceroys; bold revolutionaries; ordinary men, women, and children; cloistered nuns; scholars; and world-renowned Latin American artists. The exhibition also provides insight into how portraiture was used over the past 2,000 years in Latin America: to preserve the memory of the deceased; bolster the social standing of the aristocracy; mark the deeds of the powerful and heroic; advance the careers of politicians; record rites of passage; mock symbols of the status quo; and express the artist's inner being. Illustrating these functions, the works in Retratos are divided into five chronological sections: Pre-Columbian, Viceregal, 19th Century, Modern, and Contemporary.

Among the oldest objects in the exhibition are a series of stirrup spout portrait vessels made by unidentified artisans of the Moche culture in Peru between the years 100 and 800. These strikingly realistic portrait vessels are the oldest portraits in the Americas, possessing both individualized features and expressions that reveal emotions.

The impact of Spain on the development of the portrait tradition throughout the Americas is much in evidence in the many examples from the colonial era. Paintings from the Spanish Viceregal period emphasize the sitters' social and economic status through the close attention paid to fine details of costume, jewelry, medals, and other signs of position and prestige.

During the Independence period, artists across Latin America drew on other sources of inspiration including the major 19th-century European art movements of Neo-classicism, Realism and Impressionism.

Painters of the modern period introduce into the exhibition the idea that a new style is at least as important (if not more) as the sitter him or herself. Such is the case of Diego Rivera's extraordinary, Cubist-inspired portrait of The Painter Zinoviev. This dialogue between style and subject is carried forward by such artists as Frida Kahlo, Rufino Tamayo, and Fernando Botero, and culminates in the highly individualized, if not experimental, paintings and photographs of the contemporary artists included in the exhibition.