Recent international interest in the painters of the Mexican mural movement, such as Rivera and Orozco, has brought Latin American art to a wider audience than ever before but has often failed to confront its continuing marginalization within art criticism. Drawing the Line is an exploration of the areas occupied by Latin American art and culture between the ongoing traditions of its indigenous inhabitants, its colonial heritage and its contemporary relationship to the cultural politics of North America and Europe. It looks at the way cultural identity has been constructed by artists from the...

The Architecture of Conquest deals with the practice and ideology of colonial architecture in Latin America, referring particularly to the Viceroyalty of Peru during the period 1535 1635. Colonial building has generally been regarded as being merely a provincial reflection of mainstream European art. Valerie Fraser argues that, on the contrary, it had its own distinct identity and architectural projects were a powerful tool in the subjugation of the native peoples of South America by the Spaniards. Although the majority of labourers and craftsmen responsible for the churches, towns and cities...