Caribbean : Art at the Crossroads of the World

Unprecedented in scope, this beautiful book offers an authoritative examination of the modern history of the Caribbean through its artistic culture. Featuring 500 color illustrations of artworks from the late 18th through the 21st century, the book explores modern and contemporary art, ranging from the Haitian revolution to the present. Acknowledging both the individuality of each island, the richness of the coastal regions, and the reach of the Diaspora, Caribbeanlooks at the vital visual and cultural links that exist among these diverse constituencies. The authors examine how the Caribbean has been imagined and pictured, and the role of art in the development of national identity. Essays by leading scholars cover such topics as the interconnections between Caribbean artistic production to its colonial contexts; between various generations of artists; and between the so-called high and low arts and religion, music, and carnival celebrations. Primary source documents crucial to understanding the region provide an important complement. Edited by Deborah Cullen and Elvis Fuentes, and featuring essays by Katherine Manthorne, Mari Carmen Ramirez, Lowery Stokes Sims, and Edward J. Sullivan, among many others, this book will serve as the definitive volume on Caribbean visual culture for many decades to come.

Deborah Cullen is director of curatorial programs at El Museo del Barrio, New York, and editor of Nexus New York: Latin/American Artists in the Modern Metropolis (Yale). Elvis Fuentes is associate curator at El Museo del Barrio.