The Getty Research Institute has opened a comprehensive exhibition celebrating Alfredo Boulton (1908-1995), one of Venezuela's most influential champions of modern art and a key intellectual figure of twentieth-century modernism. Despite his significant contributions as a pioneer photographer, art critic, researcher, and historian of Venezuelan art, Boulton remains largely unknown outside his home country.

The exhibition, titled "Alfredo Boulton: Looking at Venezuela, 1928-1978," runs through January 21, 2024, and draws extensively from the Getty Research Institute's newly acquired Alfredo Boulton archive, purchased in 2020. The show explores multiple facets of Boulton's career, focusing on his photographic work, his connections to contemporary artists, and his crucial role in developing art history scholarship in Venezuela.

"This exhibition brings to light a brilliant eye behind the lens in Latin-American photography, and a name largely unknown in the US," said Mary Miller, director of the Getty Research Institute. "Through this body of work we also demonstrate Getty's commitment to collecting artist archives, and to making them available to the public."

Born into a wealthy Caracas family, Boulton received his education in Switzerland and the United Kingdom. His European years included frequent visits to Paris, where he became acquainted with avant-garde artists. When he returned to Venezuela in 1928, he found a new generation working to modernize and transform the country. Over the following four decades, Venezuela emerged as one of Latin America's main centers of modernity, creating a vibrant artistic scene in which Boulton actively participated.

The exhibition is organized into three thematic sections that analyze different aspects of Boulton's multifaceted career. The first section, "Boulton the Photographer," highlights his unique photographic approach that combined vernacular themes with sophisticated modern techniques. Initially inspired by European and American photographers, particularly Man Ray and Surrealism, Boulton's early work featured close-up shots of objects with musical and literary references.

By the mid-1930s, Boulton shifted his focus toward creating art that represented Venezuela's distinctive identity. He began photographing portraits of local people, developing an idealized Venezuelan archetype based on what he called "belleza criolla" - a term he coined to describe the beauty resulting from the mixture of the three races present in Venezuela's population: white, Indigenous, and Black. Simultaneously, he documented Venezuelan landscapes and regions that had never been photographed before, feeling compelled to capture areas that were rapidly modernizing and changing.

The second section, "Boulton and Modern Art," examines his relationships with Venezuelan artists of his era. Boulton befriended, advised, and promoted artists while building an impressive private collection of their works. This section features his house in Pampatar on Margarita Island, which exemplified his vision of Venezuela's ideal modernity. Purchased in 1952, the colonial structure was remodeled and decorated with art and furniture by Alexander Calder, Alejandro Otero, and other major contemporary artists, creating a fusion of modern art with the country's history and traditions.

The Pampatar house connected Boulton to a groundbreaking generation of Venezuelan artists, architects, and designers, including Jesús Soto, Carlos Raúl Villanueva, Miguel Arroyo, and Francisco Narváez. The exhibition includes several loaned artworks that were part of Boulton's personal collection, demonstrating his eye for significant contemporary pieces.

The final section, "Boulton the Art Historian," explores his transformation from photographer to scholar. Around 1956, Boulton abandoned his photography practice to focus entirely on research, art history, and curation. He dedicated the next 40 years of his life to building a comprehensive analysis of Venezuelan art history from the colonial period forward.

Facing the challenge of working without existing literature, organized archives, or research catalogs, Boulton nevertheless published more than 60 books during his career. His most significant achievement was the groundbreaking three-volume "Historia de la pintura en Venezuela" (History of Painting in Venezuela), published between 1964 and 1972, which established the foundation for Venezuelan art historical scholarship.

"Alfredo Boulton was a pivotal figure in 20th-century art," said Idurre Alonso, curator at the Getty Research Institute who organized the exhibition. "He played a crucial role in shaping the cultural landscape of Venezuela and was a leading figure in the development and appreciation of modern art in the country. His contributions have not only enriched the understanding of Venezuelan art but have also helped to the broader appreciation of Latin American art."

The exhibition, accompanied by a comprehensive catalog, aims to illuminate Boulton's multifaceted impact and significance within the context of Latin American modernity. Located at the Getty Research Institute at 1200 Getty Center Drive in Los Angeles, the show represents a significant effort to bring recognition to an underappreciated figure whose influence extended far beyond Venezuela's borders.