Carla Stellweg — Hunter College Art Galleries

Carla Stellweg modelo, ca. 1960
©️ Archivo Carla Stellweg

Shortly after we opened Artes Visuales, The Latin American Avant-Garde in Print, we learned of the passing of Carla Stellweg (1942 – 2025). Though saddened by this sudden loss, we want to remember this trailblazing figure for her significant contributions to Latin American art history. She was exemplary in her dedication to her curatorial practice and fierce ally to Latin American and Latinx visual artists. Leaving a robust life, Carla’s accomplishments are felt across space and time. Even until her death, she was activity involved in scholarship that further advanced the many contributions of Latin American artists.

We are grateful for Stellweg’s everlasting work, and the work of her contemporaries and colleagues. Marta Moreno Vega, co-founder of El Museo Del Barrio and founder of Caribbean Cultural Center of the African Diaspora Institute, started community organizations that focus on Caribbean Latinx cultural offerings. Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, one of the most prominent US-based art collectors, and founder of the Cisneros Foundation, has a collection which has been instrumental in establishing the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Research Institute for the Study of Art from Latin America at MoMA and has been shared with the public through numerous donations, exhibitions, and scholarly publications, including support for the Hunter College Art Galleries. Together with these women, Latin American curators and scholars continue to canonize and uplift artists through the work of art historians such as Harper Montgomery (Hunter College) and Lynda Klich (Hunter College), and Rocío Aranda-Alvarado (Ford Foundation) and curators such as Maria Elena Ortiz (Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth) and Starasea Camara (ISLAA). These are just a few—a mere few, in a vibrant field.

Rest well, Carla Stellweg.

HCAG Digest