The San Juan Art Students League commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of its founding in 1968. One way to celebrate such an important event has been to organize this exhibition, a representative but limited sample of the extensive list of artists linked to the institution during the last 50 years: master artists who have taught at the League, artists who at some point were students of the institution, artists who since 1969 have exhibited at the Galería San José, and at the Galería Delta de Picó or whose work has been the subject of critical articles in some of the 21 issues published between 1978 and 1991 of the magazine Plastic. Conducting the research revealed the immeasurable merit the League has had over these 50 years of work, leaving an indelible mark on the annals of contemporary art history in Puerto Rico.

It should be noted that since its founding, the League has also embraced nearly all of the contemporary and avant-garde artistic movements that have emerged in Puerto Rico since the second half of the 20th century: abstractionism of the 1960s, ceramics and artistic photography during the 1970s, installations and new figuration of the 1980s, and a large part of the current artistic expression. The League has also supported leading groups such as the Association of Women Artists of Puerto Rico and was the main driving force behind the project to create the Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico.

The exhibition was shared between the San Juan Museum and the Museum of the Americas. It brings together works by just over 100 artists from various generations, represented by works in the categories of painting, drawing, mixed media, graphic art, photography, sculpture, and installations, reserving a space for performance pieces. The need to adapt to the dimensions of museum exhibition spaces was a determining factor in the decisions regarding the selection of artists and works. Presenting reliable examples of the excellent craftsmanship that distinguishes our artistic tradition, as well as showing paradigmatic examples with which artists seduce the viewer in the era of capitalist globalization, was another important factor: the use of new materials, new techniques, and new technologies, the hybridization of media, and new approaches to traditional genres. Finally, we did not want to ignore alternative representation models such as feminism, the queer movement, and the art of documentation, archiving, or memory, which will undoubtedly leave a significant mark on the art of the next 50 years.

The 50 Years of the Art Students League

This year the Art Students League of San Juan celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of its founding in 1968. One of the ways we are commemorating this important event is by mounting this exhibition, a representative, albeit limited, selection from the long list of artists who have been part of this institution over the last fifty years: artist-teachers who have given classes in the League, artists at some point were students here, artists who have exhibited their work in the San José and Delta de Picó galleries since 1969 or whose work has been the subject of articles contained in some of the 21 issues of Plastic published between 1978 and 1991. In doing the research for this exhibition, the immeasurable importance of the League's work over these last fifty years became clear. It has, indeed, left an indelible mark on the history of contemporary art in Puerto Rico.

It should be noted that since its founding, the League has almost welcomed all the contemporary and avant-garde art movements that have manifested themselves in Puerto Rico in the second half of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first century: the Abstraction of the Sixties, the ceramics and art photography of the Seventies, the installations and New Figuration of the Eighties, and most of the modalities of artistic expression that we see today. The League has also slow support to important and groundbreaking groups such as the Women Artists Association of Puerto Rico and the artists who were the driving force behind the creation of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico.

The exhibition has been divided between the Museo de San Juan and the Museo de Las Américas. It brings together works by a little over 100 artists of several generations: paintings, drawings, mixed media pieces, posters and other graphics, photographs, sculptures, and installations, with a space reserved for performance pieces. The need to accommodate the pieces in the museum spaces was a determining factor in making some of the decisions about the artists and works finally chosen. Two other factors were the desire to present trustworthy examples of the excellent fact that distinguishes our artistic tradition and to show some of the paradigmatic ways by which artists seduce the viewer in the era of capitalist globalization: using new materials, new techniques, and new technologies, hybridizing media, and taking new approaches to traditional genres. Finally, we have wanted to include models of representation such as the queer movement, and the art of documentation and archive, or memory, all of which will unquestionably leave an important mark on the art of the next fifty years.