Feria Chaco Rekindles Priceless Collection of the Museum of Solidarity

Over 100 key agents of arts in Chile that will be attending Chaco13, had the opportunity to admire a selection of the 2,600 artworks treasured by Salvador Allende Museum of Solidarity, one of the most important collections in Latin America.

The idea of creating the Museum of Solidarity’s collection was born exactly 42 years ago, back in 1971. It was decided during a meeting titled Operacion Verdad (Truth Operation), which gathered more than 70 intellectuals from different countries in order to get to know the reality of Chile, after the recent and democratic appointment of Salvador Allende as President of the Republic.

Inspired by the atmosphere that could be breathed in the country, the idea came to their minds: how about creating a Museum of Modern Art with donations by the main art referents of the world? After having sent letters to different artists so as to tell them about the initiative, the collection became reality. Over 500 artworks were received through 1973, including paintings, engravings, sculptures, drawings, tapestries and pictures. The first one was a painting by Joan Miró, which was joined by works created by such outstanding artists as Frank Stella, Victor Vasarely, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Jesus Soto, Alexander Calder, among many others.

Nowadays, the museum houses 2,650 artworks, which represents one of the most remarkable modern art collections of Latin America. That’s the reason why, in order to revive the moment of its creation and continue spreading the word on these works, Feria Chaco organized Operación Verdad, a meeting that last Sunday September 8^th brought together over 100 boldface representatives of art in Chile, who will be participating in the fifth edition of Feria Chaco, to take place on September 27 - 30 at Estacion Mapocho Cultural Center.

“This event is very important to us, since most of the people didn’t know about this museum and now they have fallen in love with this public collection. Besides, an important dialogue was established on the need and topicality of different artistic topics. We have spent over two years working to shed light on this unique project, in the country and overseas”, said Claudia Zaldivar, director of the museum, who appraised the activity organized by Feria Chaco, aimed not only at getting art closer to the people, but promoting the practice of public and private collecting, understanding that that’s one of the main tools to enrich the artistic heritage of Chile.

Source: http://www.feriachaco.cl