This elegant two-volume publication reconstructs a major yet largely overlooked cultural phenomenon in twentieth-century Buenos Aires. A precursor to the legendary Instituto Di Tella and, in many ways, heir to the Asociación de Amigos del Arte, the Instituto de Arte Moderno (1949–1959) and the Premio De Ridder (1949–1977) brought together more than 1,200 artists, writers, musicians, dancers, actors, and intellectuals across visual arts, theatre, music, literature, and performance.
The books trace the extraordinary vision of Marcelo De Ridder, whose patronage created a dynamic platform that connected Argentina to the international avant-garde while fostering the emergence of new generations of artists. The IAM became a vibrant meeting place for local and international creators, a laboratory of postwar modernity whose impact extended far beyond the arts and mirrored the profound social and political transformations of its time.
Featuring over a thousand key figures—from Jorge Luis Borges and Wassily Kandinsky to Marta Minujín, Rómulo Macció, Alberto Greco, and
Pierre Soulages—this publication maps an intense moment when Argentine art entered into direct dialogue with the world.
The Premio De Ridder, meanwhile, ensured continuity and renewal by supporting more than four hundred young artists working in painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, and ceramics, many of whom would become central to the history of Argentine art.
More than a historical reconstruction,
IAM/PDR preserves and reactivates a cultural epic: the story of how artistic vision, patronage, and international exchange reshaped a scene and projected it into the future.
