Latino Visions

This is a superb introductory survey of Latino visual arts as practiced in the United States by artists of Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban descent. It would be an excellent selection for libraries, and as a high school text or adjunctive college text. The book's exposition is guided by respect for (and a complex undersanding of) the artists' works, a strategy that avoids pigeon-holing works which often do not fit well into conventional categories. Cockcroft is respectful of the people and their struggles, as well as knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the art. It is beautifully written. (Would that more such texts were written with such clarity as well as such a comprehensive and respectful perspective). It should be especially inspiring to young adult readers, offering as it does example after example of integrity, repect for cultural roots, principled opposition to arbitrary restrictions/oppressions--all expressed creatively with a wide variety of examples, accompanied by excellent photographic illustrations. And the artists are examples of success, too, since many of them have successful careers in galleries and with museum purchases of their works. An example of how Cockcroft integrates diverse elements in discussing the examples, is when he notes the presence of doilies in a Nick Quijano work. Cockcroft says they are present in many Puerto Rican households, then parenthetically explains that this is beacuse "many women did needlework as a way to get extra income' (p.96). Thus do the works "come alive" for the reader. This is a book about the meanings of complex cultures and of individual experiences within (and apart from) them, illuminated by examinations of specific artworks. It is an impressive achievement, and a superior introduction to the artworks discussed, and also to their originating cultures and social and political and mystical beliefs. In short, it is a book aobut art, but it is really a book about respect and tolerance intoday's United States based on knowledge and human decency.