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Collections

Eugenio Dittborn
Transandina, Airmail Painting No. 401985

Not on view
Large mixed-media airmail painting on folded kraft paper with a grid of black-and-white mountain photographs, handwritten and printed Spanish text, ink figure drawing, red thread, and white paint strokes
Mixed-media work on cardboard combining black-and-white aerial photographs of snow-capped mountains arranged in a grid at top, handwritten and printed Spanish text in red and black ink across the center, a pencil sketch of a reclining figure at bottom, and attached feather and red thread elements at right.

Eugenio Dittborn, Transandina, Airmail Painting No. 40, 1985, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Purchased with funds provided by the Modern and Contemporary Art Council and contributions from individual council members: Judy and Marvin Zeidler, Dee Sherwood, Ted Bensinger, Jane Glassman, Marsha Coron, Patty Finkel, Carole Slavin, Lydia and Chuck Levy, JoAnn and Ronald Busuttil, Nancy and Ron Lightstone, Gil Garfield, Terri and Michael Smooke, Rosalie Kornblau, and Kayla Kantrowitz, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Artist or Maker
Eugenio Dittborn
Chile, Santiago, born 1943
Title
Transandina, Airmail Painting No. 40
Place Made
Chile
Date Made
1985
Medium
Paint, feathers, ink, cotton, wood and photo silkscreen on wrapping paper
Dimensions
a) Wall hanging: 81 3/4 × 60 1/2 in. (207.65 × 153.67 cm); b) mailing envelope: 24 1/2 × 16 in. (62.23 × 40.64 cm)
Credit Line
Purchased with funds provided by the Modern and Contemporary Art Council and contributions from individual council members: Judy and Marvin Zeidler, Dee Sherwood, Ted Bensinger, Jane Glassman, Marsha Coron, Patty Finkel, Carole Slavin, Lydia and Chuck Levy, JoAnn and Ronald Busuttil, Nancy and Ron Lightstone, Gil Garfield, Terri and Michael Smooke, Rosalie Kornblau, and Kayla Kantrowitz
Accession Number
M.2004.45a-b
Classification
Collages
Collecting Area
Contemporary Art
Curatorial Notes
Much of Eugenio Dittborn's practice is defined by his experience of living under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973–90). Originally created on brown wrapping paper, and later on fabric, his dissident Airmail Paintings are mailed to their destinations and displayed with their envelopes to record their traveling and exhibition histories. The works, which include an array of materials, address contemporary issues such as the tragedy of the desaparecidos (disappeared ones), the thousands of people that "disappeared" or were "silenced" by Pinochet's security forces. Ilona Katzew, 2008