Alfredo Boulton: Listening to Venezuela
What does an exhibition sound like? From joropo and salsa to boleros and rock, this is the music of Alfredo Boulton
Luis Sanchez Olivares, "El Diamante Negro", №2, 1952, Alfredo Boulton. Gelatin silver print, 27 7/16 × 19 5/8 × 3/8 in. Getty Research Institute, 2021.M.1.66. Partial donation of the Alberto Vollmer Foundation
Body Content
The art world considers Alfredo Boulton one of the most important champions of modern art in Venezuela.
The new Getty exhibition, Alfredo Boulton: Looking at Venezuela, 1928-1978, looks at his art, collection, and connections in the Venezuela of his day.
This curated playlist helps you get into the spirit of the period in which Boulton helped define the art of his nation.
It begins with Gregorio Barrios’s cover of “Alma Llanera,” a popular joropo song that lyrically and sonically pays homage to the plains (Los Llanos) of Venezuela—a region of the country that was extensively photographed by Boulton.
Also included is Alfredo Sadel’s “Diamante Negro,” a song dedicated to one of Venezuela’s most important bullfighters of the 1940s and 1950s, pictured above. At the height of his career, Luis Sánchez Olivares, nicknamed “El Diamante Negro,” became a larger-than-life national figure and was commemorated with this song. In 1952, Boulton created a series of photographs on “Diamante Negro,” which can be viewed in the exhibition.
Listen to these songs and more on Spotify. The exhibition Alfredo Boulton: Looking at Venezuela, 1928-1978 is on view at the Getty Center in English and Spanish through January 7, 2024.
Alfredo Boulton
Looking at Venezuela, 1928–1978$60/£50
