Day 26 of my #hispanicheritagemonthspotlight is: Delesio Antonio Berni (14 May 1905 - 13 October 1981) was an Argentine figurative artist. He is associated with the movement known as Nuevo Realismo ("New Realism"), a Latin American extension of social realism. His work, including a series of Juanito Laguna collages depicting poverty and the effects of industrialization in Buenos Aires, has been exhibited around the world. In 1931, while living on a farm and working as a municipal employee, Berni witnessed labor demonstrations and the miserable effects of unemployment and was shocked by the news of a military coup d'état in Buenos Aires. In 1933, he began painting realistic images that depicted the struggles and tensions of the Argentine people. His most popular Nuevo Realismo paintings include Desocupados (The Unemployed) and Manifestación (Manifestation). Berni's post-1950s work can be viewed as "a synthesis of Pop Art and Social realism." In 1958 he began collecting and collaging discarded material to create a series of works featuring a character named Juanito Laguna. featuring a character named Juanito Laguna. The series became a social narrative on industrialization and poverty and pointed out the extreme disparities existing between the wealthy Argentine aristocracy and the "Juanitos” of the slums. After a March 1976 coup Berni moved to New York City where he continued painting, engraving, collaging, and exhibiting. New York struck him as luxurious, consumerist, materially wealthy, and spiritually poor. He conveyed these observations in subsequent work with a touch of social irony. His New York paintings display a great protagonism of color. Antonio Berni died on October 13, 1981 in Buenos Aires where he had been working on a Martin Fierro monument. #hispanticheritagemonth #antonioberni #nuevorealismo #art