Fundación Espigas and its Documentation Center on the History of the Visual Arts in Argentina were created in 1993 to contribute to the professionalization of the Argentinian art field. Our mission is to compile documentation on Argentinian and Latin American art, as well as documentation of foreign art tied to the country and region. With the support of friends, donors, and members, Espigas preserves and makes available a major bibliographic collection and archive to specialists, public and private institutions, and the general public.
In 2017, Fundación Espigas and TAREA - Instituto de Investigaciones sobre Patrimonio Cultural of the Universidad Nacional de San Martín entered into a collaboration agreement that led to the creation of the Centro de Estudios Espigas. Today the Foundation and the Center, now part of the Escuela de Arte y Patrimonio work together not only on archive and library preservation and access, but also on publications and public activities related to Argentinian and Latin American art.
Espigas is located at 358 Perú Street in the historical district of Buenos Aires. Our building is equipped with a Storage Facility that contains the over five hundred thousand documents that constitute our documentary holdings, special collections, library, and periodical library.
We have a Reading Room with fifteen booths, each one with double-filter UV, electrical outlet, USB ports, and WiFi connection. The room is named after Claudia Caraballo de Quentin in recognition of her continued support. Espigas also holds activities for researchers and the general public in its Conference Room and Gallery, named after Espigas’s founder, Mauro A. Herlitzka.
In the Cataloguing Room, documents are catalogued in the database and digitized to make them available for online consultation. Espigas’s Paper Laboratory is headed by Nora Altrudi, restoration expert from Escuela de Arte y Patrimonio of the Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Our offices also house the Centro de Investigaciones en Arte y Patrimonio (CONICET/UNSAM), with which Espigas works to promote research on Argentinian and Latin American art.
Espigas has the advice in art history of the Centro de Investigaciones en Arte y Patrimonio (UNSAM / CONICET).
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