Graphic Design as a University Discipline in Argentina, 1958–1985

The article aims to reconstruct the emergence and consolidation of graphic design as a university discipline in Argentina. It is a process that started in the late 1950s and has intersected with various important historical moments—for instance, the early dialogue between Max Bill and Argentinean avant-garde artists, such as Alfredo Hlito and Tomás Maldonado in the immediate postwar period. Also instrumental in the process were the networks between Brazilian modernism—especially from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo—and avant-garde artists from Montevideo and Buenos Aires, as well as the gradual arrival of what is known as the Modern Movement in the practice of architecture and in its teaching in universities. It reviews the institutions that were pioneers of design education in Argentina. The cases addressed are the National University of Cuyo (UNCu), National University of La Plata (UNLP), the Centre for Research in Industrial Design (CIDI), the Centre of Arts and Communication (CAYC), the Pan American School of Art (EPA), and the National University of Buenos Aires (UBA). While the national universities and CIDI are public institutions, the CAYC and EPA were private initiatives.