Research by Alberto Aveleyra

Felipe Cossío & San Miguel’s Arts School

Explore the legacy of Felipe Cossío del Pomar, the Peruvian artist, intellectual, and founder of San Miguel’s art schools, through research curated by anthropologist Alberto Aveleyra.

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Research Summary

Felipe Cossío del Pomar (1888–1981) played a decisive role in transforming San Miguel de Allende into an international cultural center. A Peruvian painter, historian, and intellectual, Cossío founded the Escuela Universitaria de Bellas Artes in 1937 with Stirling Dickinson, and later the Instituto Allende in 1950. These institutions attracted artists and students from around the world, reshaping San Miguel into a global hub for creativity.

Alberto Aveleyra began researching Cossio´s personal archives, located in San Miguel Piura, Perú in 2014, leading a project to digitalize over 5000 documents. This collection includes manuscripts, letters, and unpublished texts that reveal Cossío’s vision for art as both a local and continental project. The archive digitization project was completed in 2017 thanks to funding from Miguel Angel Cossío, Felipe's son, and the help of Tania Periche.

In 2019, Alberto curated a tribute exhibition at the Centro Cultural El Nigromante in San Miguel, the same place where Cossío founded his Art School in 1937, presenting Cossío’s art, writings, and archival discoveries. His research highlights Cossío’s “Americanist” vision, which sought to integrate Latin American art into global discourse while maintaining its cultural independence.

Through exhibitions, lectures, and publications, Alberto has restored attention to Cossío’s role in Latin American Arts and Politics and his role in shaping San Miguel´s modern cultural identity.

EXPLORE COSSÍO ARCHIVES

Key Findings

Felipe Cossío founded two major art institutions in San Miguel, but the original project was thought not for San Miguel but for Cuzco, Perú, where Cossío´s did his Phd research in the 20´s.

His archives reveal a transnational vision for art.

The digitization project preserved 5,000+ documents that are physically located in Piura, Peru. The next step is to upload the archive documents online for which financing is required.