Cabalgata de Posguerra. The cultural magazine as a promotion and international link agent

TALÍA BERMEJO

Austin

Otro; Transnational Latin American Art International Research Forum for doctoral students and emerging researchers Foro Internacional de Investigación para estudiantes de doctorado e investigadores emergentes; 2009

Universidad de Texas

On June 1st, 1946 the magazine Cabalgata was launched in the streets of Buenos Aires with one ambition: ?making in Argentina a great magazine for the whole continent?, a magazine ?that would be the expression of all the activities of the American and universal culture.? In spite of these broad and diverse purposes, Cabalgata outlined an Americanist profile devoted to the spread of the arts. It was all about a new entrepreneurship which rose from the press of the publishing house Poseidón, founded by the Catalan Joan Merli. Although this was a relatively small business among those from the same field, by the end of the 40s it extended its prestige ? and its books- in the Latin American market. For this reason, the circulation of the book represented a central theme in the magazine, in the same way as the issues linked to the local and international editorial movement did. Cabalgata strived to go beyond frontiers in two key senses: one connected with the readers? universe and another one related with the idea of accomplishing a mission of transnational link. On one hand, it was launched to conquer a massive audience and for that it appealed to the visual impact of the illustrated magazines, which were full of graphic material. It also appealed to the resources of the daily press: a great layout, economical paper and low costs. With the profile of a cultural publication, interested in literary, theatrical, cinematographical and even scientific current issues, Cabalgata displayed a series of devices among which stood out the stress placed on the visual register articulated with specific texts. On the other hand, it intended to act as a Latin American diffusion agent through its circulation in different Spanish speaking countries. At the same time it kept posts of correspondent in Europe which supported the internationalist profile, with articles about current issues in the main artistic centers, especially France. Cabalgata developed in the scenario of the immediate postwar, and it was in this context that it assumed a mission linked with a cultural reconstruction project, expressed through the artistic-literary production and the massive diffusion. All through the 21 numbers it published up to 1948, the magazine kept up its intention to build bridges, reinforce those which already existed, create new ones and, above all, keep up a fluent contact with the artistic establishment. The aim of this work is to analyze the strategies implemented by Cabalgata to create for itself an active place in the political-cultural weave of the postwar. It is intended to examine the textual and visual discourse used to design an action platform that was meant to be read in the Latin American context as a contribution to the recovery of the bonds of the intellectual transnational community. Finally, the main interest in the book -especially the book on art, bearer of images and texts- extends the analysis to the consideration of the issues developed like threads that weave a cultural plot, presented in terms of a ?universal culture?, of which the book makes up, in this context, one of its key manifestations. (*) The literal translation of this title would be ?Postwar Ride?.