The work of Latin American architects has long been overlooked; our new series brings to light the neglected master architects of Central and South America. The first title in the series presents Venezuelan architect Carlos Raul Villanueva, one of the great modernists of the twentieth century. Villanuevas work synthesizes the radical ideals of modernism with the more traditional solutions to local conditions of climate and light. Villanueva studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris during the 1920s, where he was strongly influenced by the work of Le Corbusier, his mentor. His return to Caracas coincided with an economic boom in Venezuela, beginning a thirty-year period of unbounded optimism that allowed for major urban growth and modernization throughout the country. Villanueva designed a number of projects for the growing city of Caracas, most notably the Central University of Venezuela, which encompasses almost 100 buildings. Villanueva's plan for the university campus, his design for the Venezuela Pavilion at the 1937 International Exhibition in Paris, and numerous other structures are thoroughly detailed through photographs, plans, and text in this colorful monograph. Future titles in the Latin American Masters series will include Eladio Dieste, Rogelio Salmona, and Mendes da Rocha.