This article is an important record of the difficulties faced by the official competition that was charged with choosing a design for a statue to be erected to honor Túpac Amaru II in Cuzco. This was one of the most controversial and fraught competitions held during the 1970s: organized on three separate occasions, its results were declared void each time. The design submitted by Alvaro Núñez Rebaza was never built because of the resistance documented in this article. The sculptor’s abstract leanings counted against him. The newspaper report goes on to mention a patriotic mural painted at the Panteón de los Próceres in Lima by Teodoro Núñez Ureta, Álvaro’s father.
The fourth competition subsequently awarded the prize to the academic sculptor Joaquin Ugarte y Ugarte (1917–1984), but his equestrian statue was never erected in the Plaza de Armas because it was considered incompatible with the downtown colonial style of Cuzco. The law that spawned the competition (Decreto Ley 18280) never took effect. The monument was finally erected in 1980, in another plaza that was created especially for it. The decree issued by the Gobierno Revolucionario (1968–75), calling for a portrait of Túpac Amaru II to be hung in every educational institution in the country, was likewise never implemented: the painting competition organized for that purpose was declared “void.”
In 1970, the Revolutionary Government of the Peruvian Armed Forces, via the National Commission for the Sesquicentennial of Independence, organized a competition, inviting sculptors to submit designs for a statue to honor José Gabriel Condorcanqui (Túpac Amaru II) that would be erected in the Plaza de Armas in Cuzco. Officially launched as a national competition, the project became mired in controversy after the first two attempts were declared void. On the third attempt, Álvaro Núñez Rebaza’s submission was chosen, although it was sternly criticized for its “abstract” nature. A fourth competition was organized and on this occasion, Joaquín Ugarte y Ugarte’s equestrian design won, but it was never installed in its intended location due to the opposition voiced by Cuzco residents. In 1980, a plaza was created for this very purpose, and it was there that the statue (cast in 1976) was finally erected.
A lack of period portraits prompted an invitation to painters to submit works to an official competition, but the project was derailed by the drastic decision that not one of the ninety-eight works submitted was considered “prize-worthy.” Milner Cajahuaringa, one of the painters who received an honorable mention, chose to publicly renounce that acknowledgment. An initiative to organize a second competition came to naught. The jury, which included directors from almost every art institution in Peru, was chosen according to a ministerial resolution and featured Juan Manuel Ugarte Eléspuru (director of the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes), Franklin Pease (director of the Museo Nacional de Historia), Francisco Statsny (director of the Museo de Arte e Historía de San Marcos), General Felipe de la Barra (director of the Centro de Estudios Histórico-Militares), and José Miguel Oviedo, director of the Casa de la Cultura del Perú.
José Gabriel Condorcanqui, Túpac Amaru II, was an Inca curaca (chief) who led the most significant rebellion against the Spanish Empire in 1780. Although it was largely ignored by traditional Peruvian historiography, he was used as a symbol by the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces led by General Juan Velasco Alvarado (1968–75), which was characterized by social reforms and took a great deal of interest in symbolic representation.
[As complementary reading on the subject of Túpac Amaru II, see the following articles in the ICAA digital archive: “¿Cómo fue Túpac Amaru?” by General EP Felipe de la Barra (doc. no. 865441); “Convocan a concurso: monumento a Túpac Amaru se levantará en el Cuzco,” anonymous (doc. no. 1053438); “Convocan a concurso de pintura para perpetuar la imagen plástica del mártir José Gabriel Condorcanqui,” anonymous (doc. no. 865422); “Declaran desierto el Concurso de Pintura ‘Túpac Amaru II’,” by Alfredo Arrisueño Cornejo (doc. no. 865498); “En busca de la imagen arquetípica de Túpac Amaru,” anonymous (doc. no. 865702); “El retrato de Túpac Amaru,” by Daniel Valcárcel (doc. no. 1052165); and “Túpac Amaru: ¿verdadero retrato?” by A. O. Z. (doc. no. 865460)].