This is the text by Juan Ríos (1914–91) published in the catalogue for painter Sérvulo Gutiérrez’s Exposición Homenaje organized by the IAC (Instituto de Arte Contemporáneo) in the Peruvian capital. The prologue to the catalogue for the show, written by art critic Juan Acha (1916–95), offered an assessment that was considered disparaging of Gutiérrez’s work. Between October and November 1961, the IAC held an exhibition in homage to painter Sérvulo Gutiérrez in Lima. The show corresponded to the IAC’s ongoing work of revitalizing and promoting modern art within the country. It was also the second retrospective of the institution (the first was dedicated to the independent indigenist artist Mario Urteaga). The show had been motivated by the recent death of Gutiérrez and the role his work had played in the arts scene during the mid-twentieth century in Peru; above all for his contribution to the creation of a modern figurative art. Nevertheless, his forceful rejection of abstraction lacked the programmatic formulation needed to lend importance to his contributions to the local debates on the topic during the 1950s. The IAC’s show contributed to an assessment of his career within a context in which abstraction was already the lingua franca of the avant-garde in the country. From this perspective, the prologue to the catalogue, written by Acha, took a weighted assessment of his proposals that was interpreted by some as being against Gutiérrez. As a consequence of his “avant-garde faith,” Acha denied the work of this artist had the quality of an “artistic creation,” as he believed this value only belonged within the parameters of the international avant-garde. His critique chiefly argued that the painter lacked the “minimal mental capacity” to achieve abstraction, despite having reached the limits of figuration. One of Acha’s detractors, writer Juan Ríos, denounced the negative tone of the prologue (given that the exhibition was intended as an homage). [For additional information, see the following texts in the ICAA digital archive, all by Juan Acha: “Artes Plásticas: Sérvulo Gutiérrez” (doc. no. 1107586), “La pintura de Sérvulo” (doc. no. 1107534), “Polémica sobre el homenaje a Sérvulo: Juan Acha responde a Juan Ríos” (doc. no. 1107568), and “Polémica sobre el homenaje a Sérvulo: Juan Acha responde a Juan Ríos; hija de Sérvulo protesta porque el IAC se negó a exhibir el primer cuadro de su padre” (doc. no. 1107551)].