Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

Author Juan Ríos continues his exchange of open letters by responding the publication of a letter in El Comercio (Lima, October 19, 1961), wherein Juan Acha defends himself against the accusation that he showed disrespect to Sérvulo Gutiérrez in [...]

Well-known writer Sebastián Salazar Bondy states that, as in the case of Sérvulo Gutiérrez, there are lives and works “that stimulate debate, that appear destined to be fought over even after they have come to an end.” Regardless of the [...]

Author Juan Ríos responds to the letter published by El Comercio wherein Juan Acha responded to the first letter Ríos had sent to protest Acha’s assessment in the prologue to the catalogue for the Exposición Homenaje for Sérvulo Gutiérrez, [...]

Although Juan Ríos recognizes in this open letter to El Comercio the right people have to give their opinion “on the work of any artist, living or dead,” he believes that “unless the painter requests otherwise, then the prologue of a catalogue [...]

Writer Juan Ríos offers a brief biography of Sérvulo Gutiérrez based on the memories of their first encounter in Paris (1938): “he gave the impression of a force of nature encased in a slight and high-strung body of a man;” he highlights the [...]

The author notes a dual American inheritance from both indigenous and western cultures in the Rufino Tamayo paintings exhibited in Lima. Playing against what he calls “Americanism” or “absolute indigenous-ness,” Alejandro Lora Risco [...]

In search of an expression that would be authentically Latin American, Alejandro Lora Risco establishes the difference between American culture and reality, the latter referring to the material facts of life on the continent. Reflecting on his [...]

Spanish poet Juan Larrea comments on the Carlos More exhibition in Lima in 1931 and states that, before More, the Peruvian mountain ranges were illustrated and interpreted by people “who could not see them without deforming them in an arbitrary and [...]

Commentary by essayist Alejandro Lora Risco on the Mexican art show organized in Lima by La Crónica newspaper. From within the event’s massive audience, the author highlights the presence of the individuals most likely to read his text: Peruvian [...]

Argentinean architect Ángel Guido—invitee to the I Congreso Internacional de Peruanistas—summarizes the genesis of modern painting in general terms: “Until Impressionism, toward reality. Afterward, toward ‘unreality.’ From there, the [...]

In this interview, Alejandro Romualdo Valle (“Xanno”) reacts to the ideological turn that the debate as to whether or not there are painters in Peru has taken. He states that the real problem facing Peruvian art “is the lack of critics.” [...]

In his response to the article published by the Agrupación Espacio, writer and critic Juan Ríos asserts that there are two positions in art today: “art for art’s sake” and socially committed art. He considers abstraction the extreme of the [...]

In response to de Szyszlo’s controversial statement “there are no painters in Peru,” sculptor Cristina Gálvez mentions four whom she considers excellent: Juan Manuel Ugarte Eléspuru, Ricardo Grau, Sérvulo Gutiérrez, and Julia Codesido. [...]

Painter Aquiles Ralli rejects the comments made by Fernando de Szyszlo that became a national scandal: “there are no painters in Peru.” He juxtaposes the work of the “good artists,” those who diligently “work in silence and never advertise [...]

The author, Federico Costa y Laurent, considers the discussion about nonfigurative art to be anecdotal when he states that “painting, as such, simply is.” He claims that the core issue in the debate comes down to “sincerely living the essential [...]

In this text, Sérvulo Gutiérrez asserts that any classification that entails “dividing art” is conventional and falls into pigeonholing. It is misguided since it implies taking “a part for the whole.” Sérvulo Gutiérrez questions whether [...]

This article, which is signed with the initials “F. F.,” reviews the exhibition of work by Enrique Kleiser, the Swiss-Peruvian artist, at the Galería de Lima. This was the first time that abstract—“better said, nonfigurative painting had [...]

The author establishes a contrast between the bourgeois “sincerity of heart” and the “sincerity of the spirit” that characterizes the avant-garde. Ramiro Pérez Reinoso believes that this concept of the heart has been plagued by a “ [...]

This article was written from Europe by the Peruvian writer and politician César Falcón. In his opinion, “Incan art” constitutes a legacy lacking in ideological direction and, in his judgment, transcendence. He attributes it with a dearth of [...]

In this open letter from Fernando de Szyszlo to El Comercio newspaper, the artist responds to the remarks published on its pages by critic Carlos Raygada (Lima, May 29, 1951) regarding de Szyszlo’s exhibition of abstract paintings at the Asociació [...]

In this text, critic Carlos Raygada comments on the show of abstract paintings by fellow Peruvian Fernando de Szyszlo held at the Sociedad de Arquitectos del Perú in Lima in May 1951. While Raygada praises the works’ “total commitment to the [...]

In this text, critic and librettist Samuel Pérez Barreto (S. P. B.) comments on the show of abstract paintings by fellow Peruvian Fernando de Szyszlo held at the Sociedad de Arquitectos del Perú in Lima. Pérez Barreto points out the deep [...]

In this interview, Ricardo Grau reviews the major trends in the European visual arts from Manet to “the art known as Abstract,” identifying the School of Paris as the center of contemporary art. However, he also points out the importance of both [...]

Carmen Saco, who studied at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes (ENBA) in the 1920s, was one of the first professional women sculptors in Peru. The time she spent at the ENBA proved decisive to the nationalist bent of a body of work characterized by [...]

In this article, the Peruvian poet César Vallejo reflects on the genre of portrayal, referring specifically to a bust of himself that was produced by the Spanish sculptor José de Creeft and exhibited at the 1925 International Exhibition in Paris. [...]

In this interview with Sérvulo Gutiérrez, the painter states that the European tradition is the most advanced in the world, showing his preference for both the School of Paris and Surrealism. In his opinion, the return to European models is the [...]

Here, the writer sketches the artistic development reflected in the work of Alfredo Ruiz Rosas through the five years covered by the exhibition in the Peruvian capital. Bondy acknowledges the persistence of  “the same emotion” in the artist’s [...]

The writer Luis Miró Quesada Garland considers it wrong to brand any painting as either “Neo-Realist” or “Social Realist” based on a subjective interpretation of reality, with idealized figures and/or deformation as (a) technique(s). The [...]

In his comments, Sebastián Salazar Bondy praises the early accomplishments of the painter Sigfrido Laske, especially given the local milieu, “where art training is not as comprehensive as desirable.” His evidence of the artist’s talent is [...]

Emilio Goyburu opens this text by asserting that the “abstractionist prejudice” of which Abril de Vivero speaks on the pages of this same publication (Plástica) makes references to a form of snobbery inevitable in any movement that brings [...]

In this article, Francisco Abril de Vivero criticizes what he calls the “abstractionist prejudice,” claiming that conservative rejection of new tendencies is a constant throughout art history. At the same time, he acknowledges an “ [...]

In this essay, Emilio Goyburu divides Western painting into periods on the basis of its “aesthetic facet.” He defines four “ages” that he envisions as a progression. In its “primitive” age—or genesis—painting acted as a “graphic [...]

In this text, Eduardo Neira Alva asserts that the “clear generational consciousness” in Latin America is evidenced by the existence of a number of journals that, like Espacio, express the thinking of groups “engaged in the great task of [...]

In this article, Luis Fernández Prada detects “a tendency to vindicate our coast,” one that, because lacking in a clear agenda, might end up becoming an authentic school of art. He points out, in contrast, the artistic deficiencies of “sierra- [...]

In this article, critic Raúl María Pereira questions the “geographic location” and “theme” embraced by supposedly “neo-Peruvian” painting based on representation of the landscape and sierra motifs. The Peruvian coast has had little luck [...]

In this article, the French writer Francis de Miomandre notes that Europeans are largely unaware of the exuberance of current Latin American art, as exemplified by the group exhibition of works by painters from the region: Santos Balmori, Jaime [...]

In this article about the Peruvian draftsman Jorge Seoane, the journalist Enrique Casterot y Arroyo describes the new function of modern art. In his opinion it is more than “a mere imitative instinct” that seeks to expose an “axiom of the [...]

The author of this article, Clodoaldo López Merino, refers to his earlier article about the Peruvian painter Carlos Quízpez Asín while the latter was still studying in Madrid, Spain. On that occasion the journalist quoted some of the artist’s [...]

The author describes the painter Emilio Goyburu as a “born revolutionary” whose originality was immune to “any academic approach, old or new.” According to Juan José Lora, Goyburu’s work is a “cinematic spectacle of awareness,” in [...]

This article by the critic Carlos Raygada is about the painter and poet César Moro, considered “one of the few exponents of modern art in Peru.” According to Raygada, Moro’s work is unknown because it “never appears in the kind of [...]

Well-known avant-garde author Ricardo Peña recounts the cosmopolitan education of Ricardo Grau, whom he describes as a “concertmaster of international figures.” In his paintings, he notes a tonal atmosphere that is austere and excessive. He [...]

After remarking on painter Ricardo Grau’s career in Europe, Carlos Raygada praises the maturity of Ricardo Grau’s work evident “in the sobriety of form and color essential to the work on exhibit.” The palette in Grau’s production, Raygada [...]

The anonymous author of this article contrasts the favorable response on the part of Peruvian intellectuals and artists to the work of Spanish artist Victorio Macho and their response to María Izquierdo, considered “ambassador of a hypothetical [...]

In this text, critic Raúl Pereira asserts that the works by María Izquierdo on exhibit in Lima display “distinct personality, unquestionable artistic quality, and visual daring” as they delve into the motifs of Mexican folk art. The treatment [...]

This is a review of the exhibition of work by María Izquierdo at the ICPN (Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano) in Lima. “Tiziano” [Titian] describes her exhibition as “an interesting spiritual message from the Aztec nation and a [...]

María Izquierdo is interviewed during her visit to Lima. The author of this article, known only by the pseudonym, “Tiziano” [Titian], considers the painter to be part of “the group of artists who are creating Mexican art based on an [...]

In this text, Carlos More argues that there are two distinct modern art movements in Europe, one—started by Paul Gauguin—that is basically decorative in nature, and the other that goes so far as to see art as “a state of consciousness.” The [...]

Regarding the show of Chilean painting on exhibit in Lima, Ricardo Grau states that “it can be calamitous to have an artistic past like Peru’s” since it often serves as a pretext behind which to hide defects or weaknesses. Because no such [...]

In this text, Luis Fernández Prada asserts that Ricardo Grau’s show of painting is “worthy of note” in a prudish Peruvian art scene characterized by unremarkable shows. In his view, the show “constitutes a resounding reaction against [...]

In this article, Froylán Miranda Nieto argues that Ricardo Grau’s painting “contributes to Peru by wholeheartedly supporting avant-garde art.” He asserts that, because “neither Indianist nor Europeanizing,” the artist has a special place [...]