The decision by the Junta Asesora de Artes Plásticas del Instituto Colombiano de Cultura [Visual Arts Advisory Board of the Colombian Cultural Institute] (Colcultura; a division of the Colombian department of education that was created as part of the constitutional reform carried out in 1968 by the Carlos Lleras Restrepo administration) to award no prizes at the XXIII Salón de Artistas Nacionales [XXIIII National Artists’ Salon] in 1972 prompted a heated response from artists, art critics, and university professors. The contest was described by the capital city press as a decentralized, official Salon that would award no prizes. The reason for this ruling was explained in the communiqué provided by the Board, the event’s organizing group that included artists, critics, and representatives of the official entity: “There will be no prizes, mentions, or acknowledgments at the Salón de Artistas Nacionales; this event will no longer be a contest based on individual work or critical acclaim, but will be a strictly selected exhibition of the creative work of our artists” (Gloria Valencia Diago, “Abolidos los premios del XXIII Salón Nacional” [Abolishment of Prizes at the XXIII Salón Nacional], El Tiempo, Bogotá, 13 August 1972, p. 7E c3). Many artists responded immediately to the announcement. In this article published in El Espectador, one of several that appeared in response to the controversial decision to eliminate the prizes at the Salon, a number of artists expressed their outrage and challenged Colcultura’s ruling. They claimed that they had been misrepresented, because they had not complained about the prizes themselves, but about the outdated system used in previous Salons and the juries’ habit of partial selection. “This measure robs the artists,” said Bernardo Salcedo (1939–2007), who thinks the decision will lead to a “talent drain as artists leave the country, which will consequently strengthen the hand of private enterprise as the sole engine of cultural development.” Santiago Cárdenas (b. 1937), Beatriz González (b. 1938), and Eduardo Serrano Rueda (b. 1939) were essentially in agreement that the prizes should be more equitable. They suggested that there should be more prizes, perhaps consisting of smaller amounts or based on other incentives, such as grants. They believed that alternatives of this kind would encourage younger artists. González insists that “We can’t always live off the art produced by Obregón, Botero, or Villamizar, who are already famous, if we don’t pay attention to the younger artists who are just starting out.”
