As the editorial to the first issue of the magazine Prisma, this text by Marta Traba introduces the magazine of art criticism, which was committed to publishing research and “objective” studies of local and international art. The members of the magazine’s editorial staff, who would also write the articles in it, were not professional writers. Traba states that it is the responsibility of criticism to make the public familiar with art and its concerns. She cites historical examples of how writers have used style “to rouse aesthetic emotion,” but states that in the Americas the task of criticism should consist of forming “the groundwork of knowledge”; criticism’s “didactic function” takes precedence over “style and the expression of original ideas.” In closing, Traba clarifies that one of the main purposes of Prisma is to gather an active group of art critics that approaches art with intelligence and discipline.

An Argentine art critic and historian, Marta Traba (1923–1983) first arrived in Bogotá, Colombia, in September 1954. In 1956, she gave a number of courses on Renaissance and Modern art at the Universidad de América in Bogotá. Traba directed the magazine Prisma, a project intended to train art critics. Indeed, collaborators on the project were taken from Traba’s best students, among them: Eduardo Angulo, María Isabel Arango, Miguel Ángel Cárdenas, María Cristina Gaviria, Stella Bracht, Milena Esguerra, Gloria Espinel, Kitty Preminger, Simón Preminger (editing manager), Clara Inés Pombo, Inés Quintero, Inés Torres, Álvaro Quintero, Juan Posada, Luis Felipe Rodríguez, María Cristina Rubio, Marcela Samper, Teresa Tejada, Germán Téllez, and Maruja Olarte. Twelve issues of the magazine with texts on art from Colombia and abroad were printed from February to December, 1957.   

The magazine Plástica was in circulation at the same time as Prisma. Plástica was founded, directed, and produced in its entirety by artist Judith Márquez (1925–1994); seventeen issues were published from May 1956 to May 1960. Like Prisma, the aim of Plástica was to disseminate local and international art. Its contributors included trained art critics.  

A number of articles in the media announced the publication of the first issue of Prisma, among them: Pachón Castro, Gloria, “Prisma (Nueva Revista de Arte) circulará a partir de febrero” [Prisma (New Art Magazine) Will Be Published Starting in February], Intermedio, Bogotá, (January 13, 1957), p. 12; “Prisma: una nueva revista de arte” [Prisma: A New Art Magazine], La República, Bogotá, (February 6, 1957); and “Prisma”, Intermedio, Bogotá, (March 31, 1957), p. 5.