In 1989, Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar showed his series of works titled Homenaje a los Artífices Precolombinos [Tribute to Pre-Columbian Artisans] at the III Bienal de La Habana [Third Havana Biennial]. The Colombian sculptor wrote an essay for the catalogue and gave it the same title as his series of works. This is one of this artist’s few published essays, in which he acknowledges the considerable influence of “the various expressions of the Pre-Columbian aesthetic” in his work. He explains why he became interested in this type of work, and suggests that Pre-Columbian studies should be a high priority for young Latin American artists. Ramírez Villamizar claims to see a “long, solid bridge stretching from Pre-Columbian art to contemporary art.” He substantiates his claim by referring to various examples that confirm a connection between primitive art and twentieth-century artists, not just in Latin America, but in other parts of the world as well.

This essay by the Colombian sculptor Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar (1922–2004) was first published in the catalogue for the exhibition of the series Homenaje a los Artífices Precolombinos [Tribute to Pre-Columbian Artisans] at the III Bienal de La Habana [Third Havana Biennial] in 1989. The catalogue was produced by the Fondo de Promoción de Exportaciones (PROEXPO) [Export Promotion Fund], which sponsored the shipment of the work to Cuba. In 1991, these works were sent from Havana to Mexico to be shown at the Rufino Tamayo Museum. Ramírez Villamizar’s essay was also published in the catalogue for the Mexican exhibition. In 2007, the essay was published again in an issue of the Colombian magazine Mundo [World] (no. 26, June 20, 2007) that featured a tribute to the artist.

Ramírez Villamizar is recognized as one of the major and most important exponents of abstract art in Colombia. This essay is of great interest because here the sculptor expresses, in his own words, the clear connection between his work and Pre-Columbian images. He states that “geometry is the great mediator between the Pre-Columbian and the modern aesthetic.” His abstract work therefore finds a key reference in the geometry of pre-Hispanic ceramics, architecture, precious metal works, and sculpture. It is then clear that Ramírez Villamizar’s abstract work is not a self-referential process, but rather finds formal and conceptual references in Pre-Columbian thought and aesthetics. Many of his works include direct references to Pre-Columbian art, as follows: two oil paintings on canvas called El Dorado and El Dorado No. 2 (both from 1957); the white reliefs Serpiente Precolombina [Pre-Columbian Serpent] (1958) and Objeto Ritual [Ritual Object] (1959); the large-scale public mural El Dorado (1958); the series of over twenty-five rusted iron sculptures called Recuerdos de Machu Picchu [Memories of Machu Picchu] (produced in 1984–86); the series Homenaje a los Artífices Precolombinos [Tribute to Pre-Columbian Artisans] (from 1987–88); and a series of seven sculptures called Acueductos Precolombinos [Pre-Columbian Aqueducts] (1992).  

This essay by Ramírez Villamizar is also extremely important because it confirms his desire to encourage the assimilation of the pre-Hispanic aesthetic as an essential (sine qua non) condition for the artistic future of the region. He states that “there are exquisitely beautiful pieces that still astound us. Our young artists should study them because these Pre-Columbian works, our undeniable legacy, are more valuable and eloquent than all our academies and encyclopedias.” Ramírez Villamizar invites the reader to consider the works of several Latin American and European artists who have embraced primitive art, singling out the Uruguayan artist Joaquín Torres-García (1874–1949) who had long advocated the idea of incorporating the Pre-Columbian aesthetic into the creation of an “autonomous American art, one that is different from the Old World.”