In the opinion of the Uruguayan critic Aristides Meneghetti, the individual exhibition of [work by] Lucy Tejada at the Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango (October 1958) caused confusion and disappointment for the visitors. The general perception was that the quality of the work had deteriorated in terms of the drawing and the color. However, the writer pointed out that this exhibition had to be understood as work from a transitional, mid-career period, in a body of work he would analyze retrospectively. He talks about the artist’s studies and her first exhibition in 1952 in which she firmed up her iconography around the theme of the Guajira [female peasant], with which she would continue to work in the 1950s. Meneghetti also covers her stay in Spain between 1953 and 1956. For each time period discussed, the critic examines the way in which the artist adapted the themes of her works to her rigorous handling of the formal elements. He therefore explains that one of the artist’s virtues is her ability to revisit certain themes, while finding ways to transform them through her use of form and color. Regarding the exhibition at the Biblioteca, Meneghetti states that the weakness of the work may have been caused by walking the line between nature and abstraction. In any event, the writer defends Tejada’s approach, explaining that “her work unavoidably bears witness, which roots it in reality and saves it from becoming sterile, abstract art.” (He rests this argument on an article written by the Spanish critic José María Galván, entitled “Lucy Tejada,” that appeared in the publication Intermedio, Bogotá, on July 1, 1956). Meneghetti concludes his article stating his appreciation of the artist’s work for its consistent approach, following guidelines Tejada developed during the early years of her art life.

This article presents a characteristic that defines the approach of Lucy Tejada (1920?2011) throughout the 1950s, which earned her a place as an artist known and appreciated by most critics. Starting with some work created in 1949, through the show at the Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango, Tejada developed an iconography based on regional types and landscapes. She created these based on her evident interest in their links to the elements of the visual arts. In this regard, her approach won over those critics who defended these representations as historical records (such as Aristides Meneghetti) as well as those whose focus was more formal. Examples of critics more interested in form were the Polish critic Casimiro Eiger (1909–87), and the Argentine based in Colombia, Marta Traba (1923–83).

At the exhibition discussed here, with a catalogue text written by Traba herself, the artist presented paintings such as Mélida, Alharaca, Bodegón tropical, and Tacita blanca. In this set, Tejada would initially seem to be slowly pulling away from the regional theme of the “guajiro” [peasant], with still lifes or human figures in pale colors and calculated compositions. Secondly, there became an evident (and an admitted) influence of the artist Alejandro Obregón (1920–92). This influence can be seen in the way she defines precise angles in her forms, how she integrates the forms represented over geometric planes, and how she uses pendular and parabolic rhythms (common devices in the Latin American painting of the period).