This is a document about Pinturas sobre el poema de Atahualpa (1964), thefirst show of Peruvian painter Fernando de Szyszlo (b. 1925) ever held in Colombia. The exhibition took place at thefirst site of the Museo de Arte Moderno of Bogotá (MAM), which opened on October 31, 1963.
The small property at the intersection of Avenue 7 and Street 23 in the Colombian capital housed thirteen works by Peruvian artist de Szyszlo—one of the most important Latin American artists at the time—during the month of May 1963. De Szyszlo was known for work that addressed the national reality of the time, as well its current history, without undermining formal autonomy or composition; de Szyszlo’s lyrical abstraction was grounded in Pre-Columbian traditions. After the exhibition in Bogotá, the thirteen paintings were taken to New York to be exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
According to the catalogue, the exhibition Pinturas sobre el poema de Atahualpa was funded by Gaseosas Lux; it was produced in conjunction with the Instituto de Arte Contemporáneo of Lima (de Szyszlo was a member of that institution’s board of directors).
For a number of reasons, this exhibition of the work of a Peruvian painter in Bogotá is important to the study of art in Colombia and in all Latin America. It entailed full cooperation between Latin American art museums, the thorough involvement of private companies in twentieth-century Colombian art, and the determination of Latin American artists to gain international recognition on the basis of their specific visions. Through his unique visual language and work as a cultural manager, Fernando de Szyszlo attempted to bring innovation to Peruvian painting and to help Latin American art gain acceptance on the international scene.
Related documents include “Segundo Informe anual de actividades, Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá (1964)” [see doc. no. 1093542].