Elementos de geometría aplicados al dibujo [Elements of Geometry Applied to Drawing] (1859) is a landmark book in the history of art instruction in Colombia. Written by the artist Manuel Doroteo Carbajal (1819–1872), it is a key publication in terms of the technical and stylistic aids available to artists and artisans, professionals, and self-taught devotees of drawing during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Colombia. It is arranged in eight chapters: (1) “De las líneas” [Lines]; (2) “De los ángulos” [Angles]; (3) “De las figuras o polígonos” [Figures and Polygons]; (4) “De la igualdad y semejanza” [Sameness and Similarity]; (5) “De los planos y sólidos” [Planes and Solids]; (6) “De la perspectiva” [Perspective]; (7) “De la luz, la sombra y la perspectiva aérea [Light, Shading, and Perspective]; and (8) “De la perspectiva sentimental y diseño del cuerpo humano” [Sentimental Perspective and Design of the Human Body].
This book was an essential reference work for students in college, art and trade school, and at the School of Fine Arts in Bogotá (which is now the National University of Colombia’s School of Visual Arts.) It is surely Colombia’s oldest and most unique drawing manual. It was in such demand that it was reprinted four times: 1881, 1895, the third date is uncertain, and 1920.
Written by one of the most important Colombian artists of the nineteenth century, the landscape and portrait artist Manuel Doroteo Carvajal, this book is?along with the articles and books written by the painter, draughtsman, and journalist Alberto Urdaneta (1845–1887)?one of the only works of this nature available in large public libraries that documents the methodology used to teach drawing in Colombia during the period from 1859 through 1920.
The 1920 edition is illustrated by the Colombian draughtsman Peregrino Rivera Arce (1868–1940), who is known for having produced a book of drawings about the Guerra de los Mil Días [The Thousand Days War] (1899–1902) that is archived at the National Museum of Colombia.
