The 1932 article "Armando Reverón,” written by Venezuelan journalist, writer, and lawyer Julián Padrón is a short biography of Venezuelan artist Armando Reverón, and a description of his working method. Reverón was a Modernist painter who worked in an Impressionist style. His works are identifiable by his abundant use of white and off-white to reflect the luminosity of Macuto, a town on the central coast of Venezuela where Reverón lived and painted. Padrón’s narrative casts Reverón as an indigenist or primitivist figure who forsakes urban life to seek a “primitive” lifestyle in Macuto. In a poetic opening passage, Padrón describes how Reverón spent his childhood outdoors in the Venezuelan landscape where he felt the call to paint. In 1912, Reverón made a voyage to Barcelona, and upon his return joined the many Venezuelan painters who were leaving the Academia de Bellas Artes to form the “Circulo de Bellas Artes,” dedicated to painting in the Impressionist style popular in Europe. Padrón explains that Reverón made another trip to Europe to study perspective, and upon his return held a joint exhibition in Caracas in 1921. The majority of Padrón’s article is dedicated to Reverón’s life in Macuto, where he moved in 1925, and broke ties with his urban lifestyle. Padrón describes the layout of Reverón’s ranch house complex, and the process of handcrafting many of the items and furniture in his studio out of local materials. According to Padrón, Reverón’s ranch also served as a home for his monkey, and his Indian “companion,” Juanita. Padrón details Reverón’s artistic process, from priming canvases, posing the models (two local indigenous women named Juanita and Flor de la Montaña), and painting. Padrón describes Reverón “fighting with the canvas until killing off all the vibrant colors,” explaining that Reverón’s impressionism is characterized by the use of white and pale colors to reflect the blinding light of the tropics. Finally Padrón suggests Reverón exemplifies the American spirit due to his “ritualistic” painting method, and “fervent love of the primitive.”

Venezuelan writer, journalist, and lawyer Julián Padrón (1910–1954) was born in San Antonio de Maturín in Monagas, Venezuela. In 1935, he received degrees in law and in political science. In 1929, Padrón wrote for the magazine Elite, and founded the magazine El Ingenioso Hidalgo in 1935 with Arturo Uslar Pietri, Pedro Sotillo, and Bruno Plá. In 1936 he founded the newspaper Unidad Nacional, and also wrote for it as well as produced novels, plays, and short stories. Padrón’s novels include La Guaricha (1934), Madrugada (1939), Clamor Campesino (1945), Primavera Nocturna (1950), and Este Mundo Desolado (1954). He also wrote the comedies Fogata (1938) and Parásitas Negras (1939). Padrón’s book of short stories, Candelas de Verano (1944), is considered his most significant work. "Armando Reverón" was published in Elite magazine in 1932 along with a photo of Reverón taken by Alfredo Boulton. This article serves as a testimony to Reverón’s artistic process, and connects his unique Impressionist style to his choice to live what Padrón considered a “primitive” or “indigenous” lifestyle in Macuto, a town on the central coast of Venezuela.