Spanish sculptor Ramón Barba (1894–1964), who lived in Colombia, exhibited his work on just a few occasions. As this article evidences, though, by 1931 he was receiving a measure of acclaim or, at least, attention from art critics. This text contributes to preserving the memory of one of the greatest and most prolific sculptors active in the first half of the 20th century, a figure who has, unfortunately, been neglected by local art history. As this document attests, his work and legacy merit further study.
Ramón Barba studied in Spain and later traveled to Mexico and Cuba. He arrived in Colombia in 1925 and settled in Bogotá, where he soon began teaching sculpture at the Escuela de Bellas Artes. The work of Barba’s students—including Josefina Albarracín, whom Barba would later marry, and Hena Rodríguez (1915?97)—pursued an interest in social sectors—indigenous peoples, peasants, and beggars—that were little represented by artists of the time. In their aesthetic formulation, Barba’s students eschewed the academy as they looked to the European avant-gardes and to Mexican muralism, which was exerting direct influence on the nationalist concerns of many Latin American artists of the time.