This text by Colombian writer Enrique Caballero Escovar is a critical review of Ricardo Gómez Campuzano’s pictorial work. In it, Caballero Escovar expresses his admiration for the landscapes by this artist from Bogotá, especially those depicting “blazing land” whose “plateaus, grasses, and clear sky made apt use of properly balanced color.” Regarding Gómez Campuzano’s portraits, Caballero Escovar asserts that while some of them display mastery of drawing and color, others are lacking in “beauty.” In closing, the critic writes: “we believe that Gómez Campuzano’s landscapes are of greater value than his portraits. And his best canvases are those depicting blazing land, the land of the sun.”

Ricardo Gómez Campuzano (1891?1981) was one of the most prolific painters active in the first decades of the 20th century. He showed assiduously in the exhibition venues of the time and his work was warmly received by critics. Indeed, there was virtually no art show in Bogotá that did not include one of his landscapes or portraits. He was considered the successor to recognized masters Epifanio Garay (1849–1903) and Ricardo Acevedo Bernal (1867?1930).  

Gómez Campuzano was not only a landscape artist with no rivals, but also an excellent portrait painter who depicted the upper classes of Bogotá. Gómez Campuzano’s work after he had traveled to Spain was highly regarded by a criticism concerned with finding nationalist components in the work of Colombian artists. By representing Colombian archetypes that he himself had invented, Gómez Campuzano fulfilled the expectations of critics at a time when Spain was becoming the guiding light for the Colombian nation. To a nation that looked back to the viceregal period, Spain was seen as the source of everything that should be part of Colombia’s present. Spanish language, religion, and art were prime examples of this cultural dependence. Ricardo Gómez Campuzano is symptomatic of this colonialism insofar as his work addressed everything that, it was believed, should light the path of the young nation. It would appear that, from the sanctimonious local perspective, France—with its attempts at an avant-garde that went beyond the confines of its borders—was too liberal, and hence Spain was once again the source of inspiration not only for painters, but also for political leaders. The Colombian visual arts tradition was still incipient at the time and the only possible point of reference for outstanding local artists was the Academy.