This text by Germán Arciniegas (1900−99) evidences the novel nature of work by José Domingo Rodríguez (1895–1968) as well as his important position at a time when there were few sculptors producing in Colombia. It is striking that Arciniegas makes no mention of the nationalist or Indianist content of Rodríguez’s work, even though that aspect of his art has been widely commented on in subsequent historiography.
Rodríguez attended the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Bogotá and later traveled to Spain to study with sculptor Victorio Macho (1887−1966)—who would become his mentor—at the Academia San Fernando in Madrid. Rodríguez, who began showing his work in the twenties, is associated with what is called the “nationalist movement” of the first decades of the 20th century. Adherents to that movement were interested in the indigenous tradition and local customs. Rodríguez’s sculptural work is currently considered crucial to art produced in Bogotá at that time. His art partakes of, among other things, pre-Columbian and academic art, as well as Mexican muralism. Though he was awarded a number of prizes (among them a gold medal for Eva at the Ibero-American Exposition held in Seville in 1928), his work and legacy have been largely neglected by traditional art history. Not until recently has his work been given serious attention in books such as La llamada de la tierra: El nacionalismo en la escultura colombiana by Christian Padilla Peñuela (Bogotá: Fundación Gilberto Alzate Avendaño, 2008) which, in 2007, was awarded a prize granted to a historical, theoretical, or critical essay on Colombian art.