From his perspective as a historian and critic, Germán Rubiano Caballero voices his opposition to the remarks in the press regarding the XIX edition of the Salón Nacional de Artistas held in 1967. In the article entitled “Crítica destructiva,” Rubiano Caballero calls those remarks destructive insofar as they bitterly and without exception attack every artist in the show and lead the viewing public astray. One of the basic problems Rubiano Caballero points out is that the individuals writing on the exhibition are not specialists in the visual arts. The author’s opinions are the polar opposite of those expressed by the journalists; Rubiano Caballero defends the quality of the works in the salon which he places in the context of international art. Indeed, on the basis of the example of an international biennial, he asserts that the jury for this edition—as well as its decision to grant the prize to sculptor Édgar Negret for the third time—is apt. Rubiano Caballero opposes the call to modify the salon’s norms so that it would exclude more experienced artists or artists who had won awards at prior editions.

This article by historian and art critic Germán Rubiano Caballero (b. 1938) was written in the context of a wider debate surrounding the 1967 edition of the Salón Nacional de Artistas in Colombia. There were two main causes for the controversy surrounding the event, both of which received a good deal of attention from the media. First, the fact that artist Édgar Negret (b. 1920) was awarded first prize for the third time. This led to a flood of criticism, mostly of the fact that the salon did not have a mechanism that excluded well established artists from winning the prize several times, even though such a mechanism would work against the aims of the competition and the interests of artists. Second, the exhibition featured a work by Beatriz González (b. 1938) that satirized the figure of a hero of the Colombian Independence movement by means of the image of a painting from that era. This led to public accusations of fraud and a division between those who defended the work and those who supported the accusation. A number of largely ungrounded articles attacking the salon and some of the works in it were published in the press.  

Rubiano Caballero’s article, then, is important as a defense of the salon by an academic and writer specialized in the visual arts. Rubiano Caballero understands Modern art as a movement bound to the development of artistic pursuits and innovation, and to the autonomy of the work of art. That notion is largely based on information from publications from Europe and the United States. In that he envisions the work of the artist, the critic, and the art historian in terms of international art, and its pursuit of innovation and of autonomous ends, Rubiano Caballero attacks the validity of the comments in the press. 

An art historian, Germán Rubiano Caballero has taught art and done research in the visual arts. His many publications include Escultura colombiana del siglo XX (1983), Arte de América Latina: 1981–2000 (2001), and the chapters that he wrote for the Salvat encyclopedia of Colombian Art History. He is also a prolific art critic for the magazine Arte en Colombia.