This document is part of the historical archive of correspondence belonging to Casimiro Eiger (1911–87), one of the most important and influential art critics and agents in the field of visual art in Colombia in the latter half of the twentieth century. This letter, along with a variety of similar missives sent by other Colombian artists and critics during their European and North American travels to the art critic Eiger—who was born in Poland and settled in Bogotá in 1943—sheds light on a period when Colombian art enjoyed a measure of international exposure, between 1950 and 1970. This was a time when many Colombians traveled abroad to see first-hand the contemporary art that was being produced in cities such as Paris and New York. This exodus of artists and critics, and the arrival of foreigners who immersed themselves in the local art scene after the Second World War—including Eiger, the Austrian critic Walter Engel (1908–2005), the German artist Guillermo Wiedemann (1905–69), and the Argentine art agent Marta Traba (1923–83)—brought a dynamic infusion of new energy into the Colombian art world. Among other things, they contributed to a consolidation of art criticism at a local level, a revitalized circulation of works of art through the creation of public and private collections, and the opening of new galleries.
For other documents related to this one, see “Carta de Lucy Tejada a Casimiro Eiger”, 1955 [doc. no. 1133221]; and “Carta de Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar a Casimiro Eiger”, 1950 [doc. no. 1133237].
