This card is part of the personal archive of the art critic and gallery owner Casimiro Eiger
(1911–87), an important figure in Colombian art circles in the twentieth century. The text on this card refers to the first stage in the creation of the MAM (Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá), a period that lasted from 1955 to 1962. This process began following the approval of a proposal to create the museum, which was agreed to by the military government of General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla (1953–57), and was implemented by the education minister Aurelio Caicedo Ayerbe on July 27, 1955. The founding document for the museum, like the card shown here, mentions both Alejandro Obregón and Eiger. In 1962, the MAM finally managed to find a temporary exhibition and administrative site, and the first temporary museum space opened in Bogotá on October 31, 1963.
The card that Alejandro Obregón (1920–92) sent to Eiger is undated but its content provides unmistakable evidence that it was written and mailed during the planning stage for the new museum. This card clearly documents that the Colombian painter and the Polish-born art critic and gallery owner were both passionately concerned with the organization of the MAM. It also introduces another character in the history of the creation of the museum: the director of the art department at the Pan American Union in Washington DC, José Gómez Sicre (1916–91), who was widely acknowledged to be one of the most important supporters and promoters of modern Latin American art in the twentieth century. The department under the direction of Gómez Sicre, a Cuban critic and diplomat, was affiliated with the Organization of American States, the OAS.
For other documents related to this one, see “Acta de Fundación del Museo de Arte Moderno?1955” [doc. no. 1097917];“Acta de Constitución del Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogotá–1962” [doc. no. 1098586]; and “Primer Salón Intercol de Artistas Jóvenes” [doc. no. 1097966].
