This letter is fundamental to understanding the life and work of Austrian-born art critic Walter Engel (1908–2005). It is the only known autobiographical document written by an intellectual who, along with his wife Herta Weinmann, arrived in Colombia in 1938. In addition to working as an art critic, Engel worked in the import-export business. In 1965, he left Colombia to settle in Toronto, Canada, where he died forty years later.
The sole motive for his work in art criticism was love of art. He was able to support himself and his family thanks to “an honorable job in commerce.” According to research by Siglinde Bolbecher on Austrian immigrants in Colombia, the social situation of the refugees who came to the country in 1938 and 1939 was very difficult; they had been deprived of their civil rights—and lost their fortunes and jobs—pursuant to the Anschluss, or the Nazi annexation of Austria. Many came to Colombian escaping from the concentration camps established by Adolf Hitler. Those who managed to find jobs in industry had to learn to get by on the low salaries common in Colombia (see the book Qué lejos está Viena: Latinoamérica como lugar de exilio de escritores y artistas austriacos (Vienna, 1995)).
The letter also sheds light on two artists who were crucial to Engel’s education in art: Joseph Floch (1895–1977) and Ludwig Heinrich Jungnickel (1881–1965). Floch, who was known for his Modernist landscapes and portraits, lived in the United States starting in 1941; he was a professor at the National Academy of Design. Jungnickel was a graphic artist and illustrator close to the Austrian Expressionist movement. He was known for his paintings of animals and for working with Gustav Klimt on the friezes at the Stoclet Palace in Brussels, Belgium.
Though Engel left Colombia in 1965, he continued to be involved in Colombian art. In 1968, he founded the Walter Engel Gallery in Toronto, a venue committed to disseminating art from Latin America and from Canada, specifically work by Canadian artists of indigenous descent. His gallery held exhibitions of Colombian artists such as Guillermo Silva Sanz de Santamaría (1921–2007), Roman Roncancio (b. 1940), and Fernando Botero (b. 1932). In December 2009, Engel’s descendents donated portions of his personal archives to the Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango (Bogotá, Colombia).