Francisco Moncloa applauds the decision to honor Joaquín López Antay, the Andean altarpiece artist who was awarded the National Culture Prize in the art category in 1975. Moncloa responds to critics who value “cultured art” above “handcrafts” by calling for equal recognition of the different kinds of art produced in a “heterogeneous and multicultural” country like Peru. To deny the artistic value of this work, he says, would be a “class-based decision” because there are artisans and true artists working in every field of cultural expression. Moncloa posits that only a narrow, discriminatory view would differentiate between “cultured art” and “uncultured art” based on categories imposed by a particular social group. He adds that the prize awarded to López Antay is a reflection of a country that “accepts the contributions of its artistic peoples” and is a first step toward the cultural reforms of the Peruvian Revolution that was currently underway.     

Part of a series of articles, this essay discusses the debate in which intellectuals, artists, and journalists supported (for the most part) the jury’s decision concerning the 1975 National Culture Prize. Francisco Moncloa, a politician, writer, and journalist, author of this essay, and supporter of the policies of General Juan Velasco Alvarado (1968–75), had been appointed deputy director of the Expreso, the newspaper that was expropriated by the regime in 1970.

An announcement on December 26, 1975 confirmed that the National Culture Prizes (for the 1973–74 biennium) had been awarded by the Peruvian government through the Instituto Nacional de Cultura to honor the greatest contributions to the development of Peruvian culture. The jury’s decision in the art category (which had traditionally included painting, sculpture, music, and architecture) ignited one of the most heated debates in the history of Peruvian art. The ensuing controversy underscored simmering tensions and suspicions regarding the cultural policies of the revolutionary government of the armed forces led by General Juan Velasco Alvarado (1968–75). This administration claimed to be committed to a progressive agenda, a claim supported mainly by the Agrarian Reform of 1969 which was accompanied by the government’s enthusiastic attempt to glorify the image of the peasant population and lifestyle at the expense of other forms of cultural expression that were considered more “Western.” On this occasion the prize was awarded to Joaquín López Antay (1897–1981), who was chosen over well-known visual artists such as Carlos Quízpez Asín (1900–83) and Teodoro Núñez Ureta (1912–88) and the German-born academic musician Rodolfo Holzmann (1910–92).   

[Regarding this conflict, see the following articles in the ICAA digital archive: by Alfonso Castrillón, Leslie Lee, and Carlos Bernasconi “Fundamentación para el dictamen por mayoría simple a favor del artista popular Joaquín López Antay” (doc. no. 1135896); by Alfonso Bermúdez “Premio a López Antay suscita controversias. Unos: consagración del arte popular. Otros: una cosa es arte y otra artesanía” (doc. no. 1135879); by Francisco Abril de Vivero, Luis Cossio Marino, and Alberto Dávila “Artistas plásticos cuestionan premio” (doc. no. 1135960); and (anonymous) “‘No todos nos quieren ni en Lima ni en Ayacucho’: así comentó sobre cuestionamiento a premio” (doc. no. 1135930)].