This essay is a biographical sketch on the life and work of architect Manuel Piqueras Cotolí after his passing. His firm convictions and talent was considered an irrecoverable loss in the Peruvian art scene. His “Peruvianism” was not archaic but contemporary and comprehensive, with the understanding of the past and the present. He felt that a Peruvian was neither American Indian nor Spanish but rather “mestizo” and thereby his art should be as well. Salinas Cossío commented on the success he obtained with his presentation of the Peruvian Pavilion at the Seville Exhibition in 1929. The author highlights that, in the field of sculpture, Piqueras decided to relocate to Peru to thus extol on “our diverse ethnicities.” Summarizing, the author references those works left unfinished by Piqueras, such as the monument to the writer Ricardo Palma and the project related to Fermín Tangüis’ monument. Included in the biographical note of Piqueras is his inclination for the arts at an early age; his projects in the workshops of Spanish sculptors and architects; his accepted application to attend the Academy of Spain located in Rome; and his contract in the Department of Sculpture at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Peru. Additionally cited was the style of his works he would title as “neo-Peruvian”, such as the main facade of the ENBA (Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes) and the Grand Hall of the National Palace, both located in Lima, and his most important work, the previously mentioned Peruvian Pavilion in Seville.

Manuel Piqueras Cotolí was a Spanish architect, sculptor and urban planner that relocated to Peru in 1919. His arrival to the country coincided with the overthrow of President José Pardo by Augusto B. Leguía. This marked the end of “Civilista Party,” the political standard of the aristocracy, giving way to the new populist government that initially had the support of the intellectual sectors. The ENBA (Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes) was founded that same year and was initially designed as a “Civilista” project with the purpose of implanting the academic tradition of European “Noucentisme” in Peru. Its first director was the academic artist Daniel Hernández, who allowed the development of nationalistic trends. Such trends were advocated by José Sabogal, who is considered the initiator of pictorial indigenism and who would assume the vindication of contemporary Andean culture; meanwhile, Piqueras developed his so-called “neo-Peruvian” style, a synthesis of viceregal and pre-Columbian elements. Over time, the fusion achieved more complexity and bore relation to the contemporary European modern trends. Manuel Piqueras Cotolí’s first outstanding work was the creation of the main facade of the ENBA (Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes) of Lima in 1924 and that very same year the Grand Hall of the Government Palace of Lima, both projects due to the centennial celebrations of the Battle of Ayacucho. In 1929 he created what was considered his masterpiece, the Peruvian Pavilion of the Ibero-American Exhibition of Seville, whose symbolic center was the grand staircase. Upon his return to Peru and after the fall of the Augusto B. Leguía regime in 1930, Piqueras was removed from his position at the ENBA and became a consultant at the Escuela de Artes y Oficios in Lima. Outstanding works from his final period include the marble sculpture of Hipólito Unanue (Parque Universitario, Lima, 1931); an incomplete work meant to pay homage to writer Ricardo Palma; and a draft of his plans for the Basílica de Santa Rosa. The inspiration for this project, which was simultaneously modern and pre-Columbian, produced a fierce debate regarding the relevance of indigenous influences and the neo-Peruvian style, a style that did not have direct followers, but was related to the art produced by artists working on a national art initiative on the margins of José Sabogal’s group that included Elena Izcue (1889–1970), Jorge Vinatea Reinoso (1900–31) and Alejandro González Trujillo “Apu-Rimak” (1900–85). Piqueras also influenced such Peruvian architects as Héctor Velarde and Emilio Harth-Terré, and applied to his works the theories of Argentineans Martín Noel (1888–1963) and Ángel Guido (1896–1960), two architects who explored the mestizo-viceregal style. [For further reading, see the following texts in the ICAA digital archive: by Manuel Solari Swayne, under his pseudonym of “Don Quijote,” “Notas de arte: para la exposición de Sevilla” (doc. no. 1140871), and “Manuel Piqueras Cotolí” (doc. no. 1141324)].