This essay by writer and thinker José Carlos Mariátegui formed part of the “Peruanicemos al Perú” series published by Mundial magazine. In this text on the problem of art education in Peru, the author criticizes the neglect of art in public education as well as the insufficient training of art teachers. He proposes a system whereby graduates of the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes (ENBA) would be given responsibility for teaching art in schools. In the author’s view, such a system would provide professionals trained specifically to teach art and give the studies of art students a practical application. Since “Peru is not yet able to give its artists work […] because the art education of its ‘learned’ or ruling class has advanced very little,” teaching could provide art students of limited means with a way to make a living. Mariátegui cites the case of Mexico and the efficacy of art education in its grade schools. He also asserts that the system he proposes is equally applicable to music, and hence demands a radical reform of the Academia Nacional de Música.

José Carlos Mariátegui is one of the most influential thinkers on contemporary Peruvian culture and society. A political activist, he founded the Partido Socialista del Perú (PSP) in 1928 and the Confederación General de Trabajadores del Perú (CGTP) in 1929. His insightful thinking on the issue of nationalism in the early twentieth century formed part of the debates on the intellectual life of the country; his stance, like much of the thinking of the day, was decidedly anti-oligarchical in orientation and concerned with constructing a broader idea of nationality. Mariátegui’s thinking was marked by an interest in finding connections between Marxism and traditional Peruvian culture; he proposed an alliance between the working class and the indigenous population, and declared the need for socialist revolution. He attempted to bring concepts like tradition and modernity—that is, ideas that exceed the local context and play a role in more universal debates—to bear on the proposals of Indianism and socialism. This article was one of a series of texts that Mariátegui published in the “Peruanicemos al Perú” section of Mundial magazine (published in Lima from September 11, 1925 to May 19, 1929). The series began with texts by “Gastón Roger” (journalist Ezequiel Balarezo Pinillos Roger’s pseudonym). In the editor’s note to Mariátegui’s first article, he states that “what will be published from now on are articles on essentially nationalist issues addressed from a firm political stance written, as promised, by our distinguished contributor José Carlos Mariátegui.” The texts are paradigmatic of Mariátegui’s thinking on literature and art, especially in relation to other aspects of society fundamental, in his view, to a new vision of the nation based on Indianist vindication. Many of the articles published in “Peruanicemos al Perú” were collected by Mariátegui and reworked for the book 7 ensayos de interpretación de la realidad peruana (1928), his most famous work. His children later compiled the volume Peruanicemos al Perú Obras completas Vol. 11 (Lima: Empresa Editora Amauta, 1970), which contains this article under the title “Nacionalismo y vanguardismo en la ideología política.” For other essays by Mariátegui published in the Peruanicemos al Perú section of Mundial magazine, see “Nacionalismo y vanguardismo” (ICAA didgital doc. no. 1136791), “Nacionalismo y vanguardismo” (doc. no. 1136807">1136807), “Nacionalismo y vanguardismo en la literatura y el arte” (doc. no. 1136807">1136807), “la tradición nacional” (doc. no. 1136839), “el indigenismo en la literatura nacional I” (doc. no. 1136855), “el indigenismo en la literatura nacional II” (doc. no. 1136871), and el indigenismo en la literatura nacional III” (doc. no. 1136888).