The author claims that José Sabogal’s ouster from the leadership of the ENBA (Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes) is both a political and a spiritual event. Garrido insists that, ever since Sabogal was appointed as director, “his life and his efforts have been the driving force that has made the School what it is today.” In other words, he had brought to the ENBA the complexities of a multi-ethnic country like Peru and turned the school into the only cultural institution that was truly “Peruvianist or Peruvianizing,” either way. His administration never took a closed or chauvinistic approach. On the contrary, by exploring its indigenous roots, the idea was to see the country from other perspectives (beyond the clichéd viceroyalty or European stereotypes) and reach out to similar movements in Latin American and the world. In Garrido’s opinion, Sabogal’s dismissal brings an era to an end and will stunt the ENBA’s development, since it will probably prompt the departure of other artists and professors, such as Camilo Blas, Julia Codesido, Teresa Carvallo, and Raúl Pró, among others.

In this article the Peruvian writer and journalist José Eulogio Garrido discusses the dismissal of José Sabogal from his position as director of the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes (Lima, 1943). Garrido begins by saying that this is both a political and a spiritual event. The indigenist movement was losing its supporters. In the mid-1930s a powerful movement emerged to oppose the indigenist style—which was perceived as official and exclusive—and eventually, in 1943, Sabogal was dismissed from the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes. Supporters of indigenism viewed this move as unjust, and rallied to the painter’s defense in letters, newspaper articles, and social events. There is another article by Garrido about the ENBA entitled “José Sabogal, director de la Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes” [see in the ICAA digital archive (doc. no. 1140395)].

José Eulogio Garrido (1888–1967) was a well-known writer and journalist; he was born in Huancabamba (Piura) and was a leading intellectual in the city of Trujillo. He was the editor of the Trujillo newspaper La Industria (beginning in 1910) and then its director (1929–46). He was a member of the Grupo Norte, a group of distinguished young intellectuals and artists in northern Peru, including Antenor Orrego (1892–1960), Alcides Spelucín (1895–1976), César Vallejo (1892–1938), Juan Espejo Asturrizaga (1895–1965), Macedonio de la Torre (1893–1981), and Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre (1895–1979). He was editor of the Trujillo magazines El Iris (1913) and Perú (1921–22), and from 1927 to 1929 contributed to Amauta, the magazine published in Lima by José Carlos Mariátegui. He was later appointed Director of the Museo Arqueológico de la Universidad Nacional de Trujillo (1949–63). His literary output, which was clearly influenced by the indigenist ideas of the period, expressed his admiration for the landscape and cultures of northern Peru. He is best known for his articles published in La Industria and his books Visiones de Chan Chan (1931); Carbunclos (1946); and El Ande (1929 and 1949), illustrated by Camilo Blas and Sabogal. He was a staunch admirer and close friend of Sabogal’s, as can be seen in this text and in a number of articles he published during the 1920s.