In this interview, visual artist Manuel Quintana Castillo provides an analysis and criticism of the evolution of Venezuelan art. He asserts that the aesthetic values of young artists of the sixties are not as coherent as those of the members of Los Disidentes (founded in Paris in 1950) and of the Taller Libre de Arte (TLA) because [they were] conditioned by leadership grounded in politics. He states that the fact that Venezuelan painting is still incipient is evident in an excessive interest in “the new.” Quintana Castillo goes on to question the very existence of art criticism in a country that has been held back by the emergence of “elites of Latin American criticism.” In closing, he expresses his concern about a generation of young draftsmen in training due to the decline of the Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Aplicadas de Caracas, suggesting as well his own rejection of painting.

In this interview by an anonymous critic, visual artist and essayist Manuel Quintana Castillo (b. 1928) expresses his historical vision of decisive movements and of avant-garde tendencies that emerged in Venezuela in the late forties and the early sixties. Some of the opinions Quintana Castillo expresses in this text are not found in the numerous essays in which he analyzes and criticizes the country’s art. The interview took place in the framework of the release of his book Cuadernos de pintura, published by the Galería de Arte Nacional. It sheds light on Quintana Castillo’s impressions of Venezuelan art of the time, as well as his criticism of that art.

On the group of Venezuelan painters that emerged in Paris in 1950, see Alejandro Otero, “Del arte abstracto” (ICAA digital archive doc. no. 813611), “Las ‘placas al mérito’ y la juventud” (doc. no 813429), and “Mateo Manaure en la pintura: Un joven pintor venezolano, en viaje hacia París”(doc. no. 813639); Carlos González Bogen, “La escuela ‘de los paisajistas’ de Caracas” (doc. no. 813695) and “‘De nuevo’ Los Disidentes” (doc. no. 813667); Mateo Manaure, “Carlos González Bogen: Pintor” (doc. no. 813583); Narciso Debourg, “En torno a la pintura de hoy” (doc. no. 813597); and J. Guillent Pérez, “Lo latinoamericano y lo occidental [Parte I]” (doc. no. 813723) and “Lo latinoamericano y lo occidental: (Continuación)” (doc. no. 813478).

For other texts on the TLA, see Rafael Pineda’s untitled introduction to the group [“Llegó el momento de ordenar el lenguaje universal (. . . )”] (doc. no. 1101650); the article reporting on its disbandment and replacement by the INCIBLA entitled “Han sido destituídos todos los profesores del Taller Libre de Arte” (doc. no. 1172267); Bernardo Chataing, “Texto presentación” (doc. no. 1101666), the prologue to the TLA’s first group show; and Luis Berroterán, “Texto presentación 3 Salón de jóvenes pintores del Taller Libre de Arte” (doc. no. 1063067).