In this insightful review of the V Salón Municipal de Bellas Artes, the critic Cipriano Vitureira takes for granted that the worldwide political and social events of the early 1940s demand a renewal in both artistic and thematic terms, particularly as regards the well-worn aesthetic formulas of the early decades of the twentieth century. Vitureira is not impressed by works of art that are governed by a conservative strain of academicism; such works, in his opinion, are inevitably influenced, thematically and artistically, by the support received from the State. “Local,” “social,” and “global” issues, meanwhile, converge in an independent and progressive humanist morality that, according to the author, should be expressed in art forms that are badly in need of renewal.    

The critic and poet Cipriano S. Vitureira (1907–77) was one of the Uruguayan intellectuals who, in the 1930s, encouraged the bonding of left-wing cultural and artistic groups in response to the conservatism of the government and the latent authoritarianism lurking in other parts of the world that, in Uruguay, had been imposed by the Gabriel Terra (1933–39) dictatorship. In this article Vitureira voices his ideas and expresses his concerns over the conformism he sees in Uruguayan art at the V Salón de Otoño. He is, however, optimistic about the avant-garde new painting that is inspired by Impressionism and aims to create a unified view that reflects the society it represents. The appearance of this article in a special edition of AIAPE magazine, published on May 1, 1944, the International Workers Day, underscored the interest of AIAPE intellectuals to partner with trade unions and labor movements. Vitureira sounds a hopeful note as he identifies some examples to follow among Uruguayan artists who participated in the V Salón, such as: Oscar García Reino (1907–93), Eduardo Amézaga (1911–77), Amalia Nieto (1907–2003), Carlos Prevosti (1896–1955), Felipe Seade (1912–92), Joaquín Torres García (1874–1949), and Carmelo de Arzadun (1888–1968), among others.