While the letter itself lacks relevance, its importance lies mainly as a fundamental testimony to close links that existed between the Argentinean painter and engraver Antonio Berni (1905–81) with various Uruguayan artists, and in this case with those aligned with the CGM (Club de Grabado de Montevideo) group. This relationship began with his visit in 1936 to the Uruguayan capital and would continue until the end of his life. On occasion of its two decades of operation (1953–1973), this cultural institution, the CGM, solicited works specially made for the occasion to various important Latin American engravers, including the Puerto Rican Antonio Martorell, Vasco Prado, Berni himself, and others. The latter declined the invitation, as he would be travelling to Paris, at that time to assist with the installation of an exhibition on his works, stating he’d had an earlier meeting with Leonilda González in Madrid and aimed to continue said dialogue.
This letter was written at an historical moment during a period marked by determinant internal changes in the CGM, one of the only art institutions of instruction and application that survived the dictatorship and internally generated a nucleus of work and theoretical debate. Those years reflected the highest decreased ever recorded in membership at the institution, an inseparable fact caused by changes to the artistic language affecting the graphic productions at the CGM and additionally due to a climate of social retraction that has taken placed since the coup-d’état of 1973.
