Pedro Figari wrote this letter to José Cúneo, who had recently shown his paintings at a joint exhibition with Bernabé Michelena in Montevideo (1918). The letter, published in the newspaper La Mañana, was Figari’s public recognition of the young artist who had just returned from his third trip to Europe. This letter from the famous Uruguayan criminal lawyer, educator, and philosopher underscores the importance he attributes to the use of “pure (sometimes bright) colors” as a sign of a new approach to landscape painting. While praising Cúneo’s spirit of renewal, however, he admits to having reservations about some of the artist’s “Cubist compositions” because Figari, cynically, claims to see no “geometric arrangement” in nature. He nonetheless encourages the young artist not to yield to the demands of an audience that does not understand and reacts to “anything new” with irrational phobias. Figari also identifies Cúneo as one of the “combative” young artists, whom he sees as the only ones who will be truly influential in the future. 

This open letter from Pedro Figari (1861–1938) was published in 1918 when the sculptor Bernabé Michelena (1888–1963) and the painter José Cúneo (1887–1977) had a joint exhibition at the Corralejo gallery in Montevideo. This was one of Cúneo’s first appearances following his recent return from Europe. It was also the time when Figari’s painting career was about to be exposed to the general public. Figari had undoubtedly matured as a painter; his palette was bold and his controversial (even sacrilegious) subject matter was met with some reservations in Uruguay’s conservative, European-style society. Figari’s opinions contributed to the wave of aesthetic renewal that swept over Uruguay in the 1920s. Many years later Cúneo acknowledged Figari’s bold use of color that far exceeded anything any Uruguayan artist had ever done before. 

Pedro Figari was active in several different areas, as a philosopher, journalist, educator, lawyer, politician, and artist. He worked for the development of a universal humanism that included, and was based on, an empathetic knowledge of the cultural heritage of the region that was expressed in the local traditions, nature, and society.

[As complementary reading see, in the ICAA digital archive, the following articles by the Uruguayan polymath: “Industrialización de la América Latina, Autonomía y Regionalismo: Carta abierta dirigida por el Dr. Pedro Figari al Excmo. señor Presidente de la República Oriental del Uruguay” (doc. no. 1181222); “Un poco de crítica regional” (doc. no. 1258164); “América Autónoma: no basta instruir, hay que enseñar a trabajar” (doc. no. 795325); “Arte, técnica, crítica. Conferencia bajo el patrocinio de la Asociación Politécnica del Uruguay” (doc. no. 1263840); “Autonomía Regional” (doc. no. 1254337); and “Una carta de Pedro Figari” (doc. no. 1197040)].