Around the 1950s, some artists, including Carlos María Rhothfuss (1920–1969), Carmelo Arden Quin (1913–2010), Antonio Llorens (1920–1995), and Rodolfo Uricchio (1919–2007), among others, were already working with abstraction and had established close ties with the Argentinian group Madí, the remaining Uruguayan artists had continued working with formulas deriving from Post-Impressionism, and in the case of the sculptors with “social realism,” a figurative tradition. The other exception to abstract art was the TTG (Taller Torres García [The Torres García Workshop]).
Although the critique and evaluation of Fernando García Esteban (1917−1982) seemed explicable [in light of] the general situation [with regard to] local art in 1950, perceived from a Eurocentric perspective, it is strange that he considered four emerging artists as the champions of modernism. Moreover, strangely ignoring the landscape and picturesque productions and the philosophical debate that started in 1934 about the theory of modern art brought about by Joaquín Torres García, these facts confirmed the rejection of the provincial and local critique that had been contributed by the master (JTG). Additionally, it gave credit to those young artists who sought their own language in the coarse range of options offered by the European process without affiliation with trends or groups that had already been formed in Rio de la Plata, Uruguay.
Miguel Ángel Pareja (1908−1984) had studied art in Europe with Roger Bissière, and in 1946, started teaching art courses at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes, founded in 1943. He had focused his investigation into the empiric dilemmas of color, and the visual effects of the relationships and combinations of color. Toward the end of the 1940s, he worked on a geometrically articulated figuration oriented toward a more abstract approach.
Of the four artists, Pareja had shown the strongest references during his brief artistic development. However, the most charismatic and analytically minded figure was Hans Platschek (1923−2000), who provided the initiative and consequently produced the collective exhibition. He lived in Montevideo from 1939 and 1953, arriving with direct knowledge of modern European artists, many of whom, were unknown in Montevideo. He arrived in Uruguay due to Nazi persecution. Although he admired the work of Paul Klee, his work during his period in Montevideo had a strong inclination toward figurative expression joined with abstraction. His kind heartedness and humorous disposition allowed him to earn the respect and appreciation of the Uruguayan artists, who also received lessons from him in artistic theory, analysis, and discussion regarding artwork and local situations. These concerns allowed him to write various interesting articles for the Montevidean magazine Clima, founded in 1950, and for the famous magazine Ver y Estimar, founded in 1948, in Buenos Aires, under by Jorge Romero Brest.
Oscar García Reino (1910−1993) studied art and sculpture at the CBA (Círculo de Bellas Artes [Fine Arts Circle Association]) between 1928 and 1932, then entered the ETAP (Escuela Taller de Artes Plásticas [School Workshop of The Visual Arts]) in the Uruguayan capital. In 1956, he travelled to Europe and studied at the Academie de Bruxelles). Vicente Martín (1911−1998) was the pupil of Guillermo Laborde at the CBA in 1930. In 1950, he had just arrived from studying and traveling through Europe, where he had taken some art courses in Paris with Othon Friesz at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.
