In this document Damián Bayón analyzes the different periods of the work and thought of Piet Mondrian. He believes that in his search for balance, this Dutch artist adopted the right angle as the only constant relation. At the same time, and so that his expression could acquire a sense of movement, Mondrian explored proportions; although Bayón considers this stance to be more psychological and literary than mathematical. This text by Bayón was written in connection to an essay by Max Bill and was published in this issue of the magazine under the title “El pensamiento matemático en el arte de nuestro tiempo” [“Mathematical Thought in the Art of Our Time”].

The magazine Ver y estimar [To See and Ponder] was a publishing project directed by Jorge Romero Brest (1905–1989) that stimulated critical thought and publicized the renewal of artistic languages from the modernizing perspective held by its director. Thirty-four issues were published between April 1948 and December 1953. After an interruption of several months, an additional ten issues were published, constituting the magazine’s second period, which ended in October 1955. The editor-in-chief was Damián Carlos Bayón (1915–1995).

Jorge Romero Brest was a professor, critic, and promoter of the Argentinean visual arts. During Juan Domingo Perón’s (1895–1974) administration, he was dismissed from his official duties and went on to direct the magazine Ver y estimar. The de facto government that overthrew Perón on September 16, 1955, the self-named Liberating Revolution, appointed Brest as the Controller of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Buenos Aires, which he later directed until 1963. During the 1970s he was the head of the Centro de Artes Visuales of the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella. The publication Ver y estimar was produced in collaboration with a group of disciples who emerged from the art history courses Brest offered after he was dismissed by officials of the Perón administration. 

Damián Carlos Bayón was a historian and Argentinean art critic. He was born in Buenos Aires in 1916 and died in Paris in 1995. He was a founding member of the magazine Ver y estimar. He taught in Mexico, at the University of Texas (Austin), and in France, where he lived during the last years of his life. His interest in Latin American art was reflected in the book Aventura Plástic de Hispanoamérica [Visual Adventure of Spanish America], published by the Fondo de Cultura Económica (Mexico City, 1974). 

This article was selected because it documents the interest the editorial committee at Ver y estimar magazine had in publicizing developments in modern art, beginning especially with the comments of the most internationally recognized artists. This document relates to the records “Algo más sobre el mismo tema: III Georges Vantongerloo” [More on the Same Subject: III Georges Vantongerloo] (document no. 743049) and “Algo más sobre el mismo tema: I Wassily Kandinsky” [More on the Same Subject: I Wassily Kandinsky] (document no. 743019), a group of documents that originated with Max Bill’s article “El pensamiento matemático en el arte de nuestro tiempo” [Mathematical Thought on the Art of Our Time], which may also be consulted in document no. 743007.