Guillermo de Torre (1900–71) was an essayist, poet, and critic of literature and Spanish art belonging to the Generation of 27. In Buenos Aires, he was a professor of literature at the Universidad de Buenos Aires; besides devoting himself to literary and art criticism, he was also a founding member, as a literary consultant, to the Losada editorial group.This article continues under the title Aire polémico de París. Realismo socialista y arte abstracto [Polemical Air of Paris. Socialist Realism and Abstract Art], which Guillermo de Torre published in the Second Section of the newspaper La Nación on August 31, 1952; see document no. 757470. Moreover, this article was answered by Abraham Haber—see Carta a Guillermo de Torre [Letter to Guillermo de Torre] that can be consulted in document no. 742834">742834.This article mentions the survey done by the magazine Sur [South] following the publication of the open letters exchanged between Julio E. Payró (1899–1971) and Guillermo de Torre, published in issue 202 of the magazine Sur in August 1951. At the same time, this controversy continued in the discussions originating out of the presentation of the French art critic Léon Degand of the exhibition Arte Abstracto, del arte figurativo al arte abstracto [Abstract Art, from Figurative Art to Abstract Art] held in Buenos Aires in July 1949 and by the prologue de Torre wrote for Joaquín Torres-García’s exhibition in April 1951. This controversy can be tracked in the following documents: Abstract Art or Non-Objective Art? : [“Arte abstracto” es y no es un término adecuado.”] [“Abstract Art” Is and Is Not an Adequate Term] (document no. 757530), Abstract Art or Non-Objective Art?: [“¿Agregamos algo a la pintura si decimos arte abstracto o arte no figurative?] [“Do We Add Something to Painting If We Say Abstract Art or Non-Figurative Art?”] (document no. 757649), Abstract Art or Non-Objective Art?: [En la sesión inaugural del primer congreso de la “Escuela de Altamira”] [In the Inaugural Session of the First Congress of the “Altamira School”] (document no. 757489), Abstract Art or Non-Objective Art?: [En su minuciosa “Respuesta a Julio E. Payró” publicada en el no. 202] [In His Detailed “Response to Julio E. Payró” published in issue 202] (document no. 762983), Abstract Art or Non-Objective Art?: [la expresión “arte abstracto” utilizada para referirse a las tendencias…] [the expression “abstract art” used to refer to the tendencies…] (document no. 742825), Abstract Art or Non-Objective Art?: [no creo en la posibilidad de cambio en la actual terminología de que…] [I Don’t Believe in the Possibility of Change in the Current Terminology of…] (document no. 742858), Abstract Art or Non-Objective Art?: [opino que la palabra “abstracto”, tratándose de arte, es impropia de…] [I Believe that the Word “Abstract,” dealing with Art is Inappropriate] (document no. 742171), Abstract Art or Non-Objective Art?: [Prefiero el término “arte abstracto” como término generalizador y ya…] [I Prefer the Term “Abstract Art” as a General Term and Already…] (document no. 742187), Abstract Art or Non-Objective Art?: [Resulta harto desagradable poner un nombre a cada cosa. Desde el bebé al…] [It Seems Quite Unpleasant to Put the Name of Everything. From the Baby to the…] (document no. 757674), Abstract Art or Non-Objective Art?: [“Sin el ánimo de disentir gratuitamente en la cuestión entablada entre Gui-…”] [“Without the Energy to Dissent Freely on the Question Ser Forth between Gui-…”] Abstract Art or Non-Objective Art?: Abstract Art or Non-Objective Art?: (document no. 742202), Abstract Art or Non-Objective Art?: [Toda denominación de una tendencia artística es convencional, sirve pa-…] [All Classification of an Artistic Tendency is Conventional, It Serves to…] (document no. 742156), Abstract Art or Non-Objective Art?: Carta abierta a Guillermo de Torre [Open Letter to Guillermo de Torre] (document no. 742838), Abstract Art or Non-Objective Art?: en su minuciosa “Respuesta a Julio E. Payró” [In His Detailed “Response to Julio E. Payró”] published in issue 202 (document no. 742837), “Carta a Guillermo de Torre” [Letter to Guillermo de Torre] (document no. 742834">742834), “La revista Sur” [“The Magazine Sur”] (document no. 742715), “Madí o el arte esencial : En torno a la controversia sobre el arte no-figurativo” [Madí or Essential Art: In Regards to the Controversy about Non-Figurative Art”] (document no. 742696).This source has been selected because it illustrates Guillermo de Torre’s opinion in regards to the opposition between abstract art and socialist realism, also, because that opinion enters the debates generated by the emergence of abstraction in the Argentinean art scene.
