In this essay Gonzalo Díaz discusses his association with Adolfo Couve, his drawing and painting teacher. The Chilean artist describes his mentor, recalling a series of vignettes from Couve’s life, such as: his studio (where Díaz trained in 1964) at the house on Guardia Vieja street in Santiago which was full of works by Pablo Burchard, who had recently passed away; his years at the Facultad de Artes de la Universidad de Chile, which moved from downtown to the outskirts of the city during the Pinochet dictatorship (1973–90); Couve’s transition from painting instructor to teacher of aesthetics and art theory; and the key moment when Couve quit painting forever, which Díaz witnessed. Couve realized that he could not adapt his painting to the technological revolution in process, and instead devoted himself to writing.

Gonzalo Díaz (b. 1947) wrote the introduction to Escritos sobre arte, the book by the painter and writer Adolfo Couve. In his essay Díaz recalled vignettes that provide institutional and theoretical references as well as insights into the painter’s artistic practices. As regards the institutional aspect, Díaz presented a different history of the use of color in painting by Couve’s predecessors (at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de la Universidad de Chile): the painters Augusto Eguiluz (1893–1969) and Juan Francisco González (1853–1933).

From the theoretical perspective, Díaz notes the issue of the criticism of painting in Chilean art circles. In terms of teaching practices, he refers to Couve’s approach to painting: “values (black and white, intensities of light), value-color (color subjected to tonal distortions by the light), the use of half-tones (the local color of objects), the conflicting qualities of light and shadow (opacity and transparency, paint and ink, warmth and coldness, passages and shades), the management of pure color…”. These were all elements that Couve applied in his paintings and in the descriptive passages in his novels.

[For other articles by Adolfo Couve and about his work, see the following in the ICAA digital archive: “La lección de pintura” (doc. no. 750159), “La Comedia del Arte” (doc. no. 748458), “Burchard” (doc. no. 748514), “La lección de pintura: Consideraciones en torno a una crisis” (doc. no. 748504), and “Escritos sobre arte” (doc. no. 748471), all written by Couve. See also the essays “Aproximaciones a la obra pictórica de Adolfo Couve” by Claudia Campaña (doc. no. 750170); and “Sobre Couve” (doc. no. 748429) by Justo Pastor Mellado].