In this fourteen-point manifesto, Eugenio Dittborn outlines his ideas about drawing. He identifies to whom the artist is indebted when he is drawing, referring to himself (“the author owes his drawings to…”) and explains what drawing means (“drawing is…”). He suggests that drawing depends on observing the body and such somatic relationships; that the author is indebted to his models (which, in this case, are images taken from Chilean magazines); to the observation of the human face and its gestures; to both adventure and planning, including the materials that make drawing possible (paper, pens, and India ink, among others). According to Dittborn, drawing consists of giving form or shaping, of learning and teaching how to see; it is a language that creates its own force field. 

Eugenio Dittborn (b. 1943) wrote this essay for the catalogue for his exhibition Delachilenapintura, historia, held at the Galería Época (Santiago, 1976). The exhibit consisted of nine drawings of characters taken from magazines and popular culture. Dittborn experimented with the use of mechanical printing as a reproduction method (a key issue that he explored throughout the course of his career). The theme of the exhibition was a “history of Chilean painting that no one remembers”—a history, therefore, that has slipped the bonds of memory, a minor or perhaps even nonexistent history. He thus presents a paradox that challenges the traditional, dominant pictorial or artistic narrative, suggesting an innovative way to understand Chilean art. Dittborn had started thinking about the history of art in an earlier work about Francisco de Goya (1746–1828), moving from the European model to challenge art at the local level.

Sometime after this exhibition and catalogue, Dittborn published V.I.S.U.A.L. nelly richard rOnald kay dOs textOs sobre 9 dibujOs de dittbOrn (1976), in which the theorists Nelly Richard (b. 1948) and Ronald Kay (1941–2017) reviewed his work. This new publication functioned as a sequel by addressing the same exhibition. It should be noted that this was the first issue of V.I.S.U.A.L., a project whose contributors, in addition to Dittborn and Kay, also included the artist Catalina Parra (b. 1941). The group also created a platform that they used to discuss their works via conversations and readings. They produced a number of catalogues for Galería Época, including: El huevo (environment) about Wolf Vostell (1932–1998), Final de Pista. 11 pinturas y 13 graficaciones about Dittborn, and Motivo de Yeso about Patricio Rojas (b. 1951)  , among others. [To review Richard’s text, see “Delachilenapintura, historia, recorrido” (doc. no. 732195) in the ICAA Digital Archive; see also another text that appeared in V.I.S.U.A.L., “Fantasmas pretéritos” (doc. no. 740245), by the critic and translator Ronald Christ, about the work of Catalina Parra.]