Nemesio Antúnez shares his thoughts and discusses his printmaking experiences and his training under William Hayter. He recalls incidents with famous artists at the Atelier 17 and the circumstances that led him to set up the Taller 99 in his own house in 1956, creating an independent space for group works in the style of his teacher’s studio. The Chilean artist remembers how important the Taller was for the development of printmaking outside of the university in his country and underscores the leading role it played in the founding of the Escuela de Arte de la Universidad Católica de Chile. He mentions the high levels of attendance of young artists who were fascinated by the magic of the printing press and what it could do for illustrations and by the democratizing effect of the “multiple original.”

This letter appeared in the catalogue for the retrospective exhibition honoring forty years of Nemesio Antúnez’s printmaking at the Galería Praxis (June 6 to July 8, 1989) in Santiago, Chile. It is a personal, emotional message from Nemesio to his son Pablo, which takes us back through the recent history of this graphic discipline in Chile and reminds us of his important contribution to contemporary printmaking, which he transformed from a minor art into the focus of a lively art scene [for more on this subject, see the ICAA Digital Archive “De como empezó la enseñanza de Antúnez” (doc. no. 774610) by Roser Bru]. On the occasion of his fiftieth retrospective, another earlier letter (also addressed to Pablo, but in this case about painting) was published by the Galería Praxis as “Carta aérea” (Airmail Letter, 1988), the first published insight into the printmaker’s life and work.  

Nemesio Antúnez (1918–93) was a noted Chilean visual artist who created cultural spaces and networks in Chile and elsewhere in order to promote, share, and democratize art. While he was working and teaching, he also held the post of Cultural Attaché in New York City (1964–69); he was the director of the  Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de la Universidad de Chile (1961–64), where he organized the first of four American print biennials. He twice sought to transform the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes into a live, open museum, during the Unidad Popular (1969–73) administration and following the country’s return to democracy (1990–93). He also worked to create initiatives such as the radio program Arte desde Nueva York (Art from New York) and the TV show Ojo con el arte (Watch Out for Art).