Antonio Romera writes about the emergence and characteristics of the Rectángulo group. He explains that it was the first Chilean art group in which members shared a philosophy, an ethic, and an aesthetic. He reviews the career of Ramón Vergara Grez (a painter and the group’s founder and theorist), who describes the collective as the first Constructive art movement. Romera names the original members and discusses their subsequent evolution, noting the decline that occurred around 1960 as a result of the rise of Informalism. He identifies the group’s two distinct periods, the first of which was abstract-constructive; during the second period the members embraced the “optical” movement. Romera detects three trends. The first involved the purification of form, composition, and palette; the second was focused on Kinetic art; the third, while not abandoning Geometric art, included an expressive sentimentality. He underscores the staying power of the group that, after fifteen years, attracted new members from younger generations and perspectives.

The critic and art historian Antonio Romera (1908–75) wrote this essay for the catalogue produced for the celebration of the sixteenth anniversary of the Movimiento Forma y Espacio. The following artists took part in this exhibition: Carlos Alarcón, Adolfo Berchenko, Elsa Bolívar, Miguel Crosgrove (b. 1944), Gabriela Chellew (b. 1934), Kurt Herdan (1923-2020), Robinson Mora (b. 1947), Ernesto Muñoz (b. 1954), Paz Olea (b. 1944), Francisco Pérez (b. 1943), Carmen Piemonte (b. 1930), Claudio Román (b. 1944), and of course, Ramón Vergara Grez. Some of these participants were from a younger generation of artists who were trained by Vergara Grez.

Although Vergara Grez said, on more than one occasion, that the Forma y Espacio movement was started in 1955, it should be noted that the group was originally called Rectángulo. The group had its first exhibition in 1956, and the catalogue produced for that event is considered its manifesto, which set out its origins and its intention to disseminate a “new language or modern art,” since their goal was to create a “contemporary cultural movement” in Chile. The innovative language the group used was Geometric Abstraction and was a radical departure from the kind of figurative painting that dominated the Chilean art scene at the time. Vergara Grez was the driving force who brought artists together to encourage theoretical conversation about their visual work and wrote texts crafted to promote a flow of ideas and interests. The international exhibition of abstract art Forma y espacio was presented at the Instituto de Extensión de Artes Plásticas at the Universidad de Chile in 1962. The exhibition demonstrated the group’s connection with painters who were exploring Geometric Abstraction in Uruguay and Argentina. This event spawned the “Manifiesto de los pintores constructivos” which underscored the strength of Geometric Abstraction. There is no agreement among the various sources concerning the date when the group changed its name, but what can be confirmed is that it started in the first half of the 1960s. The group had its first exhibition under the name Forma y espacio in 1966 on the occasion of a tribute to the Argentinean painter Emilio Pettoruti, a pioneer of avant-garde abstract art in his country. [See the following in the ICAA Digital Archive: “En la búsqueda de una identidad latinoamericana” (doc. no. 749071) and “S/T” (doc. no. 778472), both written by Vergara Grez; on the subject of the group’s evolution see: “Introducción” (doc. no. 745950) by Ana Helfant]. 

The group’s membership changed over time, as reflected in its different exhibitions and events. In its first exhibition as the Grupo Rectángulo participants included, in addition to Vergara Grez: Gustavo Poblete (1915–2005), Matilde Pérez (1916–2014), Ximena Cristi (b. 1920), Maruja Pinedo (1907–95), Uwe Grumann (1913–2010), Aurel Kessler (1900–70), Magdalena Lozano, Aída Poblete (1941–2000), James Smith, Carlos Sotomayor, José Venturelli (1924–88), Waldo Vila (1894–1979), and Elsa Bolívar (b. 1929), who was the group’s secretary for a long time. A year after the group’s sixteenth anniversary, the art critic Ana Helfant mentioned other members, as follows: Carmen Piemonte, Miguel Crosgrove, Robinson Mora, Francisco Pérez, and Claudio Román. In a 1984 interview with the Montevideo newspaper El País, Vergara Grez claimed that he and those listed above were the only members of the group.