This text by the writer, architect, and painter Pedro Prado (1886–1952) is about a project that the Los Diez group tried to complete. In August 1916, the painter Juan Francisco González (1853–1933), the architect and photographer Julio Bertrand (1888–1918), the sculptor and writer Alberto Ried (1885–1965), and the musician Alfonso Leng (1884–1874) visited the land where they hoped to build their tower, which was designed to stand 33 meters high, near Playa Blanca (Las Cruces), a resort area near Valparaíso.
The driving principle behind Los Diez was the group’s belief that the evolution of art could be enriched by contributions from the different disciplines that each member represented and by a shared approach to addressing the socio-historic conditions of the times. The members were connected by bonds of friendship and the chance to create a space where they could meet and talk, bound by no particular agenda. Members included the literary critic and journalist Armando Donoso (1887–1946); the writers Augusto D’halmar (1882–1950) and Eduardo Barrios (1884–1953); the musicians Alfonso Leng (1884–1874), Acario Cotapos (1889–1969), and Alberto García (1886–1959); the painters Juan Francisco González (1853–1933) and Julio Ortiz de Zárate (1885–1946); and the architect and photographer Julio Bertrand (1888–1918). Prado and Bertrand were the founders of the group; they originally started an association of architects, which they described as the “the anteroom of Los Diez.” Some years earlier D’halmar, Ortiz de Zárate, and Magallanes Moure, among others, were members of the Colonia Tolstoyana, a group of devotees of the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) that included artists working in different disciplines who met to discuss art. [See “Los pintores en el grupo de los Diez” by Gaspar Galaz (doc. no. 765424) and “Notas de viaje” (doc. no. 749932) by Julio Bertrand Vidal.]
The group had their first meeting in 1916 at the Biblioteca Nacional de Santiago de Chile, at which Prado presented his essay “Somera iniciación al ‘JELSE’” (doc. no. 750445), which outlined some of the group’s defining ideas. At that meeting Prado claimed that the group’s slogan was “a slogan means nothing” and that the main thing was to create art in freedom, unrestrained by the standards set by traditional education. The members had their first group show that year, which included works by Prado, Manuel Magallanes Moure (1878–1924), and Alberto Ried (1885–1965), three well-known writers who were making their debut in the visual arts at the Salon sponsored by the newspaper El Mercurio. Prado showed paintings; Magallanes Moure presented a number of drawings and etchings; and Ried exhibited sculptures. According to an article published at the time, the event was well received by the public, as evidenced by the “significant and encouraging” sales of the works.
Though their plans to build “La Torre de los Diez” never came to fruition, in 1923 the architect Fernando Tupper (a friend of several members of the group) invited them to help with the remodeling of his residence, a large colonial house in downtown Santiago, the capital city. Prado, Ortíz de Zárate, and Ried accepted the invitation and produced nine sculpted capitals and a large door carved out of wood. The house was sold in 1929 but retained its name and its artistic-architectural features and was declared a national monument in 1997. [To read about the group’s historical revision of Chilean art, see “Pintura chilena a comienzos de siglo: hacia un esbozo de pensamiento crítico” (doc. no. 765578) by Pedro Zamorano and Claudio Cortés.]