In this text Gaspar Galaz writes about the prints produced by Jaime Cruz. He discusses the ones from the 1960s, which are representative of Cruz’s early work in this medium. Galaz also refers to the dominant trends in art at that time, the Informalism and geometric abstraction that reflected the historic events of the period. Galaz mentions Los mutantes, the series that, in his opinion, is the most characteristic of Cruz’s body of work. It certainly represented a break with the academic figurative tradition, which allowed him to develop his own system based on a formal analysis: the plate, the acid, the drawing, and the use of color. Galaz reviews another series, Anthropus del arcoíris, which relies on using a raised “relief” on his plates to create a sort of “sculptural” look.

The essay “Magia y Laberinto” was written by the art historian and sculptor Gaspar Galaz (b. 1941) and published in the catalogue for La memoria del grabador: exposición seleccionada de grabados 1960-1994, the retrospective exhibition of works by the Chilean artist Jaime Cruz (b. 1934) organized by the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Santiago, 1994).

A printmaker and an expert in the field of printing, Cruz published his views on the subject [see the following in the ICAA Digital Archive: “Memoria fracturada del grabado chileno” (doc. no.  767023)]. He taught painting, drawing, and printmaking at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, from whose Escuela de Artes he had graduated. He then joined Taller 99, the workshop started by Nemesio Antúnez (1918–1993) in 1956 as a space where artists could get together to discuss and learn about different printmaking techniques; it attracted a number of prominent artists and a few newcomers to the field of printing. [See “Taller 99: 40 años de grabado en Chile” 1956–1996” (doc. no. 740173).]  

Printmaking played a crucial role in the evolution of Chilean art. Another important workshop was the TAV (Taller de Artes Visuales), started in 1974 by Francisco Brugnoli (b. 1935) and Virginia Errázuriz (b. 1941). In the immediate aftermath of the 1973 military coup d’état the TAV also functioned as a meeting space for artists in the complex political situation during which, somehow, it was essential to produce works of art. Something else to consider on this subject is that the art critic and curator Justo Pastor Mellado (b. 1949), in his Novela chilena del grabado (Chilean Novel About Printmaking, 1995), calls for a historiographic interpretation of the key role played by printmaking in the history of Chilean art. [See some of the chapters in Mellado’s book: “Un caso de producción de identidad artística” (doc. no. 736039); “La novela chilena del grabado” (doc. no. 736035); “Pequeña novela del grabado chileno” (doc. no.  736031); and “Las estructuras elementales de la transferencia” (doc. no. 736043).]