The 1920s Argentina lived one of the key phases in the modernization of the arts. After the emergence of the artists associated with the publication Martín Fierro (Emilio Pettoruti (1892-1971), Xul Solar (1887-1963) y Norah Borges (1901-1998)), Alfredo Guttero (1882-1932), and the local activities of artists educated in Paris—such as Aquiles Badi (1894-1976), Horacio Butler (1897-1983), Héctor Basaldúa (1895-1976), Raquel Forner (1902-1988), Alfredo Bigati (1898-1964), Antonio Berni (1905-1981) y Lino Enea Spilimbergo (1896-1964) emerged in the scene toward the end of the decade. Such a process of modernization overtly clashed against the artists nurturing “tradition,” as was the case of practitioners of Post-Impressionist naturalism.
This document, authored by Guillermo de Torre––an essayist coming from the Spanish avant-garde, and married to Norah Borges––is interesting because it signals not only the alliance between the literary and visual vanguards in the early 1930s, but underscores the existing situation prior to the politicization of the art milieu. This politicization’s impact is obvious, principally among the artists of the so-called Group of París. This text was published in one of the most influential culture magazines in Argentina, Sur, a tri-monthly publication directed by writer Victoria Ocampo, which remained in print until the 1980s. A collection of prestigious intellectuals sat on its editorial board, such as Jorge Luis Borges, Oliverio Girondo, and Guillermo de Torre, among others. Furthermore, the publication had an international advisory committee in which the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset was an outstanding member.