In this article, the well-known art historian, Marta Traba, summarizes the content of the three lectures she gave at the Museo de Bellas Artes [Museum of Fine Arts] in Caracas in 1965. The purpose of the lectures, Traba explains, was to provide the background for her thesis on “mimetismo y despersonalización” [mimicry and depersonalizatión] in Latin American art, published earlier that year in Caracas. In her opinion, the first lecture turned on the problematic nature of the origin of Latin American art: in pre-Columbian art. The fact that these roots survive in today’s Latin America in various ways is not surprising, given the force of the Native culture that generated them. The second lecture addresses the Spanish Colonial aesthetic and the response of the Indigenous communities, which Traba characterizes as disjunctive: either “resistencia” [resistance] or “mimetismo” [mimicry]. Finally, the third lecture reported both on the new aesthetic invasions to which we are subject here in Latin America and the current subjection of Latin American artists to the values of U.S. art.

This text is part of the controversy launched in an article by the Argentine art critic based in Colombia, Marta Traba (1930–83), under the title, “El arte latinoamericano: un falso apocalipsis” [Latin American Art: a False Apocolypse]. The article was published in “Papel Literario” [Literary Supplement], a weekly criticism page in the Caracas daily newspaper, El Nacional, on May 2, 1965. The debate was carried on into September of the same year, including—along with Traba—the Venezuelans, J.R. Guillent Pérez, Alejandro Otero, Roberto Guevara and Alirio Rodríguez. While these were the main participants to weigh in on the matter, there were others as well. The discussion extended to the media, such as the Revista Nacional de Cultura [National Cultural Review], radio and television appearances and even attendance at lectures and debates. The articles that appeared in “Papel Literario” were collected in the book, Modernidad y postmodernidad. Espacios y tiempos dentro del arte latinoamericano. [Modernity and Postmodernity. Spaces and Times in Latin American Art.] (Caracas: Colección Delta Solar - Museo Alejandro Otero, 2000). A selection from the documents that appeared in the Revista Nacional de la Cultura, were collected in: Roldán Esteva Grillet (organizer), Fuentes documentales y críticas de las artes plásticas venezolanas. Siglos XIX y XX, [Documental Sources and Criticism of the Venezuelan Visual Arts], Vol. II (Caracas: CDCH / UCV, 2001).In this article, Traba finally addresses the considerations underlying her thesis on “mimetismo” and “despersonalización” in Latin American art. Her adversaries had actually been demanding this for a long time; the background material missing from earlier lectures had been the target of her opponents’ criticism. The reasons expressed here by Traba are a compilation of her opinions and analyses about the creation of Latin American visual arts past and present, as well as her expectations for the future. All this represented a summary as well as a revitalization of Traba’s ideas on this matter, which had already been presented in publications prior to this controversy. For example, her earlier thinking on the issue is set forth in her book, La pintura nueva en Latinoamérica [New Painting in Latin America.] (Bogotá: Librería Central, 1961).