This essay by Pedro León Castro appeared in the catalogue for his exhibition of paintings at the Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas in 1949. Following a brief introductory paragraph, in which he explains that the exhibition is a reflection of his experiences on his recent trip to Europe, he devotes the remainder of his essay to a discussion about the behavior (despicable, in his opinion) of young Venezuelan artists living in Paris at that time. He accuses them, among other things, of being “morally weak and corrupt” and “celebrating black masses in the name of existentialism.” He alludes to, but does not name, the painter Alejandro Otero, and announces that “if this is new art,” he prefers his “provincial puritanism.”

This brief essay by the painter Pedro León Castro (1913–2003) is part of the debate sparked by Alejandro Otero’s exhibition at the Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas in January, 1949, where he showed his Las Cafeteras series. It is an interesting document because León Castro published it in the catalogue for his own exhibition, using it as a platform from which to discredit the young artists living in Paris who formed the Los Disidentes group in 1950. León Castro’s essay is a perfect example of the heated response from many Venezuelan artists who were still loyal to traditional landscape painting and realist styles, as well as from a number of art critics and a sizeable portion of the Venezuelan public. The rejection and incomprehension of the life/work ideas presented by Otero and the other young artists were an expression of moral prejudice rather than the result of a reasoned, theoretically based review of the nascent Venezuelan Abstract movement. The bulk of León Castro’s condemnation arose from his conviction that these young men were challenging the country’s established morality and values. He accuses them of “dark passions and insatiable appetites” and of being “adrift in an execrable Eden.” He says they are “trampling and destroying” French culture.    

A number of intellectuals and artists were involved in the 1949 debate, but this essay is the first in a series of four connected pieces. Three of them are replies to earlier articles. The second is Otero’s “Cómo trabajamos los pintores venezolanos en París” (El Nacional, July 17, 1949), which is his reply to this essay by León Castro. The third is also by León Castro, “De frente a la realidad: el balance justo de la verdad” (El Nacional, July 31, 1949), which is his reply to Otero’s response. The fourth is by the painter Pascual Navarro, “Anacronismo e irresponsabilidad” (published in Los Disidentes magazine in 1950), who dismisses León Castro’s opinions. Navarro planned to publish his article in El Nacional in 1949, to coincide with León Castro’s exhibition, but it actually appeared “quite a few months later” in Los Disidentes Nº 2. All this serves to show that the realist painter’s accusations and opinions had a powerful and lasting impact on the young Venezuelan painters in Paris. It also explains that the debate about Otero’s Las Cafeteras (Caracas, 1949) was what led to the founding of the Los Disidentes group in Paris.