Based on “the tradition of the national”—described as the assemblage of historical reflections regarding said subject on Latin American culture—the Argentina-born but Colombia-based critic, Marta Traba, performed a review of the documentary sources and the main trends of criticism that gave rise to such deliberation. First of all, she offers a bibliography that records, to a greater or lesser extent, a general analysis of Latin American art criticism. On the other hand, she synthesizes the historical trends that have reflected on the “national” under the following premises: “cultural location,” which in essence generates a unique aesthetic; “political location,” a sort of creative activism; and that which is considered “national nationalism.” Traba concludes with a reappraisal of her own critical thinking as well as that of her contemporaries.

Besides being a valued selection on the history of critical thinking on Latin American art, the importance of this document produced by the art critic Marta Traba (1923−83) lied on the demonstrated existence of an historical platform that had the ability to create a pluralistic theoretical body capable of guiding perspectives on the identity of Latin American art. This compelling subject was in almost all circumstances apt for discussion during gatherings of the most notable Latin American critics of Traba’s generation. Traba goes a step further when she presents a historiography on Latin American art, delimiting the previously presented lines of thought on the subject, exclusively approaching those positions and concepts under her criterion and for her exclusive needs, that in a way illuminates and brings together a mosaic of perceptions according to her particular conceptual approach. This document offers a synthesis of what, until that date, Traba characterized as her own approach to Latin American art.

The Primer Encuentro Iberoamericano de Críticos de Arte y Artistas Plásticos was held in 1978 at the Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas. In addition to Marta Traba, other colleagues and figures relevant to the art world who were in attendance included Jorge Alberto Manrique, Jorge Glusberg [see doc. no. 815475], Juan Acha [doc. no. 815489], Julio Le Parc, Adelaida de Juan [doc. no. 815544], Carlos Rodríguez Saavedra, Jacqueline Barnitz, Berta Taracena [doc. no. 815558], Antonio Berni, Galaor Carbonell, Marco Miliani, Roberto Montero Castro [doc. no. 815631], Alirio Rodríguez, Élida Román [doc. no. 815617], Ida Rodríguez Prampolini, Carlos Areán, Roberto Puntual and Aracy A. Amaral.

An important antecedent to the event was the “Austin Symposium” organized by Damián C. Bayón and the University of Texas at Austin, at the end of October, 1975. Many of the participants that attended the 1978 Primer Encuentro Iberoamericano de Críticos de Arte y Artistas Plásticos attended the symposium in Austin, which resulted as background for common discussion. The proceedings of the event were published in Venezuela by Damian C. Bayón (as a rapporteur) in El artista latinoamericano y su identidad (Caracas: Monte Ávila Editores, Colección Estudios, 1977; 150 pp in black and white).

It is important to note the fact that though some of the presentations delivered during the gathering have subsequently been included in monographic or anthological compilations, they were all unpublished at the time of the 1978 event at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas. Due to this fact, these presentations are primary sources of great documentary value.