In her lecture, the Mexican art historian Ida Rodríguez Prampolini warns about the dangerous influence of Dadaist ideas in Latin America. She thus sharply criticizes the art movement that began in Europe in the early twentieth century, and goes on to refer to its members’ disastrous use of “irrationality” in their work. Rodríguez Prampolini quotes the opinions expressed by some of the Dada group’s original members, and outlines its basic platform, underscoring the fact that irrationality and egocentricity are traits of the “dominant bourgeoisie,” which makes them a constant threat.   

This lecture by the Mexican art and literature historian Ida Rodríguez Prampolini (b. 1925) is of great interest for several reasons, not just because it reflects the critical thought—strongly influenced by socialist ideology—that informed so much of the art research conducted in Latin American in the 1970s. It also reveals her extreme and devastating opinion of the avant-garde Dada movement that had such a universal influence on modern art. Her words thus go beyond art criticism to make her lecture sound highly political.   

The Primer Encuentro Iberoamericano de Críticos de Arte y Artistas Plásticos was held in 1978 at the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas. In addition to Ida Rodríguez Prampolini, other important figures in the fields of art criticism and art itself were at the event, including Jorge Alberto Manrique, Marta Traba (see “La tradición de lo nacional” [doc. no. 815744]), Juan Acha (“La actual división técnica del trabajo artístico en América Latina” [doc. no. 815489]), Carlos Areán (“Iberoamérica y su identidad artística y cultural” [doc. no. 815730]), Julio Le Parc (“Interrogantes” [doc. no. 815575]), Carlos Rodríguez Saavedra, Jacqueline Barnitz, Berta Taracena (“Elementos constantes en el arte iberoamericano” [doc. no. 815558]), Antonio Berni (“No puedo dejar de destacar la importancia de este encuentro” [doc. no. 815659]), Roberto Montero Castro (“Arte e identidad: métodos institucionales en el desarrollo cultural venezolano” [doc. no. 815631]), Marco Miliani, Alirio Rodríguez, Jorge Glusberg (“Aproximación metodológica para una comprensión de la retórica del arte latinoamericano” [doc. no. 815475]), Élida Román (“El rol del crítico” [doc. no. 815617]), Adelaida de Juan (“Cuba: revolución y plástica” [doc. no. 815544]), Galaor Carbonell (“Hacia la eventual incidencia de la revista de arte latinoamericano en nuestra identificación” [doc. no. 815603]), Roberto Pontual, and Aracy A. Amaral.

The “Austin Symposium” was an important forerunner to this event. The Symposium was organized by Damián C. Bayón and held at the University of Texas at Austin in late October 1975. Many of the participants at the 1978 Encuentro had attended the Austin Symposium, which led to much discussion about the shared experience. Bayón later published a book about the Austin Symposium: El artista latinoamericano y su identidad (Caracas: Monte Ávila Editores, Colección Estudios, 1977; 150 pp. illustrated in black & white).

It is important to note that the lectures delivered at the Museo de Bellas Artes in 1978 had not been published at that point, though some were subsequently included in monographs or anthologies. They therefore possess great documentary value as primary source material.