This letter by Venezuelan artist Alejandro Otero to his friend, the art critic Alfredo Boulton, is quite revealing. Written in Paris in 1948, in the letter the artist makes reference to his day-to-day activities as a scholarship student, and as a newcomer about to face his artistic obligations. Otero also writes about the stimulus and distractions offered by his colleagues and fellow countrymen.  The artist also stresses the need to remain in Paris, where he receives stimulation from everywhere by living at the hub of the art world. Yet, at the same time, he also feels the anguish shared by Europeans by the possibility of an impending war stemming from the Cold War. This newfound sense of solidarity with humanity was something that he did not experience while living in Latin America. On the other hand, Otero does not participate in the arguments debated by his fellow countrymen relating to the independence or destiny of Latin America, or specifically those about Europe’s decadence. He prefers to devote his time and his attention to his artistic work, and to a possible exhibition in Paris, prior to the one proposed in Caracas. In a postscript, Otero enthusiastically details the visit of a French critic to his workshop.

The letter written from Paris in 1948 by Alejandro Otero (1921−90) to his friend, the art critic, photographer and historian Alfredo Boulton (1908−95), was not only a personal letter—describing his daily routine as an artist, his pursuits as a collector, and his preparation regarding his two exhibitions, in Paris and in Caracas—but also gains relevance when the artist demonstrates his half-hearted attitude when confronted by his fellow countrymen (living in the French capital) with topics concerning the destiny and independence of Latin America. Experientially, these are all precursors to the theoretical posture that will characterize Otero regarding the visual arts, as an artist and throughout his lifetime: a universalist concept of art. It will be the same posture that Marta Traba, the Argentinean art critic living in Colombia, will emphatically denounce years later in her article “El arte latinoamericano: un falso apocalipsis” (1965). In the article, she accuses the generation of the early fifties, the geometric-abstract and kinetic Venezuelan artists of being victims, to some degree, to the mimicry of European art, turning their backs on the Latin American issues. It was the same group lead by Alejandro Otero himself and included famous artists like Jesús Rafael Soto and Carlos Cruz-Díez, that would gain notoriety in the 1960s.

This letter belongs to the selection compiled by Ariel Jiménez, He vivido por los ojos: correspondencia Alejandro Otero-Alfredo Boulton, 1946-1974, for the Fundación Museo de Alejandro Otero (Caracas: Fundación Alberto Vollmer/Museo Alejandro Otero, 2001), under the auspices of the Alberto Vollmer Foundation.