In this essay, Antonio Muiño Loureda reviews artistic syntheses that have occurred throughout history up to the industrial era, mentioning some of the most significant collaborations of this period. He describes different aspects of the project undertaken in Venezuela by architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva with regard to the integration of the arts in the Ciudad Universitaria of Caracas, describing it as an exceptional work within the contemporary functional architecture. He names the majority of the participating artists (who were mostly foreigners) and offers a summary analysis of their respective works as well as the roles that they would play within the arts synthesis project.

Originally from Galicia, Antonio Muiño Loureda was the editor of the Spanish magazine La Voz during the 1940s, and in this article from 1962 he writes a straightforward essay on the arts synthesis project happening at the Ciudad Universitaria. Throughout the text, Muiño Loureda affirms his deep admiration for both the arts integration project, as well as for architect Carlos Raúl Villanueva (1900–75), principally emphasizing his work in contemporary functional architecture and his role within the history of architecture. He includes him in a group of thirteen masters of contemporary architecture, which, in his judgment, include Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, and Le Corbusier.

It can be inferred from the text that Muiño Loureda met Villanueva during one of the architect’s trips to Paris; it is likely that his admiration for the Venezuelan architect began at that time. It should be noted that the Ciudad Universitaria was included in the international exhibition Union of Arts, which was held in the Netherlands, unlike the United Nations building (New York) and the new UNESCO headquarters (Paris), or the more urban or architecturally ambitious projects such as the city of Brasilia of Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer, among others. Unfortunately, Muiño Loureda’s essay is yet another text focused exclusively on the foreign artists involved, omitting (deliberately) the Venezuelan artists.

As a complementary reading on this topic, see by Villanueva in the ICAA digital archive “La síntesis de las Artes” (doc. no. 864335), wherein the author examines artists and movements that have brought together diverse elements in order to integrate the arts; by Guillermo Meneses “Los artistas extranjeros de la Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas” (doc. no. 1060120); the essay by Guillermo de Torre “Ciudades Universitarias México y Caracas (doc. no. 1172362); the essay by Sibyl Moholy-Nagy “Villanueva and the Uses of Art: The integration of painting and sculpture in his architecture constitutes a unique achievement of our period” (doc. no. 1172346); the essay by Víctor Vasarely “Un sueño hecho realidad” (doc. no. 1172298), in which the author recalls the start of his collaboration with Villanueva; by Luis Navarro “Pintura y escultura en la Ciudad Universitaria de Caracas” (doc. no. 864255); and finally, the essay by Sir John Rothenstein “Una Ciudad de todas las artes en Venezuela” (doc. no. 864294), who reviews the architecture of the city of Caracas comparing it to that of England.