Starting in the 1920s, Colombian artists and intellectuals drew inspiration from Mexico. Muralism was held up as a new art form, rather than as a tool of propaganda. Because it was seen as an art for the masses, muralism was widely discussed in the magazine Espiral. Indeed, the composition of the magazine editorial board in its first stage illustrates this interest in muralism; members included Colombian artists Ignacio Gómez Jaramillo (1910–1970), Luis B. Ramos (1899–1955), Luis Alberto Acuña (1904–1984), and Marco Ospina (1912–1983), all of whom supported muralism. Thus, Gómez Jaramillo’s introduction, as well as the reproduction of the text by Siqueiros, reinforces this support for muralism as an art for the masses. For Siqueiros, the notion of the “technical-social end” [that appears in the text’s title] refers to the idea of a technique that allows for the development of a public art whose production is in keeping with current social conditions. Siqueiros advocates a form of art that replaces academic art, which he considers the expression of the “plutocracy” and a “delicacy solely for oligarchs.” Meanwhile, Gómez Jaramillo “speaks” through Siqueiros, since he was able to make fewer than a dozen murals, two of which were censored. Due to funding from the Colombian government, Gómez Jaramillo had traveled to Mexico in 1936 to study mural painting, and the works of Rivera, Orozco, and Siqueiros. While there, he took part in a mural project at the Centro Escolar Revolución in Arcos de Belem (Mexico City). In 1940, as the director of the Escuela de Bellas Artes of Bogotá, he instituted mural painting as a subject of study. In the late forties, he returned to Mexico where he continued studying mural painting for a short time until he was removed from his diplomatic post. Later in Colombia, he wrote a number of articles on Siqueiros, and other mural artists.
