In this interview, Juan Manuel Ugarte Eléspuru states his belief that Latin America has its own “Western” painting, but this body of art differs from the latest trends in Paris. In his opinion, the work coming from Paris is picturesque and insignificant, artwork in which the effect and the newness prevail over the true task of the artist. To him, Abstract art is only “comprehensible” as an art exercise; raising it to the level of an “aesthetic principle” results in extreme sterility. He believes that an artwork “can only be universal through the deepest level of vernacular human emotion” and states that as a painter, he feels more connected “to the clay of Paracas and the stones of Tiahuanaco than to the existential dives of Montparnasse.” The interviewee also states that muralism is a major trend in the contemporary visual arts, since its conventions have surpassed those of the Classical visual arts.

In this text Eduardo Moll, a German artist and critic living in Peru, interviews Juan Manuel Ugarte Eléspuru (1911–2004), the distinguished artist, writer and art historian who directed the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in Lima (from 1956 to 1973). Ugarte was one of the most radical voices to deplore the awarding of the national prize to Joaquín López Antay in 1975.  

In late 1952, Eduardo Moll (b. 1929) conducted a series of interviews with well-known Peruvian artists that were broadcasted on Radio Callao and subsequently published in the Semanario Peruano 1952. The prior year, the debate about Abstract art—stirred up by statements made by the painter Fernando de Szyszlo (b. 1925)—made the public aware of the issues under discussion by Lima’s intelligentsia. [See the ICAA digital archive, “Dice Fernando Szyzlo [sic] que no hay pintores en el Perú ni América : el joven pintor peruano declara sentir su pintura y la de los demás pero no puede explicarla” (anonymous) (doc. No. 1137793).] Such issues included the artist’s social commitment and the possibility of truly “Peruvian” painting. These matters were the focus of the interviews performed by Moll, who was able to gather a broad spectrum of opinions due to the diversity of the trends to which the artists interviewed belonged. On the one hand, Moll’s interviews feature artists who were open to the “nonfigurative” concept, such as Szyszlo himself [“Me parece que no hay otra pintura que la europea” (doc. No. 864956)], Ricardo Grau (1907–70) [“Encuesta: Ricardo Grau expone sus puntos de vista sobre la pintura y sus escuelas” (doc. No. 1150493)] and Alberto Dávila (1912–88) [“Reportajes” (doc. No. 865093)]. On the other hand, the series includes interviews by Moll with artists who were critical of Abstract art, such as Juan Manuel Ugarte Eléspuru (1911–2004), Sérvulo Gutiérrez (1914–61) [“Sérvulo Gutiérrez opina llanamente sobre pintura y sobre pintores” (doc. No. 1150441)] and Carlos Aitor Castillo (1913–2000) [“Reportaje a Carlos A. Castillo” (doc. No. 865074)], as well as the academic sculptor Romano Espinoza Cáceda (1898–1957) [“Reportaje a Romano Espinoza Cáceda” (doc. no. 1227158)].