Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In his review of José Sabogal’s 1937 exhibition, the author claims that an analysis of the evolution of the painter’s work reveals “a single driving thought and a single, constant desire for modernity, as well as a sense of the vernacular.” [...]

Carlos Raygada claims that José Sabogal’s work combines technical mastery with a “moody” aesthetic to produce an accurate expression of the country’s sensibilities. The critic describes Sabogal’s paintings as unusually controversial [...]

This review, by the Peruvian essayist and art critic Mercedes Gallagher de Parks, is about the exhibition of work by José Sabogal at the Lima Country Club in 1940. The reviewer reproaches the artist, saying that “though he can paint magnificently [...]

In this text, José Sabogal, who is outraged, writes about a colonial fountain in the city of Cuzco that has been “savagely and mercilessly torn from its secular place.” That fountain, the painter explains, was “the people of Cuzco’s favorite [...]

The synopsis and the annotations in English are coming soon. However, our bilingual readers can click on “Español” to access this information in Spanish [...]

The author calls attention, above all, to the painter José Sabogal’s nature: “sober, simple, with a severe exterior and frugal in his expression.” He stresses the national-nationalist style of Sabogal’s painting that, in his opinion, is [...]

In this review of Julia Codesido’s first exhibition at the Academia Nacional de Música Alcedo (Lima, 1929), Augusto Aguirre Morales describes her as a great exponent of Peruvian art. The writer submits a reading of her work based on its “ [...]

The author of this article is entranced by José Sabogal’s use of color in his works. He also thinks the painter has already expressed, in some of his paintings, an undeniable sense of “Peruvian-ness,” forging a new technique that blends the [...]

In this essay, the author, after praising the arts of Peru for their acknowledged nationalistic direction and after recognizing the role of the ENBA (Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes), the author points out to certain explainable exaggerations as [...]

The Peruvian art critic Carlos Solari compares José Sabogal’s latest paintings at the Casino Español (1921) to the ones in his previous exhibition at Casa Brandes in 1919, which were described as “disconcerting contradictions” because of [...]

Based on “the tradition of the national”—described as the assemblage of historical reflections regarding said subject on Latin American culture—the Argentina-born but Colombia-based critic, Marta Traba, performed a review of the documentary [...]

The author José Alfredo Hernández describes José Sabogal as a fully-developed artist with a clearly-defined technique, whose work should only be judged according to appropriately demanding criteria. Hernández mentions the indisputable beauty of [...]

The author clarifies that he has not yet been to the capital of Peru, but this has not prevented him from visiting José Sabogal’s Exhibition of Woodcut Prints in Lima time and time again. There is nothing absurd about it, says José Eulogio [...]

The author reviews José Sabogal’s paintings at his first exhibition in Lima, with the caveat that the works were viewed in unfavorable circumstances. An illness prevented him from seeing them at the gallery, and Sabogal himself brought them to his [...]

In this article, Carlos Solari asserts that the medium of “wood engraving has always been very suggestive” for painter José Sabogal. “The synthetic quality that it requires [befits] the temperamental characteristics for which he is known,” [...]

This review notes that despite his youth and his provincial origins, José Sabogal’s talent is beyond dispute. It is precisely because of Sabogal’s evident skill that Carlos Solari decides to point out a few “buts” in the work of this artist [...]

This article by Luis E. Valcárcel was originally published in El Comercio, the Cuzco newspaper (January 31, 1919) where José Sabogal painted his canvases. According to Valcárcel, the paintings exhibited that year at Casa Brandes (Lima) “are not [...]

The critic Carlos Solari (alias “Don Quijote”) reviews about thirty works that José Sabogal, the founder of Peruvian indigenist painting, brought to Lima after spending several months in Cuzco (c. 1925). In Solari’s opinion, the painter is [...]

The author notes that the furniture and the decorations on the ceilings, floors, and walls of the Peruvian Pavilion at the Sevilla Expo are all the work of José Sabogal, expressed “in the vernacular style that both moves and captivates him.” [...]

In this text, Carlos Solari (alias “Don Quijote”) discusses articles on Peruvian painter Sabogal that appeared in the most important Buenos Aires-based newspapers (three of them in particular). The article in La Prensa speaks of the “modern [...]

In his letter to the art critic Carlos Solari (alias “Don Quijote”), the painter José Sabogal expresses his appreciation for kind words about his work, but challenges two points made by Solari. The first concerns the impression that he is a [...]

The author claims that José Sabogal’s ouster from the leadership of the ENBA (Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes) is both a political and a spiritual event. Garrido insists that, ever since Sabogal was appointed as director, “his life and his [...]

The author believes “there is almost no hesitation” in recognizing the genius of José Sabogal on the eve of his exhibition in 1921. Speaking in glowing terms, M. E. Mendizábal explains that Sabogal’s paintings shed light on those living in [...]

This article is about a trip taken by the author, José Eulogio Garrido and José Sabogal, the founder of Peruvian indigenist painting, to the community of Sanchique, in the province of Otuzco in northern Peru. The author describes the mountain [...]

This text by eminent thinker, politician, and journalist José Carlos Mariátegui comments on José Sabogal—the founder of pictorial Indianism in Peru—on the occasion of his upcoming show at the Sociedad Amigos del Arte in Buenos Aires (1928). [...]

The author, Pedro Barrantes Castro, notes that since José Sabogal’s return to Peru—after a formative trip of twelve years through Spain, Italy and Argentina—he begins to paint “with an awareness of social circumstances,” something that has [...]

In his article, Guillermo Rouillón deplores the dismissal of José Sabogal from his position as director of the ENBA (Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes). According to Rouillón, Sabogal is undoubtedly “the promoter and guide of Peru’s entry into [...]

The synopsis and the annotations in English are coming soon. However, our bilingual readers can click on “Español” to access this information in Spanish [...]

This is the responses given by José Sabogal, the founder of the Peruvian indigenous painting movement, to a questionnaire on the cultural situation in Peru. He proclaims his faith in the idea of a purely Peruvian kind of art, since it embodies “ [...]

The synopsis and the annotations in English are coming soon. However, our bilingual readers can click on “Español” to access this information in Spanish [...]

Nota periodística sobre la trayectoria artística de José Sabogal, entonces trabajando en una nueva pintura de título Garcilaso. El autor señala que “en el rostro de la figura defínense, gracias a un hábil efecto de luz, las dos razas”, y a [...]

In this text, José Eulogio Garrido speaks of his journey to Lima in order to see José Sabogal’s art in his home. Indeed, that was “one of the basic reasons I undertook the pilgrimage to Lima.” But Garrido saw only two works in the artist’s [...]

This article includes lyrical and historical references to Cuzco, lauding the marvelous Inca monuments of the city. The author nonetheless wonders if it might be possible to find, among the Cuzco Indians, “a shared spiritual foundation” between [...]

The author of this review notes the merits of José Sabogal’s second exhibition of paintings in Lima (at the Casino Español). He points out that, on the whole, the artist’s work shows a greater reliance on line than on color, and that “there [...]