One of the most influential figures in twentieth-century Peruvian culture, José Sabogal was a painter, draughtsman, and printmaker who also designed architectural projects. Sabogal was crucial to the construction of Peru’s collective imaginary. After teaching at the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes from 1920 to 1932, he became that institution’s director until 1943. His prints were used for most of the covers of Amauta, a magazine published from 1926 to 1929 central to the social, cultural, and political dimensions of Indigenism. It was in the 1920s that his artistic vision truly came together with the introduction of Andean landscapes and Indigenous figures in his painting. El recluta (1926) protests the exploitation of Indigenous labour in military construction projects. The figure in this work, like other subjects in Sabogal’s paintings, is solemn; his striking features and determined gaze are painted in vivid colours.
This is the first time the work of José Sabogal is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Sonia Becce
