The invention of graphic techniques did not have an artistic purpose; instead, it was a communication strategy with an exclusively illustrative and commercial aim that became gradually adapted to the artists’ needs. By multiplying the outcome of its creative work through editions enabled by the printmaking techniques, art was allowed to aim for a sort of democratization; the use and application of these techniques meant that the artwork was no longer important as the sole original, but rather as the multiplication of originals as a means of dissemination.
In the mid-1950s, some artists in Colombia showed an interest in exploring the possibility of multiplying images from a matrix that would guarantee mirror reproductions in editions of multiple impressions without a compromise in the quality, with the purpose of reaching a larger number of people. Some of them produced their first printmaking pieces while they were studying art in Europe; the first of them to do that were Pedro Nel Gómez and Ignacio Gómez Jaramillo; later on, Aníbal Gil and Augusto Rendón, who attended the same art academies than Pedro Nel Gómez in Florence, Italy. Other artists became local printmaking pioneers, such as Francisco Valderrama, Carlos Correa and Jorge Cárdenas, both of whom approached these techniques in a self-taught and free manner.
Despite not being well-aware of the upcoming repercussions that printmaking would end up having, the protagonists of these techniques laid the foundations for the training processes that started to be defined over the course of the following decade. Carlos Correa, Jorge Cárdenas, Augusto Rendón, Francisco Valderrama and Aníbal Gil, who promoted printmaking in Antioquia, played a crucial role in this transition.
The work of Aníbal Gil deserves particular recognition, not only due to the national interest generated by his graphic production, but because of his work as a teacher at the Institute of Fine Arts of the University of Antioquia between 1960 and 1976, a process that has had a far-reaching impact on the education of artists up to today. For that reason, The Introspective Line can be considered an extension to the tribute paid by Museo de Antioquia last year through the exhibition Aníbal Gil. Huella gráfica 1956 – 2023, a recognition to the career of a great master who opened new pathways for many artists.
