Oswaldo Vigas. Gaston Diehl

Written by the historian and French art critic Gaston Diehl, and translated to Spanish by the writer, poet and Venezuelan critic Juan Liscano, Oswaldo Vigas is a book that compiles the work of the known Venezuelan artist from his first steps in art until the end of the eighties. His experiences, studies and influences come together in this publication.

Gaston Diehl establishes the start of Oswaldo Vigas in art as a time of self-knowledge, experimentation and learning for the artist; in content and shape, while he floated in the magic universe of Venezuela, seduced by its myths and pre-Columbian roots, that paved the way for Las Brujas, which gave him the merit to be the winner of the National Prize for Visual Arts in 1952.Thanks to this prestigious prize Oswaldo Vigas had the opportunity to go to Paris, where he stayed until 1964.

During this period, his language began to transform in search of the essential, the great symbolic figures started to fade away letting in the frontiers of geometric abstraction and later to the informality of violent brush strokes full of matter, that with his return to Venezuela gave life to images filled with myths born from the anger. The author reveals in his work how Vigas was never influenced by the trends of the moment, he was always faithful to himself and his beliefs, faithful to the roots of America.