Interviews from Quito – Dr. Trinidad Perez speaks of Camilo Egas

Today our host Andy Sebastia interviews Ecuadorian art historian and professor Trinidad Perez. The focus of the conversation is Camilo Egas, who played an important role in fostering the modern art scene in Ecuador in the early twentieth century. The two discuss the theme of “indianismo” in the work of Egas, whose colorful paintings with stylized figures in the tradition of social realism featured the indigenous person as an exploited worker in the city. Egas New settled in New York City in the late 1920s and began to exhibit his work. He taught mural painting at the open university of the New School of Social Research, where he met a number of important artists. He has many paintings featuring African American people, such as his famous work “Green Pastures,” inspired by the play of the same name by United States playwright Marc Connelly. Some of his controversial paintings were “lost” or “not rescued” or “destroyed,” perhaps due to the conservative and racist attitudes of the authorities in charge, says Dr. Perez. teleSUR