Artist Fernando de Szyszlo transformed precolumbian myths into abstract art

Columnist Marco Antonio Rodriguez describes the artistic legacy of Fernando de Szyszlo, a Peruvian painter who blended ancestral roots with abstract expression.

Rodriguez connects the work of Szyszlo with that of another artist, Estuardo Maldonado, noting how both men explored the deep cultural identity of Latin America. The writer explains that Szyszlo moved away from literal depictions of indigenous people to create a visual language of light and shadow.

He used materials like acrylic on wood to capture the pain of Andean myths. For example, his 1968 work Inkarri uses a specific varnish to trap the textures of precolumbian legends. Rodriguez argues that Szyszlo's work serves as a spiritual and visual record of the era before the Spanish conquest. The author attributes much of Szyszlo's inspiration to the writer José María Arguedas, who championed the preservation of indigenous cultures.

Szyszlo integrated these influences into his paintings to create a cosmogony that reflects the inner life of the continent. Rodriguez concludes by acknowledging the role of the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar in preserving these cultural arts for future generations.