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| Letter to the Art Renewal Center, by Luis José Estremadoyro | - detail from The Rejoindure, by L.J. Estremadoyro |
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It is with great emotion that I have discovered the extraordinary web site of the Art Renewal Center. I am not writing this letter, however, under the momentary exhilaration of the discovery: for more than two weeks I have daily visited the ARC page and gone through its magnificent Museum, delighted with the high quality images, (such as the impressive reproduction in large format of William Bouguereau's Biblis; or the portrait of Madame Paul-Sigisbert Moitessie by Ingres, to mention a couple of examples among many). I have carefully read the Mission Statement of your organization, as well as the six pages in which you unfurl with passionate lucidity the principles of your Philosophy. I also read the five vibrant pages of your conference at the Metropolitan Museum of New York, Bad Art - Good Art - Pulling Back the Curtain, and the lecture at the Salmagundi Club, Bouguereau and the 'Real' Nineteenth Century. I have read many of the letters that you receive, as well as other important articles such as The Art Education Problem by Don Gray, and Pandora's Box Part I by Michael Newberry. - The Review of 'Exposed: The Victorian Nude' at the Brooklyn Museum and A Strong Academician, An Innovative Realist by Sherry Lazarus Ross. I have seen the work that you are doing with the ARC Approved Ateliers, with the contests and scholarships for young people who need to be truly educated as artists, and your plans to recreate a great Salon of Painting, like the one in Paris in the XVIII and XIX centuries ...
I finally came to be convinced that I should write you this letter. A work and a struggle such as you are developing is about the best thing that could happen at this moment; and the truth is it seems so extraordinary to me that I find it hard to believe that something this good is taking place, finally, in our time. Allow me to introduce myself: I am a Peruvian painter who for almost thirty years has pursued the same struggle. About 1975, when I was some twenty years old, I understood that modern art was finished and that it was essential to return to the great tradition of the Painting of the Old Masters. But it was one thing to think it, and very much something else to do it: Who could teach me?... No one, apparently. That was the beginning of many years of solitary and misunderstood effort to master the craft. After many failures with oil paint, I decided to concentrate on drawing. From those years are works such as these: In the decade of the nineties I went to France, invited as a Professor at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, by recommendation of Professor Henry Cueco. Obviously I felt very excited by this invitation. No Peruvian painter had ever had the honour of being a Professor at the school of Ingres and Bouguereau ... When I was introduced to the students, they were told that I was a painter who mastered the techniques of Painting that they (the French) had forgotten; hence the reason for my presence at the School. Let me be completely honest, Mr. Ross. Inside me I was saying: "How sad things are! ... If we were in the time of Ingres I would be coming here to learn, not to teach". And with all sincerity I tell you that I would have preferred a thousand times to learn from one of those great masters than to be invited as a Professor. But I can also say that at that point I did not know just how bad everything was. You do know! You say so clearly in your articles and on many other occasions. Teaching art has become a fraud and a deception and, certainly, l’École des Beaux-Arts is no exception. On the contrary. Soon I would come to feel that the School was the saddest place in Paris. When I wanted to start teaching Painting, they immediately talked me out of it: “This is a school for Artists,” - they advised, “but if you want to teach a scholarly craft, then ... allez-y!" Conversely, the students that were interested in learning, were also under intense pressure: “What will they think of us if they see us painting still lifes!" they told me… At the School of Fine Arts it was simply shameful to learn or to teach Painting! This experience in Paris persuaded me to paint a very large picture of 200 x 300 cm, which I called The Eve on which I worked during four years in a small 4 x 3 m studio in the banlieue of Paris. This painting reflects the anguish I felt as a painter facing the state of affairs of the arts and the society, on the eve of the new century. I was painting the day before, unaware of what tomorrow would be like, although I was sustained by the hope that during the 21st Century, great changes would be forthcoming. The insanity of the 20th Century could not last forever ... Mr. Philippe Dagen, art critic of the daily newspaper Le Monde, and France's most important art critic at that time, was one of the few who provided me support during that period. Follows a reproduction of the article he published in Le Monde, and its translation into English: Through all that was said above, you can easily visualize the wonderful surprise and intense emotion I felt upon discovering the ARC page and the endeavors you are undertaking. I have written these lines to congratulate you heartily, and to share with you my own experience and my solitary combat for a cause that is common to both of us. So, I am left with the feeling that finally, and after all, my struggle for the revival of the Arts and Painting is no longer quite as lonely. I now hold more and more hopes that the beginning new century will bring a true transformation on this regard. And that this will be achieved despite the great thunderclouds and anxiety under which this new era is getting started. I am at your disposal for any project that might contribute toward the achievement of this objective, and I shall look forward with pleasure to your kind response. Yours very truly, LJE
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