By FELIX ANGEL

It was then that a small group of Colombian artists started to depart from the traditional figurative styles and began to embrace abstraction. How they made the break, and the enormous success they have enjoyed since is the subject of an exhibit of 35 works of painting and sculpture at the Art Gallery of the IDB Cultural Center titled "Points of Departure in Contemporary Colombian Art."

The relatively late emergence of Colombian art was due in part to geography. Mountain barriers separating the country's provinces have resulted in cultural distinctions that modern transportation and communications still have not erased. Moreover, Colombia's capital, located high in the Andes, has been less influenced by international cultural movements than have such bustling centers of foreign commerce as Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Caracas or Havana.

The province of Antioquia took the first steps into the world of modern art. In the 1920s, the provincial capital of Medellín was home to several outstanding sculptors and muralists, among them, Pedro Nel Gómez. This renaissance figure, skilled in many traditional artistic disciplines as well as architecture and engineering, slowly and patiently introduced new ideas, influencing the antiquated tastes of the new commercial and industrial class that was taking shape in opposition to the local rural elite.

Then, in the early 1950s, a group of artists launched a movement that would represent the definitive break from the old generation. They had an important ally in Marta Traba, an Argentine-born critic who would go on to achieve international renown for her work in bringing Latin American art to the attention of the world. Obstinately and energetically, Traba led the fight against conservatism in art. She alienated some, but won the respect of many in Bogota's intellectual community.

Out of the generational split emerged a new artistic energy and a diversity of concepts and styles. But all of the artists shared the objective of creating a form of visual expression that would resonate internationally. As the IDB exhibit shows, they succeeded handsomely.

IDB's Cultural Center