Rómulo Macció

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1931 - 2016

            Becoming one of the essential figures in Argentine painting of the second half of the 20th century, Macció projects a profound and lasting presence. Self-taught, cosmopolitan, and with a background in the advertising industry, his commitment to painting took on the contours of a true devotion throughout his career. In his unique poetics, the art of painting had no outside, no discursive safeguards—only successive acts of execution that established continuity with the mute language of the world. This guiding principle, closely aligned with surrealism (which he explored early on as a member of the Boa group), found its full power when he joined Ernesto Deira, Luis Felipe Noé, and Jorge de la Vega to create the Nueva Figuración (New Figuration) movement between 1961 and 1965.

            Macció’s trajectory encodes a series of themes and genres that render visible the atmosphere of his time. From existentialist voids to ironic undertones, the tones of his work pulse with the tensions of the era in which he lived and painted. His images weave a narrative in which the iconic elements of urban landscapes—from the many cities in which he lived—obsessively coexist with the human figure, its remnants and fragments, always depicted in a state of precariousness. Yet this zone in which his practice settled—indistinct between figuration and abstraction—makes the blurring of edges and the thinning of bodies feel less like a fleeting impression and more like a diagnosis of the direction humanity and its forms are heading.

            Among his many distinctions, notable awards include the First International Prize of the Instituto Torcuato Di Tella in 1963, the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1964, and the Grand Prize of Honor at the National Salon in 1967. He represented Argentine art in various international biennials, including the Venice Biennale (1968 and 1988), the Paris Biennale (1969), and the São Paulo Biennial (1963 and 1985). His works are part of prestigious international collections, including The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, among others.