In Argentina, many visual artists drew inspiration from the iconography and themes of pre-Columbian art. However, they also felt a deep admiration for the entirety of these creations from a general perspective, as is the case with Nicolás García Uriburu, who founded the excellent Museum of Pre-Columbian Art that we have the privilege of appreciating today.

Currently, Nicolás’s collection of Argentine pre-Columbian art is curated by the Foundation, while the other part was donated by his daughter, Azul, to the Historical Museum. This donation of over a thousand pieces constituted one of the most significant contributions of pre-Hispanic art to the museum.

In 1998, at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Nicolás covered the museum’s facade with a curtain as a protest against the threat of destruction of the native forests in the northwest. This curtain featured the figure of a jaguar, an archetype symbolizing numerous ideological and religious aspects of pre-Columbian cultures in America, from Mesoamerica to our northwest region, where García Uriburu explored the connections between science and art.

Nicolás García Uriburu’s interest in pre-Columbian art was sparked during a trip to Peru in 1961, accompanied by the painter Benedit, where he acquired some extraordinary pieces from the Chavín culture that are now part of his current collection. During a visit to Mexico to exhibit his own works, he became familiar with the pre-Columbian art of Mesoamerica by exploring sites like Teotihuacán, expanding his horizons. In 1982, he received several pieces from the former collection of Adán Quiroga as a gift, which had become available for sale. Among these pieces, two impressive huacas Santamarina stood out, probably from the early period, marking the beginning of his Argentine collection. Today, this collection allows us to appreciate the different facets and styles of the ancient artists from the Catamarca western valleys and, in general, from the entire northeastern Argentina region.