Detail of the mural
Ejercicio plástico. Photograph by
Annemarie Heinrich

Due to the good offices of Asociación Amigos del Arte, Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros arrived in Buenos Aires to deliver lectures and exhibit his work. His revolutionary ideas, referring to an art at the service of the working class, scandalized the conservative Porteño milieu. Notwithstanding, after a visit to Rosario and under the influence of Siqueiros’ preach, Berni and other young artists founded, next year, the Mutualidad Popular de Estudiantes y Artistas Plásticos.

Siqueiros conducted the "Poligraphy Team" comprised of Berni, Spilimbergo, Juan Carlos Castagnino and Enrique Lázaro, which executed a mural in the villa of Natalio Botana, owner of the popular newspaper Crítica. An opuscule entitled Ejercicio Plástico was published. There appeared the fundamentals of the performed work and its possible effects on the genesis of a revolutionary plastics.

In Rosario, Berni organized the group "Plásticos de vanguardia", which held an exhibition in December. Leónidas Gambartes, Medardo Pantoja, Paule Cazenave de Berni,