A great deal has been written about Juan Del Prete’s obsession with destroying his own works, in large measure, I suspect, due to Obras destruidas, published by Del Prete and Yente in 1971. In that slender volume, the couple lays out a journey in black and white through works that are no longer with us but that, with characteristic obsessiveness, they had documented and accumulated over the course of decades. Few editions are as beautiful as this one; only they were capable of such elegant handiwork. The book, designed by Del Prete, includes an extensive essay by Yente—once again the spokesperson of the taciturn artist who was her life partner. A number of the still unfaded color reproductions of works in the book serve as a reminder that Del Prete painted works as copiously as he destroyed them.

In Juan Del Prete. Pintura Montada Primicia, Santiago Villanueva (Ed.), Roldán Moderno, Buenos Aires, 2020.