Uruguayan painter, sculptor, muralist, and collector Francisco Matto lived and worked most his life in the River Plate. Venus blanquiazul, part of his Totems series from the late 1970s, is a culmination of Matto's explorations into freestanding forms as constructive and autonomous works, as well as expressions of the metaphysical nature of art, an intrinsic philosophical and conceptual tenet for the School of the South artists.

Matto's interest in ethnographic work began in 1932 when he traveled to Argentina and Tierra del Fuego, setting in motion a lifelong dedication to the study and collecting of Pre-Columbian art. In 1942, Matto, who was by then a primarily self-taught artist, became a member of the workshop El Taller Torres-García and soon began working on wood constructions, which continued throughout most of his life.