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Copyright estate of the artist
 Torres-García, Joaquin (1874 - 1949)
Uruguay

Constructivo en Gris y Negro con Centro Rojo, 1933

Oil on canvas;
76.2 x 50.2 cm
Abstraction Between WWI and WWII

UID 102-573



Biography

Uruguayan painter and theorician. In 1892, he moved to Barcelona, where he studied at the Baixas Academy and became involved with the Círculo Artístico. He worked as an illustrator for various magazines and participated in diverse exhibitions. In 1903-04, he worked with António Gaudí on the no Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Família, in Barcelona, and on the restoration of the stained glass at Palma Cathedral in Majorca. In 1910, he took part in the decoration of the Uruguayan pavilion at the International and Universal Exhibition in Brussels and, in 1911, he was contracted to paint frescos at the Salón de Sant Jordi in the Palau de la Generalitat, Barcelona. Around 1915-16 he sought isolation in Tarrasa, where he painted local scenes and landscapes. In 1920, he moved to New York where he designed toys and, in 1922, returned to Europe. In 1928, he took part in the Salon d'Automne and met Mondrian whose influence was decisive in his work. In 1929, together with Mondrian, he founded the Cercle et Carré group, and in 1932, moved to Madrid, where he took part in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and the Society of Iberian Artists. In 1934, he decided to return to Uruguay and, in 1935, founded the Constructive Art Association. Between 1936 and 1943, he published Círculo y Cuadrado, a periodical which laid the foundations of Cubism, Neo-plasticism and Constructivism in Uruguay. In 1944, he published his most important book, Universalismo Constructivo, in which he puts forward his ideas on the plastic arts, profoundly influencing other artists and the whole of the South American art world. Torres-García forged the link between South American Pre-Columbian culture and European modern art movements, Cubism and Neo-plasticism in particular.



Exhibitions

Torres-Garcia: Grid-Patter-Sign, Paris-Montevideo, 1924-1944
Hayward Gallery, United Kingdom
01-01-1985 ~ 31-08-1985

Torres-Garcia: Grid-Patter-Sign, Paris-Montevideo, 1924-1944
Kunsthalle (Düsseldorf), Germany
01-05-1986 ~ 31-12-1986

Torres-Garcia: Grid-Patter-Sign, Paris-Montevideo, 1924-1944
Fundation Juan Miro, Spain
01-09-1985 ~ 30-04-1986

Art of the Fantastic: Latin America 1920-1987
Indianapolis Center for Contemporary Art, USA
01-01-1987 ~ 30-06-1987

Art of the Fantastic: Latin America 1920-1987
Center of Fine Arts (Miami), USA
01-07-1987 ~ 31-12-1987

Art of the Fantastic: Latin America 1920-1987
Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporâneo, Mexico
01-01-1988 ~ 30-06-1988

Art of the Fantastic: Latin America 1920-1987
Queens Museum, The, USA
01-07-1988 ~ 31-12-1988

Torres-Garcia
Museo Nacional, Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Spain
01-01-1991 ~ 30-06-1991

Torres-Garcia
IVAM Centre Julio González, Spain
01-07-1991 ~ 29-06-1992

Crosscurrents of Modernism: Four Latin American Pioneers
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, USA
01-01-1992 ~ 31-12-1992

Colecção Berardo Collection 1917-1999
Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB), Portugal
27-01-2000 ~ 27-08-2000

Durante o Fim - Rui Chafes
Sintra Museu de Arte Moderna - Colecção Berardo (SMAM-CB), Portugal
15-10-2000 ~ 14-01-2001

Collection Berardo, Oeuvres Choisies du 20e Siècle
Musée des Beaux Arts de Lyon, France
05-10-2001 ~ 14-01-2002

Contemporâneos de Arpad Szenes e Vieira da Silva na Collecção Berardo
Fundação Arpad Szenes - Vieira da Silva, Portugal
06-03-2002 ~ 16-06-2002

Nova Apresentação da Colecção Berardo
Sintra Museu de Arte Moderna - Colecção Berardo (SMAM-CB), Portugal
08-11-1999 ~ 01-03-2000

Berardo Museum Opening
Museu Colecção Berardo, Portugal
25-06-2007 ~ 09-09-2007

Latin American Art in the Berardo Collection
Sintra Museu de Arte Moderna - Colecção Berardo (SMAM-CB), Portugal
14-12-2007 ~ 29-02-2008

“Intuição e a Estrutura” – De Torres Garcia a Vieira da Silva (1929-1949)
Museu Colecção Berardo, Portugal
04-12-2008 ~ 15-02-2009


Bibliography

Art of the Fantastic: Latin America 1920-1987, 1987
Published by Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis; The Queens Museum, Flushing/New York; Center of Fine Arts, Miami and Centro Cultural/Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City

Colecção Berardo Collection 1917-1999, 2000
Published by CCB - Centro Cultural de Belém
ISBN 972817652X

Collection Berardo, Oeuvres Choisies du 20e Siècle, 2001
Published by Musée des Beaux Arts de Lyon
ISBN 2711843319

Contemporâneos de Arpad Szenes e Vieira da Silva na Colecção Berardo, 2002
Published by Fundação Arpad Szenes - Vieira da Silva
ISBN 9728467192

Torres-García, 1991
Published by Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid and IVAM Centre Julio González, Valencia

Torres-García: Grid-Patter-Sign, Paris-Montevideo, 1924-1944, 1985
Published by Hayward Gallery, London; Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona and Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf







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