Joaquín Torres García
Encyclopedia
Joaquín Torres García was a Uruguay
an plastic artist and art theorist, also known as the founder of Constructive
Universalism. In 1979, most of his works were destroyed in a fire that broke out in the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, while a large exhibition of the artist's works was being held.
, Spain) and María García Pérez (daughter of José María García, master carpenter from the Canary Islands
, and Misia Rufina Pérez, a native-born Uruguayan aristocrat).
After a difficult infancy—because of the family's economic and domestic instability—and after essentially raising himself, in 1890, Torres García decided to emigrate with the purpose of becoming a painter, having come to the conclusion that he could not receive proper training in the capital of Uruguay. Therefore, along with his entire family, he decided to travel to Europe in June 1891, at age 17. His father's family proceeded directly to Mataró, Spain. There, Torres García began to attend a local academy by day, where he learned the basics of the trade, and at night attended drawing classes in an Arts and Trades school. In 1892, the family decided to settle in Barcelona
, which enabled Torres García to enroll in the School of Fine Arts (Escuela de Bellas Artes de Barcelona).
At Barcelona's School of Fine Arts, Torres García fell in with such future renowned painters as Joaquim Mir, Joaquim Sunyer
, Ricard Canals and Isidre Nonell
, all of whom were influenced by the popular French Impressionism of the moment, and by the writings of Émile Zola
. The group used to paint in the suburbs of the city, imitating the painters at the vanguard of that time: Monet, Sisley
, and Renoir
. Because his classes were at night, Torres García decided to take advantage of the day by enrolling in the Academia Baixas, which had a better academic reputation than the School of Fine Arts.
In 1893, Torres García matriculated in the Cercle Artístic de Sant Luc, where the institution's Catholic leanings made a strong impression on him. There, he met Josep Pijoan, Eduardo Marquina
, Pere Moles and Luis de Zulueta. At the beginning of 1894, Torres García participated in the Foreign Section of the General Exposition of Fine Arts (Exposiciones Generales de Bellas Artes). The next year, he began to collaborate with the Catholic Typographic Bookstore (Librería Tipográfica Católica), a work that continued until 1899. In 1897, he presented his works in the exhibition hall of La Vanguardia Newspaper
and participated in a collective exhibition in the Artistic Circle of Sant Lluc (Socios del Círculo Artístico de Sant Lluc). During this period, Torres not only struck up friendships with painters and sculptors of the likes of Manolo Hugué, Pichot
, the brothers Oleguer and Sebastià Junyent, the brothers Sunyer, Pablo Picasso
, the brothers Joan and Juli González, and Planella, but also with musicians such as Antoni Ribera. In the ensuing years, Torres García published various drawings in La Vanguardia under the name of "Quim Torras," and in the magazines Iris, Barcelona Cómica and La Saeta.
From 1901, Torres García started to paint fresco
s, attracted by the timelessness of the older works created using this technique, and began a dynamic working relationship with a group that mixed together painters, musicians, sculptors and poets; all of the above-mentioned would meet in Julio González's studio, attend artistic get-togethers at the Círculo de Sant Lluc, classical music concerts at the Liceu
, and debates and conversations at Els Quatre Gats
, the Soler tailor-shop, and other locations. In May 1903, he published an article in the monthly magazine Universitat Catalana entitled "Augusta et Augusta," affirming that artistic form would never copy reality and defending his idealist conception of art.
He began to do murals, first with Adrià Gual
and later in the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí
's remodeling of the La Seu
. Gaudi hired him later with Llongueiras and Iu Pascualfor the interior restoration of La Catedral de Santa María de Palma de Mallorca. He worked on the first two lateral stained glass windows and the rose window
of the Capilla Real, as well as windows for the Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. This collaboration lasted until 1905, exposing Torres to Gaudí's collaborative and interdisciplinary vision of work, as well as the necessity to consider painting and architecture as a union.
He gave sketching classes in private homes, such as the home of Don Jaime Piña y Segura, father of Torres García's wife-to-be Manolita Piña i Rubíes, as well as in the home of composer Isaac Albéniz
where he taught Albéniz's son Julio. In 1904, he received his first mural commissions: in the chapel of the Santísimo Sacramento of the church of San Agustín in Barcelona (which murals were destroyed during the Spanish Civil War
) and the apse of the Iglesia de la Divina Pastora in Sarrià
, which was quickly covered by other paintings and is no longer visible today.
In 1905, his style of work formally evolved and already evident was that which his enemies most used to attack him—"Planism"—commonly known as "defectos de factura" (carefree or enlightened, because the painting was to be agreeable to the sight, the pictorial qualities flattering to the senses). In 1906, he untertook to separate the superficiality that underlay his works, seeking to find the fount of all civilization, Greek art.
In 1907, Torres García began his teaching job in the Mont d’Or school, founded by the pedagogue Joan Palau Vera in Sarrià
, which also introduced for the first time in Spain life drawing
. He married Manolita Piña 20 August 1909 in Barcelona. In this period, Torres García substituted formal elements of Greek
origin for those specific to Catalonia
(villas, farmers, labourers, etc.) imbuing his work with a contemporary Catalonian spirit.
The Argentine
journalist Roberto Payró
commissioned from Torres García two large panels for the Uruguayan pavilion at the Brussels International exposition of 1910 in which he represented allegories of agriculture and of ranching. In passing, he visited Florence
, Rome and Paris. On his return, he settled in Vilassar de Mar
, where his first daughter, Olimpia, was born. His work delighted some of his followers in Barcelona, such as Eugeni d'Ors
, Roman Jori, Manuel Folch i Torres and Josep Clarà
, who on his return convinced him to work on artistic projects that would bring renown to Catalonia
. Several distinct commissions in the old palace of the Generalitat of Catalonia (the Catalan government), which had then been recently purchased as the seat of the provincial
council of Barcelona
, ranged from some stained glass for the windows of the hall of the Consell de la Mancomunitat de Catalunya, to decorating the walls of the Salón de Sant Jordi
. This last project, a series of murals, was the largest and most important in Torres-García's life, which he was expected to execute in accord with the ideological guidelines laid out by the president of this institution, Enric Prat de la Riba
. After a trip to Italy
to study fresco technique, he established himself in Terrassa
, to which he had moved the Mont d’Or School.
In May 1913 he published his first book, Notes sobre Art ("Notes on Art"), which marked the de facto break with his principal theoretical defender, Eugeni d'Ors. D'Ors believed that Torres García had idealogically usurped the reference to the historic-iconographic Catalan identity that he had included in his book. On 19 June 1913 his second child, Augusto was born. He began to execute the first fresco for the Salón de Sant Jordi, La Cataluña eterna ("Eternal Catalonia"). At the end of that same month, be began the final stage of his first fresco for the San Jorge
Salon (gallery), La Cataluńa eterna. At the same time he was finishing the fresco, Torres García founded the Escuela de Decoración (School of Decoration/Decorative Arts) in Sarrià
with a group of young pupils, with the specific intent of founding a school of muralists and decorators who would put his theories into practice. In August of the next year (1914), the Mont d'Or School closed due to bankruptcy. Torres García decided to remain in Tarrasa, where he designed and decorated what would become his residence, Mon Repòs.
On 10 December 1915, his third child was born at Mon Repòs, a daughter baptized Ifigenia, Aglás y Elena. In 1917, he met the Uruguayan painter Rafael Barradas, an important person in his life since he served as a catalyst for his artistic evolution toward abstraction, pursuing in his work a closeness to contemporary art from the complementary prism of tradition. Upon the death of Prat de la Riba
in 1917, Torres García immediately suspended work on his decorative jobs in the Salón de Sant Jordi, as well as his commissions. Beset by economic scarcity, he launched himself into a new activity: toymaking.
. He also returned to giving private drawing and painting lessons, one of his new clients being Sigfried Ribera, son of the composer Antoni Ribera.
In 1920, Torres García left with his family in tow for Paris. He never returned to Barcelona. From there he set off for New York City, where he met such Spaniards as Rafael Sala, Joan Agell and Claudio Orejuela. He also met Max Weber
, the musician Edgar Varèse, Charles Logasa, John Xcéron, the Whitney
sisters, the painters Joseph Stella
, David Karfunkle, Marcel Duchamp
, and finally the Tawsend couple, who put him in contact with the Society of Independent Artists
, founded by Katherine Sophie Dreier
, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray
, among others.
In the absence of any income, Torres García decided to return to Europe—specifically Italy—to dedicate himself anew to the toy business. He founded the Aladdin Toy Company, which received important orders from the Dutch house Metz & Co. In 1924, his fourth son, the painter Horacio, was born in Livorno
, Italy. Charles Logasa encouraged Torres García to paint again with the intention of organizing an exhibition in Paris. Receiving favorable reviews, he decided to move his family to Paris in 1926. In 1928, he and Jean Hélion
, Alfred Aberdam
, Pierre Daura
and Ernest Engel Rozier put on the exhibition Cinq refusés
par le jury du salón d’Automne ("Five refused
by the jury of the Autumn Salon"). Among the attendees was Theo Van Doesburg
, with whom he initiated a great friendship and extensive collaboration.
In this same period, he met Michel Seuphor, who presented him to Jean and Sophie Arp
, Adya and Otto Van Rees, Luigi Russolo
, and Georges Vantongerloo
. Torres García was soon admitted to the group's meetings, which were headed by Piet Mondrian
. In these meetings were forged the nucleus of the future group Cercle et Carré ("Circle and Square"), promoter of the first exhibition of constructivist
and abstract art
in 1930, and of a magazine also called Cercle et Carré. Torres García contributed to constructivism the order and logic found in rules of composition such as the golden ratio
and the inclusion of symbolic figures that represent man, knowledge, science, and the city.
In 1932, he left Paris because of the economic crisis and took up residence in the Madrid
of the Second Spanish Republic
, establishing in 1933 the Grupo Constructivo, with whom he exhibited in the Autumn Salon. The group wrote three texts called Guiones ("Guides") that reflected the spirit from which the group was formed and in which is evident the contructivist influence of Torres García.
In 1934, a year and a half after his arrival in Paris, Torres García decided to move for the last time to Uruguay, to his native Montevideo, where he was received as a member of the European artistic elite. He immediately exhibited his progressive artistic theories in a country rooted in the conservative European sensibility, that imposed the epithet of "quality" on everything imported from the old country, which soon turned Torres García into a controversial figure.
Torres García founded the Uruguay Society of Arts ("Sociedad de las Artes del Uruguay") with the objective of integrating all the arts and acting as a nexus between artists and the public. He presented the first retrospective of his work, in which his oldest son Augusto also participated, and began to give classes on the history of art at the Escuela Taller de Artes Plásticas. He rented a space at 1037 Calle Uruguay, which he converted into an exposition space known as Estudio 1037, and organized a first art showing in which participated national artists—Carmelo de Arzadun, Gilberto Bellini, José Cúneo Perinetti, Luis Mazzey, Bernabé Michelena]], Zoma Baitler, Carlos Prevosti, Augusto Torres-García, and himself—as well as foreigners—Germán Cueto
, Pere Daura, E. Engel, Glycka, Jean Hélion
, Luc Lafnet, Charles Logasa
, O. Van Rees and Eduardo Yepes.
In 1934, Torres García was named honorary professor of the Faculty of Architecture of Montevideo
and in 1935 he published a book Estructura. He created the Asociación de Arte Constructivo (AAC) ("Constructive Art Association"), impregnated with the spirit of a truly American art. Through the society met many artists, such as Rosa Acle, J. Álvarez Marqués, Carmelo de Arzadum, Alfredo Cáceres, María Cańizas, Luis Castellanos, Amalia Nieto, Héctor Ragni, Lia Rivas, Carmelo Rivello, Alberto Soriano, Augusto Torres, Horacio Torres and Nicolás Urta. In 1936 the first issue of the AAC's publicity piece Círculo y Cuadrado ("Circle and Square") was published, continuing the French Cercle et Carré. The Círculo y Cuadrado published seven issues between 1936 and 1938, followed by a special final issue in December 1943. Its motto was "Total intransigence against naturalism." The intense teaching activity that Torres García maintained from 1934 to 1938 did not produce the results he had hoped and he questioned the continuation of the AAC in its current form.
In 1938, Torres García began to show influence by Pre-Columbian
and indigenous art, such as is apparent in his work Monumento Cósmico, which juxtaposes figures like those he used in Paris, figures that made reference to man and the city using the traditional indigenous symbolism of South America.
From a philosophical point of view, Torres García was strongly influenced by the Theosophy
of Helena Blavatsky and the Anthroposophy
of Rudolf Steiner
, as were other artists of the day, such as Piet Mondrian
, Paul Klee
, and Vasili Kandinski. In 1932, Torres García had joined the Theosophy Society in Uruguay, where he gave a talk entitled "Geometry, Creation, Proportion."
since his return. The book also signaled the end of the AAC. Torres García's disappointment with regard to the creation of the group and its failure is found in the published manuscript La ciudad sin nombre ("The City Without Name"), in which Torres García reflects his disillusion with the situation.
His despair at the difficulty of establishing constructivist art in Uruguay led Torres García to propose a figurative journey reviving the use of constructivism and using Native American cultural symbolism, creating in 1943 the Torres García Studio (Taller Torres García), or Studio of the South (Taller del Sur), composed of young artists. The next year, Torres García and his students undertook the commission to paint constructivist murals in the Martirené pavilion of the Hospital de Saint Bois on the outskirts of the capital. They executed a total of 35 murals, of which Torres García painted the seven largest while supervising the rest. In 1944, he was granted the Premio Nacional de Pintura ("National Prize of Painting"), receiving a great homage with participation by Pablo Picasso
, Gregorio Marañón
, Pablo Neruda
, Lipschitz
, Braque, and Ozenfant. That year he also published his own artistic theory, called universalismo constructivo ("Constructive Universalism").
In 1945, he published the first issue of the magazine Removedor, which served as a place to debate criticisms of his works and those of his students, as well as a publicity tool.
After his death in Montevideo 8 August 1949, the studio continued to function, being directed by some of his most dedicated students, until it finally closed in 1962 (although there is controversy regarding this date). The last official publication of the studio saw the light of day in January 1961 and was the third issue of the magazine Escuela del Sur ("The School of the South") which had replaced Removedor, whose final issue, number 28, was July–August 1953.
Torres García's call to artists not to renounce being Latin Americans, pretending to be contemporary through the formal investigation in their artistic careers, provided a new dimension in the construction of a modern and American language, constituting one of the definitive episodes in the Latin American vanguards.
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
an plastic artist and art theorist, also known as the founder of Constructive
Constructivism (art)
Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1919, which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of the 20th...
Universalism. In 1979, most of his works were destroyed in a fire that broke out in the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, while a large exhibition of the artist's works was being held.
The Early Years: 1874–1917
Joaquin Torres García was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, from the union of Joaquim Torres Garcia (son of Joan Torres and Rosa Fradera, rope makers from MataróMataró
Mataró is the capital and largest city of the comarca of the Maresme, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia Autonomous Community, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, to the north-east of Barcelona. , it...
, Spain) and María García Pérez (daughter of José María García, master carpenter from the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
, and Misia Rufina Pérez, a native-born Uruguayan aristocrat).
After a difficult infancy—because of the family's economic and domestic instability—and after essentially raising himself, in 1890, Torres García decided to emigrate with the purpose of becoming a painter, having come to the conclusion that he could not receive proper training in the capital of Uruguay. Therefore, along with his entire family, he decided to travel to Europe in June 1891, at age 17. His father's family proceeded directly to Mataró, Spain. There, Torres García began to attend a local academy by day, where he learned the basics of the trade, and at night attended drawing classes in an Arts and Trades school. In 1892, the family decided to settle in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, which enabled Torres García to enroll in the School of Fine Arts (Escuela de Bellas Artes de Barcelona).
At Barcelona's School of Fine Arts, Torres García fell in with such future renowned painters as Joaquim Mir, Joaquim Sunyer
Joaquim Sunyer
Joaquim Sunyer was a spanish painter often linked to the Noucentisme movement.He began his artistic education with his uncle, Joaquim Mir, later moving to Barcelona where he studied with such painters as Joaquín Torres García, Nonell and Joaquim Mir...
, Ricard Canals and Isidre Nonell
Isidre Nonell
Isidre Nonell i Monturiol a Catalonian painter and drawer belonging to post-impressionism known for his expressive portrayal of the socially marginalized of Barcelona society...
, all of whom were influenced by the popular French Impressionism of the moment, and by the writings of Émile Zola
Émile Zola
Émile François Zola was a French writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of naturalism and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism...
. The group used to paint in the suburbs of the city, imitating the painters at the vanguard of that time: Monet, Sisley
Sisley
Sisley may refer to:*Alfred Sisley, a French impressionist painter of English origin*Sisley, a Benetton Group brand, established in 1974*Sisley Paris, , a French cosmetics company founded in Paris in 1976 by Roland de Saint Vincent and Jean Francois Laporte, before being taken over by the famous...
, and Renoir
Renoir
-People with the surname Renoir :* Pierre-Auguste Renoir , French painter* Pierre Renoir , French actor and son of Pierre-Auguste Renoir* Jean Renoir , French film director and son of Pierre-Auguste Renoir...
. Because his classes were at night, Torres García decided to take advantage of the day by enrolling in the Academia Baixas, which had a better academic reputation than the School of Fine Arts.
In 1893, Torres García matriculated in the Cercle Artístic de Sant Luc, where the institution's Catholic leanings made a strong impression on him. There, he met Josep Pijoan, Eduardo Marquina
Eduardo Marquina
Eduardo Marquina was a Spanish playwright and poet associated with the Catalan Modernist school.His En Flandes se ha puesto el Sol " was awarded the Royal Spanish Academy's award for historical drama....
, Pere Moles and Luis de Zulueta. At the beginning of 1894, Torres García participated in the Foreign Section of the General Exposition of Fine Arts (Exposiciones Generales de Bellas Artes). The next year, he began to collaborate with the Catholic Typographic Bookstore (Librería Tipográfica Católica), a work that continued until 1899. In 1897, he presented his works in the exhibition hall of La Vanguardia Newspaper
La Vanguardia
La Vanguardia is Catalonia's leading daily newspaper as well as the fourth best-selling in Spain. It has its headquarters in Barcelona, Catalonia's largest city....
and participated in a collective exhibition in the Artistic Circle of Sant Lluc (Socios del Círculo Artístico de Sant Lluc). During this period, Torres not only struck up friendships with painters and sculptors of the likes of Manolo Hugué, Pichot
Pichot
Pichot is a surname and may refer to:*Agustín Pichot*Ramon Pichot*Stéphane Pichot...
, the brothers Oleguer and Sebastià Junyent, the brothers Sunyer, Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, the brothers Joan and Juli González, and Planella, but also with musicians such as Antoni Ribera. In the ensuing years, Torres García published various drawings in La Vanguardia under the name of "Quim Torras," and in the magazines Iris, Barcelona Cómica and La Saeta.
From 1901, Torres García started to paint fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
s, attracted by the timelessness of the older works created using this technique, and began a dynamic working relationship with a group that mixed together painters, musicians, sculptors and poets; all of the above-mentioned would meet in Julio González's studio, attend artistic get-togethers at the Círculo de Sant Lluc, classical music concerts at the Liceu
Liceu
The Gran Teatre del Liceu , or simply Liceu in Catalan and Liceo in Spanish, is an opera house on La Rambla in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain...
, and debates and conversations at Els Quatre Gats
Els Quatre Gats
Els Quatre Gats , often written Els 4 Gats, was a café in Barcelona which opened on 12 June 1897. It also operated as a hostel, a cabaret, a pub and a restaurant. Active until 1903, Els Quatre Gats became one of the main centers of Modernisme in Barcelona...
, the Soler tailor-shop, and other locations. In May 1903, he published an article in the monthly magazine Universitat Catalana entitled "Augusta et Augusta," affirming that artistic form would never copy reality and defending his idealist conception of art.
He began to do murals, first with Adrià Gual
Adriá Gual
Adrià Gual i Queralt was a Catalan playwright and theatre businessman, founder of the Escola Catalana d'Art Dramàtic and a pioneer of cinema in Barcelona.-Theater:*Misteri de dolor*Donzell qui cerca muller*L'emigrant...
and later in the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí
Antoni Gaudí
Antoni Gaudí i Cornet was a Spanish Catalan architect and figurehead of Catalan Modernism. Gaudí's works reflect his highly individual and distinctive style and are largely concentrated in the Catalan capital of Barcelona, notably his magnum opus, the Sagrada Família.Much of Gaudí's work was...
's remodeling of the La Seu
La Seu
The Cathedral of Santa Maria of Palma, more commonly referred to as La Seu, is a Gothic Roman Catholic cathedral located in Palma, Majorca, Spain, built on the site of a pre-existing Arab mosque. It is 121 metres long, 55 metres wide and its nave is 44 metres tall...
. Gaudi hired him later with Llongueiras and Iu Pascualfor the interior restoration of La Catedral de Santa María de Palma de Mallorca. He worked on the first two lateral stained glass windows and the rose window
Rose window
A Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style and being divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery...
of the Capilla Real, as well as windows for the Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. This collaboration lasted until 1905, exposing Torres to Gaudí's collaborative and interdisciplinary vision of work, as well as the necessity to consider painting and architecture as a union.
He gave sketching classes in private homes, such as the home of Don Jaime Piña y Segura, father of Torres García's wife-to-be Manolita Piña i Rubíes, as well as in the home of composer Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms .-Life:Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz...
where he taught Albéniz's son Julio. In 1904, he received his first mural commissions: in the chapel of the Santísimo Sacramento of the church of San Agustín in Barcelona (which murals were destroyed during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
) and the apse of the Iglesia de la Divina Pastora in Sarrià
Sarria
Sarria is a municipality in the province of Lugo, northwestern Spain, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Sarria is the most densely populate town on the French Way in Galicia, with 13 700 inhabitants...
, which was quickly covered by other paintings and is no longer visible today.
In 1905, his style of work formally evolved and already evident was that which his enemies most used to attack him—"Planism"—commonly known as "defectos de factura" (carefree or enlightened, because the painting was to be agreeable to the sight, the pictorial qualities flattering to the senses). In 1906, he untertook to separate the superficiality that underlay his works, seeking to find the fount of all civilization, Greek art.
In 1907, Torres García began his teaching job in the Mont d’Or school, founded by the pedagogue Joan Palau Vera in Sarrià
Sarria
Sarria is a municipality in the province of Lugo, northwestern Spain, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Sarria is the most densely populate town on the French Way in Galicia, with 13 700 inhabitants...
, which also introduced for the first time in Spain life drawing
Figure drawing
In art, a figure drawing is a study of the human form in its various shapes and body postures - sitting, standing or even sleeping. It is a study or stylized depiction of the human form, with the line and form of the human figure as the primary objective, rather than the subject person. It is a...
. He married Manolita Piña 20 August 1909 in Barcelona. In this period, Torres García substituted formal elements of Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
origin for those specific to Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
(villas, farmers, labourers, etc.) imbuing his work with a contemporary Catalonian spirit.
The Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
journalist Roberto Payró
Roberto Payró
Roberto Jorge Payró was an Argentine writer and journalist.Payró founded the newspaper La Tribuna in the city of Bahía Blanca, where he published his first newspaper articles. He then moved to the city of Buenos Aires where he worked as an editor at the newspaper La Nación...
commissioned from Torres García two large panels for the Uruguayan pavilion at the Brussels International exposition of 1910 in which he represented allegories of agriculture and of ranching. In passing, he visited Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Rome and Paris. On his return, he settled in Vilassar de Mar
Vilassar de Mar
Vilassar de Mar is a municipality in the comarca of the Maresme in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated on the coast between Premià de Mar and Cabrera de Mar, to the north-east of Barcelona. The town is both a tourist centre and a dormitory town for Barcelona, and is also known for its horticulture...
, where his first daughter, Olimpia, was born. His work delighted some of his followers in Barcelona, such as Eugeni d'Ors
Eugeni d'Ors
Eugeni d’Ors i Rovira was a Catalan Spanish writer, essayist, journalist, philosopher and art critic...
, Roman Jori, Manuel Folch i Torres and Josep Clarà
Josep Clarà
Josep Clarà i Ayats was a Spanish sculptor.Clarà was born in Olot, Gerona, Spain in 1878. He attended the Olot School of Drawing with professor Josep Berga i Boix...
, who on his return convinced him to work on artistic projects that would bring renown to Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
. Several distinct commissions in the old palace of the Generalitat of Catalonia (the Catalan government), which had then been recently purchased as the seat of the provincial
Provinces of Spain
Spain and its autonomous communities are divided into fifty provinces .In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian , sing. província.*Galician , sing. provincia.*Basque |Galicia]] — are not also the capitals of provinces...
council of Barcelona
Barcelona (province)
Barcelona is a province of eastern Spain, in the center of the autonomous community of Catalonia.-Overview:It is bordered by the provinces of Tarragona, Lleida, and Girona, and by the Mediterranean Sea....
, ranged from some stained glass for the windows of the hall of the Consell de la Mancomunitat de Catalunya, to decorating the walls of the Salón de Sant Jordi
Saint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
. This last project, a series of murals, was the largest and most important in Torres-García's life, which he was expected to execute in accord with the ideological guidelines laid out by the president of this institution, Enric Prat de la Riba
Enric Prat de la Riba
Enric Prat de la Riba i Sarrà was a Catalan politician. He became a member of the Centre Escolar Catalanista, where one of the earliest definitions of Catalan nationalism was formulated....
. After a trip to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
to study fresco technique, he established himself in Terrassa
Terrassa
Terrassa is a city in the east central region of Catalonia, Spain, in the comarca of Vallès Occidental, of which it is the co-capital along with Sabadell, the historic capital....
, to which he had moved the Mont d’Or School.
In May 1913 he published his first book, Notes sobre Art ("Notes on Art"), which marked the de facto break with his principal theoretical defender, Eugeni d'Ors. D'Ors believed that Torres García had idealogically usurped the reference to the historic-iconographic Catalan identity that he had included in his book. On 19 June 1913 his second child, Augusto was born. He began to execute the first fresco for the Salón de Sant Jordi, La Cataluña eterna ("Eternal Catalonia"). At the end of that same month, be began the final stage of his first fresco for the San Jorge
San Jorge
San Jorge can refer to* San Jorge Island, an island in the Solomon Islands* San Jorge, Samar, a municipality in the Philippines* San Jorge River, a river in Colombia* São Jorge de Mina, a Portuguese-built castle in Ghana* the Spanish name for Saint George...
Salon (gallery), La Cataluńa eterna. At the same time he was finishing the fresco, Torres García founded the Escuela de Decoración (School of Decoration/Decorative Arts) in Sarrià
Sarria
Sarria is a municipality in the province of Lugo, northwestern Spain, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Sarria is the most densely populate town on the French Way in Galicia, with 13 700 inhabitants...
with a group of young pupils, with the specific intent of founding a school of muralists and decorators who would put his theories into practice. In August of the next year (1914), the Mont d'Or School closed due to bankruptcy. Torres García decided to remain in Tarrasa, where he designed and decorated what would become his residence, Mon Repòs.
On 10 December 1915, his third child was born at Mon Repòs, a daughter baptized Ifigenia, Aglás y Elena. In 1917, he met the Uruguayan painter Rafael Barradas, an important person in his life since he served as a catalyst for his artistic evolution toward abstraction, pursuing in his work a closeness to contemporary art from the complementary prism of tradition. Upon the death of Prat de la Riba
Enric Prat de la Riba
Enric Prat de la Riba i Sarrà was a Catalan politician. He became a member of the Centre Escolar Catalanista, where one of the earliest definitions of Catalan nationalism was formulated....
in 1917, Torres García immediately suspended work on his decorative jobs in the Salón de Sant Jordi, as well as his commissions. Beset by economic scarcity, he launched himself into a new activity: toymaking.
The Formative Years: 1919–1939
Along about 1919, Torres García met and associated with such people as J. V. Foix and Joan MiróJoan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
. He also returned to giving private drawing and painting lessons, one of his new clients being Sigfried Ribera, son of the composer Antoni Ribera.
Max Weber
Karl Emil Maximilian "Max" Weber was a German sociologist and political economist who profoundly influenced social theory, social research, and the discipline of sociology itself...
, the musician Edgar Varèse, Charles Logasa, John Xcéron, the Whitney
Whitney
-Places:Canada* Whitney, OntarioUnited Kingdom* Whitney-on-Wye, Herefordshire* Witney, OxfordshireUnited States* Whitney, California, a community in Placer County* Whitney, a neighborhood in Beverly, Visalia, California...
sisters, the painters Joseph Stella
Joseph Stella
Joseph Stella was an Italian-born, American Futurist painter best known for his depictions of industrial America. He is associated with the American Precisionism movement of the 1910s-1940s....
, David Karfunkle, Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
, and finally the Tawsend couple, who put him in contact with the Society of Independent Artists
Society of Independent Artists
Society of Independent Artists was an association of American artists founded in 1916 and based in New York.Based on the French Société des Artistes Indépendants, the goal of the society was to hold annual exhibitions by avant-garde artists. Exhibitions were to be open to anyone who wanted to...
, founded by Katherine Sophie Dreier
Katherine Sophie Dreier
Katherine Sophie Dreier was an artist and a patron of the arts. Her paintings were abstract with spiritual emphasis, and she was a member of the Abstraction-Création group.-Birth:...
, Marcel Duchamp, and Man Ray
Man Ray
Man Ray , born Emmanuel Radnitzky, was an American artist who spent most of his career in Paris, France. Perhaps best described simply as a modernist, he was a significant contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal...
, among others.
In the absence of any income, Torres García decided to return to Europe—specifically Italy—to dedicate himself anew to the toy business. He founded the Aladdin Toy Company, which received important orders from the Dutch house Metz & Co. In 1924, his fourth son, the painter Horacio, was born in Livorno
Livorno
Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...
, Italy. Charles Logasa encouraged Torres García to paint again with the intention of organizing an exhibition in Paris. Receiving favorable reviews, he decided to move his family to Paris in 1926. In 1928, he and Jean Hélion
Jean Hélion
Jean Hélion was a French painter whose abstract work of the 1930s established him as a leading modernist. His midcareer rejection of abstraction was followed by nearly five decades as a figurative painter...
, Alfred Aberdam
Alfred Aberdam
-Biography:Born in Lviv in 1894, in 1911 he started to study art at the Munich Academy. During World War I he was imprisoned by the Russians and stayed in the camp for prisoners of war in Siberia. In 1921 in Poland, he began his studies at Kraków's Academy of Fine Arts under Professor Teodora...
, Pierre Daura
Pierre Daura
Pedro Francisco Daura y Garcia was born on Minorca, Balearic Islands, Spain, a few days before his parents returned to their home in Barcelona and registered his birth there as February 21, 1896...
and Ernest Engel Rozier put on the exhibition Cinq refusés
Salon des Refusés
The Salon des Refusés, French for “exhibition of rejects” , is generally an exhibition of works rejected by the jury of the official Paris Salon, but the term is most famously used to refer to the Salon des Refusés of 1863.-Background:...
par le jury du salón d’Automne ("Five refused
Salon des Refusés
The Salon des Refusés, French for “exhibition of rejects” , is generally an exhibition of works rejected by the jury of the official Paris Salon, but the term is most famously used to refer to the Salon des Refusés of 1863.-Background:...
by the jury of the Autumn Salon"). Among the attendees was Theo Van Doesburg
Theo van Doesburg
Theo van Doesburg was a Dutch artist, practicing in painting, writing, poetry and architecture. He is best known as the founder and leader of De Stijl.-Biography:-Early life:...
, with whom he initiated a great friendship and extensive collaboration.
In this same period, he met Michel Seuphor, who presented him to Jean and Sophie Arp
Jean Arp
Jean Arp / Hans Arp was a German-French, or Alsatian, sculptor, painter, poet and abstract artist in other media such as torn and pasted paper....
, Adya and Otto Van Rees, Luigi Russolo
Luigi Russolo
Luigi Russolo was an Italian Futurist painter and composer, and the author of the manifesto The Art of Noises . He is often regarded as one of the first noise music experimental composers with his performances of "noise concerts" in 1913-14 and then again after World War I, notably in Paris in 1921...
, and Georges Vantongerloo
Georges Vantongerloo
Georges Vantongerloo was a Belgian abstract sculptor and painter and founding member of the De Stijl group.-Life:...
. Torres García was soon admitted to the group's meetings, which were headed by Piet Mondrian
Piet Mondrian
Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Mondriaan, after 1906 Mondrian , was a Dutch painter.He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group, which was founded by Theo van Doesburg. He evolved a non-representational form which he termed Neo-Plasticism...
. In these meetings were forged the nucleus of the future group Cercle et Carré ("Circle and Square"), promoter of the first exhibition of constructivist
Constructivism (art)
Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1919, which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of the 20th...
and abstract art
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...
in 1930, and of a magazine also called Cercle et Carré. Torres García contributed to constructivism the order and logic found in rules of composition such as the golden ratio
Golden ratio
In mathematics and the arts, two quantities are in the golden ratio if the ratio of the sum of the quantities to the larger quantity is equal to the ratio of the larger quantity to the smaller one. The golden ratio is an irrational mathematical constant, approximately 1.61803398874989...
and the inclusion of symbolic figures that represent man, knowledge, science, and the city.
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
of the Second Spanish Republic
Second Spanish Republic
The Second Spanish Republic was the government of Spain between April 14 1931, and its destruction by a military rebellion, led by General Francisco Franco....
, establishing in 1933 the Grupo Constructivo, with whom he exhibited in the Autumn Salon. The group wrote three texts called Guiones ("Guides") that reflected the spirit from which the group was formed and in which is evident the contructivist influence of Torres García.
In 1934, a year and a half after his arrival in Paris, Torres García decided to move for the last time to Uruguay, to his native Montevideo, where he was received as a member of the European artistic elite. He immediately exhibited his progressive artistic theories in a country rooted in the conservative European sensibility, that imposed the epithet of "quality" on everything imported from the old country, which soon turned Torres García into a controversial figure.
Torres García founded the Uruguay Society of Arts ("Sociedad de las Artes del Uruguay") with the objective of integrating all the arts and acting as a nexus between artists and the public. He presented the first retrospective of his work, in which his oldest son Augusto also participated, and began to give classes on the history of art at the Escuela Taller de Artes Plásticas. He rented a space at 1037 Calle Uruguay, which he converted into an exposition space known as Estudio 1037, and organized a first art showing in which participated national artists—Carmelo de Arzadun, Gilberto Bellini, José Cúneo Perinetti, Luis Mazzey, Bernabé Michelena]], Zoma Baitler, Carlos Prevosti, Augusto Torres-García, and himself—as well as foreigners—Germán Cueto
Germán Cueto
Germán Gutiérrez Cueto was a Mexican painter, sculptor, puppet designer and puppeteer. He joined the Academia de Artes in 1968 and belonged to the founding members.- Biography :...
, Pere Daura, E. Engel, Glycka, Jean Hélion
Jean Hélion
Jean Hélion was a French painter whose abstract work of the 1930s established him as a leading modernist. His midcareer rejection of abstraction was followed by nearly five decades as a figurative painter...
, Luc Lafnet, Charles Logasa
Charles Logasa
-Early life:Charles Logasa was born in Davenport, Iowa, United States, on July 14, 1883 to Sephardic Jewish parents and Ukrainian immigrants. His father was Seth Moses Logasa. He had two sisters, Jeanie Deana Bogen née Logasa, and Hannah Logasa He came with his parents to Omaha, Nebraska between...
, O. Van Rees and Eduardo Yepes.
In 1934, Torres García was named honorary professor of the Faculty of Architecture of Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
and in 1935 he published a book Estructura. He created the Asociación de Arte Constructivo (AAC) ("Constructive Art Association"), impregnated with the spirit of a truly American art. Through the society met many artists, such as Rosa Acle, J. Álvarez Marqués, Carmelo de Arzadum, Alfredo Cáceres, María Cańizas, Luis Castellanos, Amalia Nieto, Héctor Ragni, Lia Rivas, Carmelo Rivello, Alberto Soriano, Augusto Torres, Horacio Torres and Nicolás Urta. In 1936 the first issue of the AAC's publicity piece Círculo y Cuadrado ("Circle and Square") was published, continuing the French Cercle et Carré. The Círculo y Cuadrado published seven issues between 1936 and 1938, followed by a special final issue in December 1943. Its motto was "Total intransigence against naturalism." The intense teaching activity that Torres García maintained from 1934 to 1938 did not produce the results he had hoped and he questioned the continuation of the AAC in its current form.
In 1938, Torres García began to show influence by Pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
and indigenous art, such as is apparent in his work Monumento Cósmico, which juxtaposes figures like those he used in Paris, figures that made reference to man and the city using the traditional indigenous symbolism of South America.
From a philosophical point of view, Torres García was strongly influenced by the Theosophy
Theosophy
Theosophy, in its modern presentation, is a spiritual philosophy developed since the late 19th century. Its major themes were originally described mainly by Helena Blavatsky , co-founder of the Theosophical Society...
of Helena Blavatsky and the Anthroposophy
Anthroposophy
Anthroposophy, a philosophy founded by Rudolf Steiner, postulates the existence of an objective, intellectually comprehensible spiritual world accessible to direct experience through inner development...
of Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Steiner
Rudolf Joseph Lorenz Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, social reformer, architect, and esotericist. He gained initial recognition as a literary critic and cultural philosopher...
, as were other artists of the day, such as Piet Mondrian
Piet Mondrian
Pieter Cornelis "Piet" Mondriaan, after 1906 Mondrian , was a Dutch painter.He was an important contributor to the De Stijl art movement and group, which was founded by Theo van Doesburg. He evolved a non-representational form which he termed Neo-Plasticism...
, Paul Klee
Paul Klee
Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a German and a Swiss painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism...
, and Vasili Kandinski. In 1932, Torres García had joined the Theosophy Society in Uruguay, where he gave a talk entitled "Geometry, Creation, Proportion."
The Later Years: 1940–1949
In 1940, the AAC published the book 500ª Conferencia ("500th Conference"), which gathered together all of the talks Torres García had given in MontevideoMontevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
since his return. The book also signaled the end of the AAC. Torres García's disappointment with regard to the creation of the group and its failure is found in the published manuscript La ciudad sin nombre ("The City Without Name"), in which Torres García reflects his disillusion with the situation.
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, Gregorio Marañón
Gregorio Marañón
Gregorio Marañón y Posadillo was a Spanish physician, scientist, historian, writer and philosopher. He married Dolores Moya in 1911, they had four children ....
, Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet, diplomat and politician Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after Czech poet Jan Neruda....
, Lipschitz
Lipschitz
- People :Lipschitz is a surname, which may be derived from the Polish city of Głubczyce , and may refer to:* Daniel Lipšic, Minister of Interior in Slovakia* Dr...
, Braque, and Ozenfant. That year he also published his own artistic theory, called universalismo constructivo ("Constructive Universalism").
I have said School of the South; because in reality, our north is the South. There must not be north, for us, except in opposition to our South. Therefore we now turn the map upside down, and then we have a true idea of our position, and not as the rest of the world wishes. The point of America, from now on, forever, insistently points to the South, our north.
—Joaquín Torres García, Constructive Universalism, Bs. As., Poseidon, 1941.
In 1945, he published the first issue of the magazine Removedor, which served as a place to debate criticisms of his works and those of his students, as well as a publicity tool.
After his death in Montevideo 8 August 1949, the studio continued to function, being directed by some of his most dedicated students, until it finally closed in 1962 (although there is controversy regarding this date). The last official publication of the studio saw the light of day in January 1961 and was the third issue of the magazine Escuela del Sur ("The School of the South") which had replaced Removedor, whose final issue, number 28, was July–August 1953.
Torres García's call to artists not to renounce being Latin Americans, pretending to be contemporary through the formal investigation in their artistic careers, provided a new dimension in the construction of a modern and American language, constituting one of the definitive episodes in the Latin American vanguards.
Writings
- Augusta et Augusta, Barcelona, Universitat Catalana, 1904
- Dibujo educativo en el colegio Mont D’Or, Barcelona, 1907
- Notes sobre Art, Barcelona, 1913
- Diàlegs, 1914
- Descubrimiento de sí mismo, 1914
- Consells als artistes, Barcelona, Un enemic del poble, 1917
- Em digué tot aixó, Barcelona, La Revista, 1917
- D’altra orbita, Barcelona, Un enemic del poble, 1917
- Devem Caminar, Barcelona, Un enemic del poble, 1917
- Art-Evolució, Barcelona, Un enemic del poble, 1917
- El Públic i les noves tendéncies d’art, Barcelona, Velli nou, 1918
- Plasticisme, Barcelona, Un Enemic del poble, 1918
- Natura i Art, Barcelona, Un Enemic del poble, 1918
- L’Art en relació al home etern i l’home que passa, Sitges, Imprenta El eco de Sitges. 1919
- La Regeneració de si mateix, Barcelona, Salvat Papasseit Editor, 1919
- Foi, París, 1930
- Ce que je sais, et ce que je fais par moi-même, Losones, Suiza, 1930
- Pére soleil, París, Fundación Torres García, 1931
- Raison et nature, Ediciones Imán, París, 1932
- Estructura, Montevideo, 1935
- De la tradición andina: Arte precolombino, Montevideo, Círculo y cuadrado, 1936
- Manifiesto 2: Constructivo 100 %, Montevideo, Asociación de Arte Constructivo, 1938
- La tradición del hombre abstracto (Doctrina constructivista). Montevideo, 1938
- Historia de mi vida. Montevideo, 1939
- Metafísica de la prehistoria indoamericana, Montevideo, Asociación de Arte Constructivo, 1939
- Manifiesto 3, Montevideo, Asociación de Arte Constructivo, 1940
- La ciudad sin nombre. Montevideo, Uruguay, Asociación de Arte Constructivo, 1942
- Universalismo Constructivo, Montevideo, 1944
- Con respecto a una futura creación literaria y dos poemas, Divertimento 1 y Divertimento 11, Montevideo, Revista Arturo, 1944
- La decoración mural del pabellón Martirené de la colonia Saint Bois. Pinturas murales del pabellón hospital J.J. Martirené de la colonia Saint Bois (con Esther de Cáceres, Carmelo de Arzadum, Alfredo Cáceres, Pablo Purriel, Juan R. MenchacaJuan MenchacaJuan Ramón Menchaca is a Uruguayan rugby union player. He plays as a fullback or as a wing. He's currently a member of Carrasco Polo Club squad....
, y Guido Castillo). Montevideo, Gráficas Sur, 1944 - En defensa de las expresiones modernas del arte, Montevideo, 1944
- Nueva escuela de arte de Uruguay. Montevideo, Asociación de Arte Constructivo, 1946
- La regla abstracta. Montevideo, Asociación de Arte Constructivo, 1946
- Mística de la pintura, Montevideo, 1947
- Lo aparente y lo concreto en el arte, Montevideo, 1948
- La recuperación del objeto, Montevideo, 1948
Paintings
- La colada (The laundry), oilOil paintingOil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
on canvas, 1903, Museo Nacional de Artes Plásticas y Visuales. Montevideo. - La casa del lavadero (The house of the laundry room), oil on canvas on wood, 1903, Museo Abadía de Montserrat. Barcelona.
- El pintor con su familia (The painter with his family), oil on canvas, 1917, Museo Abadía de Montserrat. Barcelona.
- Hoy, tempera sobre cartón (Today, temperaTemperaTempera, also known as egg tempera, is a permanent fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigment mixed with a water-soluble binder medium . Tempera also refers to the paintings done in this medium. Tempera paintings are very long lasting, and examples from the 1st centuries AD still exist...
on cardboard), 1921, private collection. Valencia. - Escena callejera en Nueva York (Street scene in New York), oil painting, 1921.
- Paisaje de ciudad (City landscape), oil on cardboard, 1928.
- Nueva York (New York), oil on canvas, 1929, Museo Abadía de Montserrat. Barcelona
- Estructura avec forme T, 1930, Collection Alejandra, Aurelia and Claudio Torres (2011)
- Composición simétrica universal (Universal symmetrical composition), oil on canvas, 1931, Eduardo ConstantiniEduardo ConstantiniEduardo Francisco Costantini is an Argentine real estate developer, businessman, philanthropist and head of the venture capital firm Consultatio, based in Buenos Aires.-Life and times:...
Collection. Buenos Aires. - Constructivo con campana (Constructive with bell), 1932, oil on canvas, Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo.
- Composición en rojo, blanco y negro (Composition in red, white and black), 1938.
- Suburbio (Suburb), oil on cardboard, 1938, Museo Blanes. Montevideo.
- Arte Universal (Universal art), oil on canvas, 1943.
Murals
- Decoración mural de la Capilla del Santísimo Sacramento y de Montserrat de la Iglesia de San Agustín, Barcelona, 1904
- Decoración mural del ábside de la iglesia de la Divina Pastora, Sarriá, Barcelona, 1906
- Decoración mural del despacho de Hienda del Ayuntamiento de Barcelona. Barcelona, 1908
- Decoración mural del pabellón del Uruguay en la exposición universal con las alegorías Ganadería y Agricultura, Bruselas, 1910
- Palas introduciendo a la Filosofía en el Helikon como Xª Musa, Barcelona, 1911
- La Cataluña eterna, decoración mural del salón San Jorge, Palacio de la Generalitat, Barcelona, 1915
- La edad de oro de la humanidad, decoración mural del salón San Jorge, Palacio de la Generalidad, Barcelona, 1915
- Las musas o Las artes, decoración mural del salón San Jorge, Palacio de la Generalidad, Barcelona, 1916
- Lo temporal no es más que símbolo, decoración mural del salón San Jorge, Palacio de la Generalidad, Barcelona, 1916
- Decoración mural de Mon Repós, Tarrasa, Barcelona, 1915
- Decoración mural del domicilio Badiella, Tarrasa, Barcelona, 1916
- Maternidad, Clínica del Doctor Rodríguez López, Montevideo, 1944
- Forma, Decoración mural constructiva, pabellón Martirené del Hospital de Saint Bois, Montevideo, 1944
- El pez, Decoración mural constructiva, pabellón Martirené del Hospital de Saint Bois, Montevideo, 1944
- Pax in lucem, Decorsion mural constructiva, pabellón Martirené del Hospital de Saint Bois, Montevideo, 1944
- El tranvía, Decoración mural constructiva, pabellón Martirené del Hospital de Saint Bois, Montevideo, 1944
- El sol, Decoración mural constructiva, pabellón Martirené del Hospital de Saint Bois, Montevideo, 1944
- Locomotora Blanca, Decoración mural constructiva, pabellón Martirené del Hospital de Saint Bois, Montevideo, 1944
- Pachamama, Decoración mural constructiva, pabellón Martirené del Hospital de Saint Bois, Montevideo, 1944