Joaquín Torres García

Joaquín Torres García was a painter, writer and art theorist who born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1874. He is famed as founder of  Constructive Universalism, an art form that incorporates Latin American historic symbols and pre-Hispanic cultures. He completed his studies in Barcelona and then traveled across New York, Italy and finally settled in Paris in 1928. He linked with Modernismo art movement in Barcelona and did so many murals for Antoni Gaudí. In Paris he established friendships with Man Ray, Joan Miro, Joseph Stella etc.

In 1934 he returned to Uruguay with all the European art in his mind and molded a new style ie; Constructive Universalism. He wants something that is not stained by European art and founded this on the belief that simple objects and shapes could be understand prevalently irrespective of cultural/art academic knowledge.

In 1942, Torres García Workshop was created, a place of collective work and teaching, where his students learned to go through the course of art. He died in Montevideo, on 8 August 1949.

América invertida (inverted America, 1943)

Construction in White and Black (1938)

Construction in White and Black (1938)
Medium:Oil on paper mounted on wood
Dimensions:31 3/4 x 40 1/8" (80.7 x 102 cm)

This painting belongs to the series of gridded, bichromatic, abstract compositions Torres–García made between 1935 and the early 1940s. In this work, irregular, geometric forms evoke primal architectonic structures, and the dramatic contrast between light and shadow on the many planes creates an effect of depth and volume. The painting reflects the artist's deep engagement with the indigenous art and architecture of the Americas and, in particular, his interest in Incan stonework. The strong shading in each rectangular compartment gives the impression of stacked blocks, visually mimicking Incan masonry.(MoMA)

Constructivo (1928)-Ink on paper

Construcción 1944

The above mural  was done in 1944 by Torres Garcia for a hospital built for tubercular patients in Montevideo. There were 34 murals in total. Even though his age(he was about 70 years old was not suitable for this work, he started painting the walls by May 1944 since this being a unique opportunity to achieve in practice his theory that Constructivism was the ideal style to incorporate into modern architecture.Real problem arose when the whole work was unveiled on a public ceremony.The art critics declared them violent and aggressive and cautioned that the strident colors, would disturb the sick who were in need of physical and spiritual repose. The debate for and against the murals that ensued in the press went on for months, to such an extent that eventually a humorous note was published declaring that the murals had "turned out to be more dangerous and lethal than the Koch bacilli."

By 1970, the seven murals by Torres-García were in danger of being lost, threatened by the deterioration of the building. The Torres-García Foundation funded their restoration; removed from the walls and transferred to canvas, they were donated to Montevideo's Museum of Visual Arts, where they were shown in a Torres-García centenary retrospective in 1974. The following year, together with a large selection of Constructivist works by Torres-García, the murals were exhibited in Paris. In July 1978, as part of the exhibition "Geometría Sensível" in Rio de Janeiro, 73 works by Torres-García including the seven murals were destroyed in the fire that also consumed the entire collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

This painting, Construcción, 1944 is Torres-García's study for El Sol, the largest mural (over twenty feet long) of the project. This work is valuable not only because it is a testimony to the scope of the Constructivist muralist movement, and of its irreparable loss, but also because of its sheer originality.

Dos figuras constructivas primitivas (1945)