“Joaquín Torres-García (Uruguayan. 1874–1949) is a central figure in the history of modern art in the Americas. He embraced the formal freedom of modernism without sharing the modern messianic fascination with progress, and aimed to produce an art that was at once timely and universal, constructive and symbolic, abstract and concrete. Throughout a career that spanned the first half of the twentieth century and encompassed painting, sculpture, fresco, drawing, and collage, Torres-García worked in various modes, from classic figuration to abstraction, from Symbolism to Constructivism, often revisiting his own stylistic history. Drawing on his vast knowledge of premodern and non-Western cultures, he developed a visual vocabulary of symbols and signs that he incorporated into his many grid-based paintings and sculptures.” — The Museum of Modern Art
Autorretrato (Self-portrait). c. 1902. Oil on canvas, 15 3/4 x 12 3/16″ (40 x 31 cm). Col·leció PPP © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015
Figura de mujer (Figure of a woman). 1900. Oil on board, 18 1/2 x 11 13/16″ (47 x 30 cm). Private collection. Switzerland. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Peter Schälchli, Zurich
Lo temporal no és més que símbol (The temporal is no more than symbol). 1916. Fresco transferred to canvas mounted on strainer, 226 3/8 × 130 5/16″ (575 × 331 cm). Generalitat de Catalunya Fons d’Art. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Ramon Maroto. Centre de Restauració de Béns Mobles de Catalunya, CRBMC. Generalitat de Catalunya
Design for the fresco “La Catalunya Industrial” (The industrial Catalonia). 1917. Gouache on paper. 47 1/4 x 31 1/8″ (120 x 79 cm). Generalitat de Catalunya Fons d’Art. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Ramon Maroto. Centre de Restauració de Béns Mobles de Catalunya, CRBMC. Generalitat de Catalunya
Entoldado (La Feria) (Canopy [The fair]). 1917. Oil on canvas, 20 1/16 x 28 9/16″ (51 x 72.5 cm). Private collection. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015
Ritmo de ciudad (City rhythm). 1918. Oil on board, 20 3/8 x 28″ (51.7 x 71.1 cm). Private collection, London. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo courtesy of Sotheby’s
Hoy (Today). c. 1919. Collage and tempera on cardboard, 20 11/16 × 14 3/4″ (52.5 × 37.5 cm). IVAM, Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Generalitat. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Juan García Rosell
Guitarra (Guitar). 1924. Painted wood. 12 1/2 x 4 x 3 1/8″ (37.7 x 10 x 7.7 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Fund, 1981. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Thomas Griesel
Interior. 1927. Oil on canvas, 18 1/8 × 13 3/4″ (46 × 35 cm). Private collection. Courtesy Galería Leandro Navarro. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Joaquín Cortés
Constructif locomotive nord (Constructive locomotive north). 1929. Oil on canvas, 21 1/4 x 25 3/8″ (54 x 64.5 cm). Private collection, Paris. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Aurélien Mole
Forma anímica en una estructura (Animistic form in a structure). c. 1929. Oil on canvas, 22 1/16 × 16 9/16″ (56 × 42 cm). Private collection. Courtesy Galería Leandro Navarro. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Joaquín Cortés
Hombre (Man). 1930. Painted woods (5 pieces), 8 1/16 x 3 1/8 x 1 1/4″ (20.5 x 8 x 3.2 cm). Guillermo de Osma, Madrid. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Joaquín Cortés Noriega
Dos figuras primitivas (Two primitive figures). 1930. Oil on wood panel, 13 3/8 x 9 13/16″ (34 x 25 cm). Private collection. Courtesy Galería Sur, Montevideo. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Eduardo Baldizan
Estructura en color (Color structure). 1930. Oil on canvas. 24 x 20″ (61 x 50.8 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection (by exchange), 2004. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Jonathan Muzikar
Composition. 1931. Oil on canvas. 36 1/8 x 24″ (91.7 x 61 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Larry Aldrich, 1956. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo Thomas Griesel
Construcción con formas curvas (Construction with curved forms). 1931. Oil and nails on wood. 19 1/2 x 16 1/8 x 1/2″ (49.5 x 41 x 1.3 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Given anonymously, 2012. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Thomas Griesel
Two superimposed forms. 1931. Oil and nails on wood, 10 1/4 x 6 5/16 x 1 3/16″ (26 x 16 x 3 cm). Private collection, Switzerland. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Peter Schälchli, Zurich
Constructif avec quatre figures (Constructive with four figures). 1932. Oil on canvas. 28 3/4 x 23 5/8″ (73 x 60 cm). Guillermo de Osma, Madrid. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Pablo Almansa
Forma abstracta en espiral modelada en blanco y negro (Spiral abstract form modeled in white and black). 1938. Tempera on cardboard, 31 7⁄8 x 18 1⁄2” (81 x 47 cm). Private collection. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo ©2015 The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Photo by Christian Roy
Construcción en blanco y negro (Construction in white and black). 1938. Oil on paper mounted on wood. 31 3/4 x 40 1/8″ (80.7 x 102 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in honor of David Rockefeller. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photograph by Thomas Griesel
Estructura en blanco y negro con ritmos curvos y oblicuos (Structure in white and black with curved and oblique rhythms). 1938. Tempera on cardboard, 31 7/8 x 19 11/16″ (81 x 50 cm). Private collection, Switzerland. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Peter Schälchli, Zurich
Construcción infinito (Infinity construction). 1942. Oil on canvas, 20 1/2 x 14 3/16″ (52 x 36 cm). Kasser Mochary Foundation, Montclair, New Jersey. Photo credit: © Kasser Mochary Foundation / by Mark Gulezian/QuickSilver
Energía atómica (Atomic energy). 1946. Oil on cardboard. 20 7/8 x 33 3/8″ (53 x 84.7 cm). Colección Guillermo Caballero de Luján, Valencia. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Juan García Rossell
Estructura a cinco tonos con dos formas intercaladas (Structure in five tones with two interspersed forms). 1948. Oil on cardboard, 19 11/16 x 20 1/2″ (50 x 52 cm). Private collection. Courtesy Galería Sur, Montevideo. © Sucesión Joaquín Torres-García, Montevideo 2015. Photo credit: Eduardo Baldizan
Images courtesy The Museum of Modern Art
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