Joaquín Torres-García

Joaquín Torres-García (28 July 18748 August 1949), was a Spanish Uruguayan painter, theorist, teacher and author, who spent most of his adult life in Spain. Later, traveled and lived in the United States, Italy, France, and Uruguay. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for founding influential schools and groups, including the Escola de Decoració (School of Decoration) in Barcelona; Cercle et Carré (Circle and Square) in Paris—the first European abstract-art group, which brought together artists such as Piet Mondrian and Wassily Kandinsky; the Grupo de Arte Constructivo (Constructive Art Group) in Madrid; and the Taller Torres-García (Torres-García’s Workshop) in Montevideo.

In his paintings Torres-García developed a pictorial language, that was a synthesis between representation and abstraction. His pictograms, figures reduced to signs that function like a written language, were embedded within a geometric composition. His structural principles were rooted in classical traditions derived from Greek and Roman culture; he experienced in Catalonia during his youth—He first referred to it as Modern Classicism, later evolving it into what became known as Universal Constructivism. At its core was his conviction that geometry constitutes a universal visual language, shared instinctively across cultures and eras.thumb|alt=See caption|Portrait of Torres-García by [[Ramon Casas (Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya)]]

Early Life

1874

Joaquín Torres-García was born on July 28, 1874, in Montevideo, Uruguay, a bustling port city on the edge of the South American Pampas. He was the eldest child of Joaquim Torras Fradera, an immigrant from Mataró, Spain, and María García Pérez. His early years were spent in his father's general store Almacén de Joaquín Torres.

'The picturesque store was situated in the old Square of the Wagons, the arrival point for raw materials destined for export to Europe. Colonial Montevideo had a thriving port, railways, and a vibrant population, dotted with countless gauchos draped in capes, whips in hand.'

He attended public school only sporadically, preferring to read, draw and to work in his father’s store, inspecting all the merchandise arriving from abroad. "Much of his early education in this predominantly agricultural society came from observing the world around him..."

In 1891, Torres-García's father returned with the family to Spain, where he and his siblings became Spanish citizens. Young Torres-García studied under a local painter and quickly demonstrated a talent for art. He enrolled in the School of Fine Arts (Escuela de Bellas Artes de Barcelona), the Baixas Academy (Academia Baixas), and the Saint Lluc Artists' Circle.

Classmates included Ricard Canals, Manolo Hugue, Joaquim Mir, Isidre Nonell, Pablo Picasso, and Julio Gonzalez. 'Torres-García and Picasso were contemporaries, both beginning their artistic journeys in modern Barcelona, whose vibrant epicenter was the café Els Quatre Gats ...'

Torres-García contributed illustrations to the leading newspapers and magazines of the time, including La Vanguardia, Iris, Barcelona Cómica, and La Saeta. His work gained recognition for its distinctive style and sharp artistic sensibility.

In 1900, he faced a personal tragedy with the loss of his father.

Career

1900

Torres-García’s first big break came with a solo show at Sala La Vanguardia. The exhibition caught plenty of attention, prompting Miguel Utrillo to write a review titled “Joaquín Torres-García, Decorator” in Pèl i Ploma. The piece included a portrait of the artist by Ramon Casas, photos of several of his works—one even landing on the cover—and marked the debut of Torres-García’s first published text.“Impressions.”'

In 1903, Antoni Gaudí commissioned Torres-García to design stained-glass windows for Palma Cathedral, a project that ran from 1902 to 1905. Torres worked with Ivo Pascual and Jaime Llongueras on stained-glass designs for the presbytery. He created the lateral windows and the small rose window in the apse, interpreting Marian symbols such as the sun, moon, star, well, garden, tower, and temple, themes he would revisit throughout his life.

Through these commissions, Torres-García quickly became Barcelona’s leading artist of his generation. His stained glass, murals, and decorative creations brought vibrant life to churches, public spaces, and private homes. Critics praised him, institutions sought him out, and patrons followed. By the end of the decade, he was the foremost artistic figure in Barcelona, shaping both its public image and its modern artistic language through his paintings, articles, and teaching.

Although Eugenio d’Ors praised his work and promoted him within Noucentisme, Torres-García never embraced the movement. His own writings from 1904 and 1907 set him apart. For him, classicism was a tool for order and universality, not an ideology.

In 1907, Torres-García began teaching in the experimental school Colegio Mont d’Or, founded by his friend, the progressive educator Joan Palau Vera. Breaking away from academic routines, the school ditched copying from casts, prints, and books, opting instead for drawing based on direct observation of real life, using everyday objects like leaves, fruit, fish, flowers, and animals. This method became the foundation of the visual language that would later define his Universal Constructivism, first developed as a pedagogical practice.

Torres-García married Manolita Piña i Rubíes in 1909. She was the daughter of the merchant Jaume Piña i Segura, born in Palma (1830–1902), and Mercè de Rubies de Balaguer. She was an accomplished pianist with an artistic temperament. The couple had four children who were also notable artists, two girls named Olimpia Torres and Ifigenia and two boys named Augusto Torres and .

1910

thumb|upright=1.35|alt=Photo of an art gallery|[[Galeries Dalmau, 1912 Torres-García solo exhibition in Barcelona]]

thumb|upright=1.35|alt=See caption|Another view of the gallery

Shortly after the wedding Torres-García and Manolita journeyed to Brussels where he commissions to paint murals for a pavilion at the Brussels International World Fair. Five months later they spent an extended period in Paris, where he explored museums and galleries, visited friends and studios. Around this time, his work started to show elements of cubism, reflecting the ideas outlined in "Du Cubisme," published in 1912.

In 1911, Torres-García displayed the painting 'Philosophy X Musa' at the sixth International Exhibition of Art in Barcelona, subsequently donating it to the Institut d'Estudis Catalans. Since its debut, this work has been consistently recognized by historians as a foundational piece of noucentisme. Torres-García created a second version of this painting, which is now housed in the collection of the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid.

In 1912, two exhibitions were held at the Galeries Dalmau: Torres-García (works from his Noucentista period) and Pablo Picasso, with drawings from his Blue Period (February - March 1912).

Torres-García published his first book, Notes sobre Art (Notes on Art), in May 1913. In the introduction, he wrote: "These short essays may be of interest also because they are closely related to, something that is alive, sprung from our tradition, in thought and in reality, to form the true Renaissance of Catalonia" ("Aquestes curtes notes poden tenir interès, demes, per anar estretament lligades, com quelcom de viu, a tot o que arrencant de la nostra tradició, en el pensament i en la realitat, tendeix a formar el ver Renaixement e Catalunya" ).

Torres-García founded the Escuela de Decoración (School of Decoration/Decorative Arts) in Sarrià. "Prat de la Riba (president of the Council) had then his newly formulated conception of Catalan nationalism, and sees in the Mediterranean tradition proposed a positive content for the national profile, rich in spiritual substance."

Prat de la Riba commissioned Joaquín Torres-García to paint frescoes for the atrium of the Municipal Palace of Barcelona, the fifteenth-century Gothic seat of the Catalan government. Over the following five years, Torres-García completed four monumental frescoes and studies for two additional compositions. The murals became emblematic of Catalan Noucentisme.

"In the fourth mural... Torres-Garcia represented a gigantic Pan-God with a quote from Goethe's 'Faust' at his feet: 'The temporal is only a symbol'. 'That is the key to all the poetics of Torres-García, the will to surrender to the ephemeral in order to reach eternity,' explained Llorens. For Torres-García, classicism was the door of a better future, not a brake for modernity."

Torres-García used iconostatic composition for pagan subjects adapted to modern themes, demonstrating that classicism is not unique to the Greeks. What interested him was the rhythmic structure underlying the image, an idea he later described in El Descubrimiento de sí mismo and Evolucionista (both published in 1917). The same structural principles would later reappear in his Constructivist works.

He designed and decorated his home in Tarrasa ("Mon Repos") with frescoes, and invited friends and pupils to a housewarming party.

In 1918, "Torres-García can be seen exploring the grid structure,' on the one hand as an inherent characteristic of a modern city and on the other as a form to explore the symbolic potential of everyday motifs. He also explored the potential for language within images, as in the 1916–17 drawing 'Descubrimiento de si mismo (Discovery of Oneself)."

He presented an exhibition at Galeries Dalmau of "Joguines d'Art (Artistic Toys)": "The toys teach children which are the correct colors, the correct forms. Each toy is a form, a color that mixes with other shapes and colors and finally becomes a whole: a dog, a car, a city. The toys guide future generations to acquire a natural eye."

1920

Torres-García visited Paris for a second time with thirty-two crates of paintings, his intention was to travel to United States. In Paris he met with Picasso, who advised him to remain in Paris: "Do not to go to America, because it will be like leaping into a void".

In comparing their work, they discovered that his style shifted from classicism to Cubism, while Picasso’s took the opposite path. Torres-García traveled to New York. "He determined to take the pulse of the greatest and most modern of cities, New York." He drew all, cityscapes, featuring bridges, boats, cars, and people. He also wrote the manuscript *New York*, which he completed in Paris in 1926. He met everyone, visited speakeasies, published articles, and even painted theater scenery.

He lived in Manhattan: first on 49th Street, then on 14th Street and finally on West 29th Street. He painted a series of portraits, including one of Joseph Stella. Alongside partners like Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and others, he revised a version of his Artistic Toys he had originally created in Barcelona through a company called Alladin Toys.

He exhibited at the Whitney Studio gallery and the Society of Independent Artists with Stuart Davis and Stanisław Szukalski in 1922, describing his work as "expressionistic and geometric at the same time, and very dynamic".

In 1922, Torres-García returned to Italy, settling just outside Florence and moving the toy production there due to the lower costs.

During this time, he was hit with bad news: his mother passed away, and Spain banned the Catalan language, including all of his writings.

He settled in Villefranche-sur-Mer in 1925 and had another solo exhibition at Galeries Dalmau in Barcelona.

Torres-García returned to Paris for the third time in 1926, and was a key animator of the interwar abstract movement over the next six years.

"However, by returning to the Classicism of his early work he made it clear that this was not an artistic language he had sought to vanquish through abstraction".

He had a solo exhibition at the Galerie Zak in December 1928 and was part of a group exhibition at the Galerie des Editions Bonaparte with John Graham, Kakabadze, Tutundjian, and Vantongerloo in August 1929. Torres-García then had another solo exhibition at the Galerie Carmine.

As a correspondent for the Catalan literary magazine Mirador, he wrote a series of articles on painters, including an interview with Georges Braque.

1930

thumb|Joaquín Torres-García, "Constructive" Oil on canvas, 65 x 54 cm. Collection Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.

For Torres-García, Constructivism was no different from Neoplasticism—just another label. What truly mattered was crafting a new image and a new visual language within a traditional composition, where he skillfully balanced representation and abstraction using signs.

He had two solo exhibitions in 1931 at the Galerie Jeanne Bucher and the Galerie Percier, and a group show in October of that year at the Galerie Georges Petit with Giacometti, Ozenfant, Max Ernst, Joan Miro, and Salvador Dalí.

The following year, Torres-García presented a solo exhibition of paintings and sculptures at the Galerie Pierre. "The friendship between van Doesburg and Torres-Garcia will create the foundations for the three most important movements to promote abstract art: "Cercle et Carre" (1929–1930), "Art Concret" (1930); and "Abstraction-Creation"(1931–1936)."

He founded the magazine Cercle et Carre and assembled a group of 80 artists to exhibit . Many artists admired and studied his work, which was extensively exhibited in New York and Europe posthumously. Like Louise Nevelson, Adolph Gottlieb, Barnett Newman,

Works

Mon Repos frescoes

Frescoes Torres-Garcia created in 1914 for his home built in the surrounding suburbs of Barcelona. Where removed and are currently shown at Terrassa <gallery mode="packed" heights="180px">

117 Centre Cultural Terrassa, Melioribus annis, mural de Joaquim Torres Garcia.jpg|

114 Centre Cultural Terrassa, Vitam impendere vero, mural de Joaquim Torres Garcia.jpg|

116 Centre Cultural Terrassa, Omnia mecum porto, mural de Joaquim Torres Garcia.jpg|

115 Centre Cultural Terrassa, Est modus in rebus, mural de Joaquim Torres Garcia.jpg|

</gallery>

Palau de la Generalitat (1913-1917)

The Joaquín Torres-García Hall in the Palace of the Generalitat of Catalonia houses the frescoes painted by the artist on the walls of Salon Sant Jordi from 1912 to 1916, commissioned by President of the Council and the Commonwealth of Catalonia Enric Prat de la Riba. Torres-García worked on the first mural for 13 days, beginning on 28 July 1912, and it was unveiled on 13 September of that year.

Major exhibitions

April 12 - June 29, 2018, The Worlds of Joaquín Torres-Garcia, Acquavella Galleries, New York.
25 October 2015 – 15 February 2016, Joaquín Torres-García: the Arcadian modern, Museum of Modern Art, New York
29 December 2013 – 2 March 2014, Art & Textiles: fabric as material and concept in modern art from Klimt to the present, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany
22 Apr 2013 – 30 Jun 2013, From Picasso to Barceló: Spanish Sculpture of the 20th Century, National Art Museum of China
16 May – 11 September 2011, Torres-García a les seves cruïlles (Torres-García at his Crossroads), Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC), Barcelona
20 February 2010 – 30 May 2010, Joaquín Torres-García: Constructing Abstraction with Wood, the San Diego Museum of Art
27 March 2009, Trazos de Nueva York, Museo Torres-Garcia, Montevideo
December, 2008 - April 2009, Torres García a Vieira da Silva, 1929–1949, IVAM, Valencia, Museu Colecção Berardo, Portugal
8 October 2005 – 15 February 2006, Le feu sous les cendres : de Picasso à Basquiat, Fondation Dina Vierny-Musée Maillol, Paris
7 October 2005 – 19 February 2006, Obras maestras del siglo XX en las colecciones del IVAM, Valencia
25 November 2003 – 11 April 2004, Torres-Garcia, Museu Picasso, Barcelona
2003, Jean-Michel Basquiat-Gaston Chaissac-Jean Dubuffet-Joaquin Torres-Garcia, Jan Krugier Gallery, New York
September 2002, From Puvis De Chavannes to Matisse and Picasso : Toward Modern Art, Palazzo Grassi, Venice
24 May – 8 September 2002, Joaquin Torres-Garcia : un monde construit : Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, Strasbourg
31 May – 23 August 1992 Joaquin Torres-Garcia en Theo van Doesburg, The Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam

Bibliography

Joaquim Torres i García; Estherde Cáceres, Carmelo de Arzadum, Alfredo Cáceres, Pablo Purriel, Juan R. Menchaca, i Guido Castillo, the decoration mural of the Martirené pavilion of the colony Saint Bois. Murals paintings of pavilion J.J. Martirené Hospital of the colony Saint Bois. South graphs. Montevideo, 1944.
Claude Schaefer, Joaquin Torres García. Ed. Poseidón. Library Argentina de Arte. Buenos Aires, 1949.
Josep Francesc Ràfols, Biographical Dictionary of artists of Catalonia. Torres-Garcia, Joaquin, Volume III, p. 153. Barcelona, Milà, 1966.
Daniel Robbins, Joaquin Torrers-Garcia, 1874–1949. Ed. by Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design. Providence, 1970.
Enric Jardí, Torres García. Editorial Polígrafa, S. A., Balmes, 54 – 08007, Barcelona, 1973.
Jacques Lassaigne, Ángel Kalenberg, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, Michel Seuphor, Jean Hélion, Torres-Garcia. Construction et Symbols. Published by the Museum of Modern Art of Villa of Paris. Catalogue of the exhibition made between June and August 1975. Paris, 1975.
Jacques Lassaigne, Torres-Garcia. Works destroyed in the fire of the museum of modern art of Rio de Janeiro, Published by the Torres Foundation Garci'a. Montevideo, Uruguay. 1981.
Margit Rowell, Theo van Doesburg, Joaquín Torres-García, Torres Garcia Structure. Paris-Montevideo 1924–1944 Edited by Foundation Joan Miró. Catalogue of the exhibition in the Fundació Joan Miró, Parc de Montjuic in March 1986. Barcelona, 1986.
Ángel Kalenberg, Seis Maestros De La Pintura Uruguaya: Juan Manuel Blanes, Carlos Federico Saez, Pedro Figari, Joaquin Torres García, Rafael Barradas y José Cúneo. Edited by Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Buenos Aires. Catálogo de la exposición realizada entre Septiembre y Octubre de 1987. Avda. del Libertador, 1473. Buenos Aires, 1987. Montevideo, 1987.
Alicia Haber, Joaquin Torres Garci'a. Eternal Catalonia. Sketches and drawings for the fresh airs of the Delegation of Barcelona. Edited by Foundation Torres García. Montevideo, 1988.
María Jesús García Puig, Joaquin Torres Garcia and the Constructive Universalismo: The education of the art in Uruguay. Editions of Hispanic culture. Collection Art. Madrid, 1990.
Jorge Castle, Nicolette Gast, Eduardo Lipschutz-Villa, and Sebastián López, The antagonistic Link. Joaquin Torres Garcia-Theo van Doesburg. Published by Institute of Contemporary Art. Ámsterdam, 1991.
Pilar Garcia-Sedas, Joaquin Torres the Striped Garcias and Rafael. Dialeg escrit: 1918–1928. Publicacions of l' Abbey of Montserrat. Barcelona, 1994.
Joan Sureda Pons, Narcís [Narciso], Comadira and Mercedes Doñate, Torres Garcia: Pintures de Mon Repos, Published by the Museum of modern Art of the Museum of Art of Catalunya and the Caixa of Terrassa. I catalogue of the exhibition that place in the museum of modern art of the MNAC took, and in the Cultural Foundation of the Caixa of Terrassa. Barcelona, January 1995.
Pilar García-Sedas, Joaquim Torres Garcia. Epistolari Català: 1909–1936. Curial Edicions Catalan. Publicacions of l' Abbey of Montserrat, Barcelona, 1997.
Joan Sureda Pons, Torres Garcia. Classic passion. Akal editions/contemporary Art. Number 5. Madrid, 1998.
Carlos Pérez, Pilar Garcia-Sedas, Mario H. Gradowczyk and Emilio Ellena, Aladdin Toys. Them joguines of Torres Garcia. Published by the IVAM. I catalogue of the exhibition that took place in the Valencian Institute of Modern Art in September 1998.
Miguel Angel Battegazzore, the plot and the signs, Impresora Gordon, S.A. Av. General Rondeau 2485, Montevideo, 1999.
Gabriel Peluffo Linari, History of the Uruguayan painting. Editions of Eastern band limited liability company. Gaboto 1582. Montevideo 11200. Uruguay, 1999 imaginary Tomo the 1 National-regional (1830–1930) from Blanes to Figari Tomo 2 Between localismo and universalismo: Representations of modernity (1930–1960).
Michael Peppiatt, Jean-Michel Basquiat - Gaston Chaissac - Jean Dubuffet - Joaquin Torres-Garcia, New York, catalogue of the exhibition that took place in Jan Krugier Gallery, 2003.
Tomàs Llorens, Emmanuel Guigon, J.Torres-Garcia Un monde construit, Hazan, Strasbourg, 2002, catalogue of the exhibition that took place in Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg, 24 May to September 2002.
Tomàs Llorens, Emmanuel Guigon, Juan José Lahuerta, J. Torres-Garcia, Editorial Ausa y Institut de Cultura de Barcelona, Barcelona, 2003, catalogue of the exhibition that took place in Museo Picasso de Barcelona, 25 November to 11 April 2004.
Nicolás Arocena Armas, Eric Corne, Marina Bairrão, Emmanuel Guigon, Domitille D'Orgeval, La ituicion y la Estructura, Lisboa, Museo Coleccao Berardo, 2008.
Tomás Llorens, Nicolás Arocena Armas, Torres-Garcia a les seves cruilles-Torres-Garcia en sus encrucijadas. Barcelona, Spain: Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya 2011.
Llorens, Tomas. Arocena Armas, Nicolas, J.Torres-Garcia, New York, Joaquin Torres-Garcia Archive, 2011. Notes

References

Arocena Armas, Nicolas. Torres-Garcia- Pythagoras- Plato A Geometric Dialogue, or the Eye of the Soul, Lisboa, Museo Coleccao Berardo, 2008
Arocena Armas, Nicolas. Biography. Torres-Garcia a les seves cruilles-Torres-Garcia en sus encrucijadas. Barcelona, Spain: Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya 2011.
Llorens, Tomas.Torres-Garcia a les seves cruilles-Torres-Garcia en sus encrucijadas. Barcelona, Spain: Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya 2011
Llorens, Tomas. J.Torres-Garcia, New York, Joaquin Torres-Garcia Archive, 2011.
Llorens, Tomas. Torres-Garcia. Editorial Ausa, 2003
Robbins, Daniel. Joaquin Torres-Garcia 1874–1949. Providence, Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design, 1970
Rafols, F. Josep, Torres-Garcia, Barcelona, 1926.
Schaefer, Claude. Joaquin Torres-Garcia. Buenos Aires, Editorial Poseidon, 1949.
Sureda Pons, Joan. Torres-Garcia, Pasion Clasica. Madrid, Ediciones Akal, 1998
Surio, Dario. Torres-Garcia. Rose Fried Gallery, New York, 1965
Torres-Garcia, Joaquin. Historia de mi vida. Montevideo, Ediciones Asociacion Arte Constructivo, 1939.