Joaquín Torres-García
Joaquín Torres-García (28 July 1874 – 8 August 1949) was a prominent Uruguayan-Spanish artist, theorist, and author, renowned for his international impact in the modern art world. Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, his family moved to Catalonia, Spain, where his artistic journey began. His career spanned several countries including Spain, New York, Italy, France, and Uruguay. A founder of art schools and groups, he notably established the first European abstract-art group, Cercle et Carré (Circle and Square), in Paris in 1929 which included Piet Mondrian and Kandinsky. Torres-García's legacy is deeply rooted in his development of Modern Classicism and Universal Constructivism.
In this article, the surname is Torres-Garcia.
Joaquín Torres García
8 August 1949 (aged 75)
- Uruguayan
- Spanish
Escuela Oficial de Bellas Artes Barcelona
Painting, sculpture, writing, teaching, illustration
Modern art, noucentisme, constructivism, universal constructivism
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Biography[edit]
1874[edit]
Joaquín Torres-García was born on July 28, 1874, in Montevideo, Uruguay, a bustling port city amidst 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 Almacen de Joaquín Torres, his father's general store. [1] "The picturesque store situated in the old Square of the Wagons, the arrival point of the raw material of the country for export to Europe. The colonial Montevideo had a port, trains, and a vibrant population dotted with countless gauchos wrapped in capes with whip ready in hand."[2] "Much of his early education in that predominantly agricultural society came from his observation of the things around him ... "[3]
In 1891, Torres-García's father moved the family back to Spain, where Torres-Garcia and his siblings acquired Spanish citizenship.[4] Torres-García studied with a local painter, and soon showed an aptitude for art. When the family moved to Barcelona, he enrolled in the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona (Escuela de Bellas Artes de Barcelona), the Baixas Academy (Academia Baixas) and the Saint Lluc Artists Circle.[5] "Torres-García and Picasso were contemporaries. Both began their artistic lives in modern Barcelona ... whose privileged epicenter was the cafe Els Quatre Gats ..."[6] Classmates included Ricard Canals, Manolo Hugue, Joaquim Mir, Isidre Nonell, Pablo Picasso, and Julio Gonzalez. Torres-García contributed his drawings to the principal newspapers and magazines of the time: La Vanguardia, Iris, Barcelona Cómica and La Saeta. In 1900, Torres-García experienced the loss of his father.
1900[edit]
Torres-García's first significant success came with his solo exhibition at the Salon La Vanguardia Gallery. Miguel Utrillo penned a review entitled 'Joaquin Torres-Garcia, Decorator,' which was featured in Pèl i Ploma. Accompanying the review were a portrait of Torres-García by Ramon Casas, photographs of several of Torres-Garcia paintings, including one on the magazine's cover, and his first article, 'Impressions'.[7]
In 1903, Antoni Gaudí commissioned Torres-García to create stained-glass windows for the Palma Cathedral. This project, spanning from 1902 to 1905, became a key event in his career. Torres-García worked on the Cathedral of Palma de Majorca, a Spanish Gothic masterpiece, crafting the lateral stained-glass windows and the small rose window in the apse. His interpretation of Marian symbols – the sun, the moon, the star, the well, the garden, the tower, the temple – were themes he revisited throughout his career. Following this, Torres-García received numerous commissions for murals, including work for the Church of San Agustin, the Church of the Divina Pastora, and the Torre del Campanar house.
Eugenio d'Ors, the originator of the term Noucentisme, lauded the works of Torres-García displayed at the Sala Parés in 1903. He wrote a text for Torres-García's exhibition at the Galeries Dalmau in 1912 and often mentioned his work in 'La Ben Plantada,' a book epitomizing the noucentisme movement. However, Torres-García did not align himself with D'Ors' views. His divergence was evident in two texts he published before the emergence of noucentisme around 1910: "Augusta et Augusta" (1904) and "La nostra ordinacio I el nostre cami" (1907). In classicism, Torres-García sought a model for order, a language, and a cultural reference point that would enable him to transcend realism and develop Catalan art on a universal scale. He eventually distanced himself from noucentista artists like Sunyer, Canals, Aragay, and D'Ors.
In 1907, Torres-García began his teaching career and soon became involved with the experimental school Colegio Mont d'Or, founded by his friend and progressive educator Joan Palau Vera. Breaking away from the conventional academic methods of the time, Colegio Mont d'Or eschewed traditional copy exercises from casts, prints, or books. Instead, drawing lessons were grounded in direct observation of reality, using common household objects, leaves, fruits, fish, flowers, and animals. This approach laid the groundwork for the vocabulary of his Universal Constructivism, emerging as a progressive pedagogical exercise.
Torres-García married the Spanish-Uruguayan painter Manolita Piña i Rubíes in 1908.[8] She would go on to found the Museo Torres García.[9] The couple had four children who were also notable artists, two girls named Olimpia Torres and Ifigenia and two boys named Augusto Torres and Horacio Torres.[10]