Joaquín Torres-García: The Arcadian Modern

Joaquín Torres-García is one of the most complex and emblematic modern masters from the first half of the 20th century, whose work determined transformational paths for modern art on both sides of the Atlantic. Drawn toward both the avant-garde and the primitive, the schematic and the utopian, he participated in some of the most crucial intellectual and artistic discussions of the past century. His close involvement with several early modern and avant-garde movements, from Catalan Noucentisme to Cubism, Ultraism, Vibrationism and Neo-Plasticism, make him an unparalleled figure in the history of modernism in the Americas.
Published in conjunction with the first major, all-inclusive retrospective of the artist’s work in the US since the 1970s, this richly illustrated publication presents Torres-García’s long and wide-ranging career, from the late 19th century to the 1940s, and includes drawings, paintings, objects, sculptures and rare manuscripts. Combining a chronological presentation with a thematic approach, the book is structured as a series of chapters interspersed with plates that encompass the artist’s entire oeuvre, followed by an illustrated chronology and an extensive bibliography.
Joaquín Torres-Garcia was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1874. By the turn of the century he had relocated to Spain, where he attended the Escola Municipal d’Arts I Oficis, the Escola Oficial de Belles Artes La Llotja and the Academia Baixas, becoming a central figure in the Catalonian artistic scene of the early 20th century. He lived in Madrid, Paris, New York, Livorno and Villefranche-sur-mer, before returning to Montevideo in 1934, where he established the Asociación de Arte Constructivo, followed by the Taller Torres-García, key platforms in his pedagogical enterprise alongside his numerous published writings and conferences. He died in Montevideo in 1949.