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拍品专文
This work will be included in the forthcoming Joachín Torres-García catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by Cecilia de Torres, under the archive number P 1938.31.
Please note this work has been requested for the exhibition Torres-García y lo primitivo to be held at the Fundacion Caixa de Girona from March-May 2007.
Grafismo mágico, painted in Joaquín Torres-García's later years, represents the confluence of his most significant ideas. As the synthesis of a style that was influenced by both past and present, this work conflates structure and symbol in a cohesive pattern. Indeed, it is an expression of "Universal Constructivism," the style for which he is best known and celebrated.
A pioneer of modernism whose vision was shaped by the two continents on which he lived, Torres-García looked to the ancient and mystical imagery drawn from Pre-Columbian sources, as well as to medieval symbolism. Combined with his own construction of modernism, the works embody his unique vision of order and intellect juxtaposed with emotion and intuition.
Born in Uruguay in 1874, Torres-García moved to Spain in 1891 with his family and settled in Barcelona a year later. Before the new century began, the young artist had become, along with Pablo Picasso and Julio Gonzalez, part of the Bohemian café scene. A few years later, Torres-García was recognized for his role in the creation of Antoni Gaudi's stained glass windows for the Palma de Mallorca Cathedral and was subsequently commissioned by the Sagrada family to construct windows in Barcelona. Torres-García also took great interest in Hellenistic philosophy, the result of which was the execution of various murals designed in a pastoral classical style reflective of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. In 1920, the artist sailed for New York, where he worked for two years before returning to Europe. He, like so many of his generation, found Paris irresistibly attractive, and relocated there in 1926. Eight years later he returned to his native Uruguay.
The impact of Paris on the artist cannot be overstated. While working there, Torres-García's work changed dramatically. The shift was due in great part to the influence of the geometric abstraction of Mondrian and Van Doesburg, which Torres-García merged with the ancient art of Pre-Columbian America. Margit Rowell speaks of this combination as "an uneasy marriage of a rational order and a primitive vision," and one which constitutes "the true significance of his 'Universal Constructivism.'" (Torres-García, Grid-Pattern-Sign: Paris-Montevideo 1924-1944, exh. cat. Hayward Gallery, London, 1985-86, p. 9).
Upon his return to Uruguay in 1934, Torres-García constructed a "cosmic monument" from stone--a work that reflects the synthesis and culmination of his artistic theory. Grafismo mágico relates directly to this extraordinary structure. Executed in a monochromatic palette (as the artist felt that color played a secondary role to order and symbolism), the present picture fuses an ancient and timeless language with modern representation. Margit Rowell discusses the works from these years as "the most graphic, densely patterned, abstractly constructed and filled with specifically Indian motifs of Torres-García's career." (ibid, p. 11).
Please note this work has been requested for the exhibition Torres-García y lo primitivo to be held at the Fundacion Caixa de Girona from March-May 2007.
Grafismo mágico, painted in Joaquín Torres-García's later years, represents the confluence of his most significant ideas. As the synthesis of a style that was influenced by both past and present, this work conflates structure and symbol in a cohesive pattern. Indeed, it is an expression of "Universal Constructivism," the style for which he is best known and celebrated.
A pioneer of modernism whose vision was shaped by the two continents on which he lived, Torres-García looked to the ancient and mystical imagery drawn from Pre-Columbian sources, as well as to medieval symbolism. Combined with his own construction of modernism, the works embody his unique vision of order and intellect juxtaposed with emotion and intuition.
Born in Uruguay in 1874, Torres-García moved to Spain in 1891 with his family and settled in Barcelona a year later. Before the new century began, the young artist had become, along with Pablo Picasso and Julio Gonzalez, part of the Bohemian café scene. A few years later, Torres-García was recognized for his role in the creation of Antoni Gaudi's stained glass windows for the Palma de Mallorca Cathedral and was subsequently commissioned by the Sagrada family to construct windows in Barcelona. Torres-García also took great interest in Hellenistic philosophy, the result of which was the execution of various murals designed in a pastoral classical style reflective of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. In 1920, the artist sailed for New York, where he worked for two years before returning to Europe. He, like so many of his generation, found Paris irresistibly attractive, and relocated there in 1926. Eight years later he returned to his native Uruguay.
The impact of Paris on the artist cannot be overstated. While working there, Torres-García's work changed dramatically. The shift was due in great part to the influence of the geometric abstraction of Mondrian and Van Doesburg, which Torres-García merged with the ancient art of Pre-Columbian America. Margit Rowell speaks of this combination as "an uneasy marriage of a rational order and a primitive vision," and one which constitutes "the true significance of his 'Universal Constructivism.'" (Torres-García, Grid-Pattern-Sign: Paris-Montevideo 1924-1944, exh. cat. Hayward Gallery, London, 1985-86, p. 9).
Upon his return to Uruguay in 1934, Torres-García constructed a "cosmic monument" from stone--a work that reflects the synthesis and culmination of his artistic theory. Grafismo mágico relates directly to this extraordinary structure. Executed in a monochromatic palette (as the artist felt that color played a secondary role to order and symbolism), the present picture fuses an ancient and timeless language with modern representation. Margit Rowell discusses the works from these years as "the most graphic, densely patterned, abstractly constructed and filled with specifically Indian motifs of Torres-García's career." (ibid, p. 11).