Joaquín Torres-García (1874-1949)

Estate of the artist
Horacio Torres Collection 
Estate of Horacio Torres
Private Collection, New York
Galerie Jan Krugier, New York
Private Collection, Spain

New York, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., Joaquín Torres-García - Paintings, Constructions and Drawings, September 9-October 3, 1981, no. 12, illustrated on the cover
London, Gimpel Fils, Joaquín Torres-García: Paintings & Constructions, June 19-July 14, 1984, no. 6
New York, Jan Krugier Gallery, Torres-García, November 1987
Punta del Este, Galería Sur, Joaquín Torres-García Construcciones en Madera y Óleos, Summer, 1993, no. 12, p. 27, illustrated 
São Paulo, XXII Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, Joaquín Torres-García, October 12-December 10, 1994, no. 16, p. 49, illustrated
Zaragoza, Centro de Exposiciones y Consejos, April 10-June 22, 1997; Huesca, Sala de Exposiciones de la Diputación de Huesca, Joaquín Torres-García: Pintura y Teórico, July 11-August 24, 1997, no. 14, p. 66, illustrated
Logroño, Sala Amos Salvador, Cultural Rioja, August 28–September 28, 1997; Pamplona, Museo de Navarra, Joaquín Torres-García: Artista y Teórico, October 16-November 23, 1997, no. 21, p. 91

Roberto Benítez, "Torres-García e o Estilo do Exílio," Arte Hoja, May 1978, p. 39, illustrated 
Miguel A. Battegazzore, Torres-García: La trama y los signos, Montevideo, Gordon, 1999, no. 1, p. 12, illustrated 

This painting is unlined. The tacking edges have been reinforced and it has been stretched onto a new stretcher. The paint layer is clean and very lightly varnished. There is a small spot of retouching in the center of the right side and a half-inch square restoration in the lower center of the right side that are visible under ultraviolet light. There is a diagonal line of what appear to be retouches in the lower left quadrant. The only other retouches visible are in the extreme edges in the black border. The work is in beautiful condition and should be hung as is. (This condition report has been provided courtesy of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.)
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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In the seminal 1948 essay “The Crisis of the Easel Picture,” notable American art critic Clement Greenberg wrote about a new pictorial “polyphony,” an “all over” uniformity in the canvas surface. He considered it an important new phase in the history of painting that answered to something deeply seated in contemporary sensibility. Among the artists who created this new development he credited Joaquín Torres-García, Jean Dubuffet, Mark Tobey, and Jackson Pollock. [1]

In Graphisme en Noir et Rouge (1931), a superb example of Torres-García's definitive style, the "all over" effect Greenberg described is achieved by crossing black and earth red lines. These lines not only construct the scaffolding on which symbols are inscribed, but also subdivide each into smaller sections so that they are integral to the grid. The result is a vibrantly textured surface of lines and light brushstoke touches.

But there is still another layer of significance beyond the "all over" painterly surface: because Torres-García was dissatisfied with the pure abstractions of his contemporaries of the De Stijl group, he wanted to include the complex and rich aspects of human experience, from the spiritual to the everyday.  To achieve this he created a schematic, symbolic language system of basic images that function as containers of meaning. 

In Graphisme en Noir et Rouge, he drew a simple house, a clock, a bell, a man, a ship, a mask, a fish, the number 5, and the letters MP (his wife, Manolita Piña's, initials). "Symbols" he wrote, "give perceptible form to the imperceptible, they access our mind directly without any explanation, they are the nexus between reason and nature." By uniting figuration and abstraction in his paintings in such an unusual way, the artist achieved a synthesis that melds order and intellect, the natural world, emotion and intuition, thereby creating a new phase in XXth century art that transcended Cubism, Surrealism and Neoplasticism.

Cecilia de Torres
October 2015

[1] Clement Greenberg: The Collected Essays and Criticism, ed. John O’Brian, vol. 2, Arrogant Purpose, 1945–1949,   (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986), 223.