JOAQUÍN TORRES-GARCÍA | Constructivo a cinco tonos

Estate of the artist
Horacio Torres, Montevideo (acquired from the above) 
Rose Fried Gallery, New York (acquired from the above) 
Adolfo M. Maslach, Caracas (acquired from the above) 
Thence by descent

Caracas, Museo de Bellas Artes, La Colección de Adolfo Maslach—Visión de una Poética Constructiva, 1997, no. 36
Bogotá, Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango, Joaquín Torres-García: armonías y resonancias, 1999, n.n.

Adolfo Maslach, Joaquín Torres-García: sol y luna del arcano, Caracas, 1998, n.n., illustrated in color p. 591

This work is painted on one of the artist's typically thin pieces of board. It has been gently supported on the reverse with foam core and two pieces of wood running vertically on the right and left. The paint layer is clean. The varnish is original to the artist. The paint layer reads very strongly under ultraviolet light in some areas, most of which corresponds to original paint or changes to the composition made by the artist. There is one visible area of unevenness in the clock face in the lower left, which is unrestored and was presumably in place when the work was painted. A few small scratches have been retouched in the red fish in the lower left, and a very thin scratch has been retouched in the extreme upper right corner. The work is in very original condition overall. (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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Painted in 1943, the same year he established the Taller Torres-García (TTG) in Montevideo to build a school dedicated to his aesthetic language, Constructivo a cinco tonos is an emblematic example of Torres-García’s artistic philosophy of Universal Constructivism. 

This language of pictograms and symbols is built upon what European artists found to be an uneasy harmony, at once “a geometric grid system based on the Golden Section [Ratio]… [yet] too figurative, too humanistic, too emotional” (Margit Rowell, “Order and Symbol: The European and American Sources of Torres-García’s constructivism,” in Torres-García, Grid-Pattern-Sign: Paris-Montevideo 1924-1944, Hayward Gallery, London, 1985-86, p. 9). Having moved to Barcelona from Montevideo at 18, Torres-García spent the majority of his early career between Spain, Italy, New York, and most critically the French capital of Paris. There, in 1926 he encountered geometric abstraction, and in 1930 founded (alongside Michel Seuphor) the influential group and publication Cercle et carré, dedicated to a utopian approach to geometric abstraction. He built a close, albeit contentious relationship with Theo van Doesburg, whose restriction to primary colors and severe “reduction of objects and figures to their essential contours, axes and relationships” inspired him and echoed his own search for harmony and order, but whose calculated and rational compositional approach conflicted with Torres-García’s belief in the centrality of balance between intellect and emotion in artmaking (ibid., p. 12). As Torres-García later built his pictorial language of Universal Constructivism, in which he embeds a universally legible series of symbols drawn from diverse realms of human experience within a perfectly balanced grid, he continued to employ van Doesburg’s strategy of reduction and purity.  In Constructivo a cinco tonos, Torres-García’s Universal Constructivism is fully realized. A tightly knit grid of figures, symbols representing time and the cycle of death, alongside many other icons, it presents an infinite number of potential readings. The geometric and architectonic harmony of this vibrant grid is emblematic not only of the influence of Mondrian and van Doesburg, but also of Inca masonry, which is based on certain spiritual and architectural principles that allowed architects to build complex, massive structures able to withstand earthquakes using only perfectly cut stones. “The grid is neither rigorous nor systematic. On the contrary, the gridded forms and geometric configurations appear intuitive and expressive” (ibid., p. 15). The marriage of rational geometry and ancient resonances found in Constructivo a cinco tonos embody the utopian spirit of Universal Constructivism and represent the work of a modern visionary at the height of his career.  



This work is included in the Joaquín Torres García Online Catalogue Raisonné (www.torresgarcia.com) as no. 1943.06.