Edited with text by Luis Pérez-Oramas. Text by Alexander Alberro, Sergio Chejfec, Estrella de Diego, Geaninne Gutiérrez-Guimarães.
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.
Luis Pérez-Oramas is the Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Alexander Alberro is professor of Art History and Department Chair at Barnard College in New York.
Sergio Chejfec is a novelist and has published numerous works of fiction and essays. He teaches in the Creative Writing in Spanish Program at the New York University.
Estrella de Diego is a curator and professor of Contemporary Art at the Complutense University, Madrid (UCM), and a regular columnist for Spanish newspaper El País.
Geaninne Gutiérrez-Guimarães is a Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Joaquín Torres-García, "Composition", 1931, is reproduced from Joaquín Torres-García: The Arcadian Modern.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Bookforum
Christopher Lyon
This indispensable book follows the peripatetic artist through his variegated career, beginning in Barcelona at the turn of the twentieth century, and then moving on to Paris, New York, Madrid, and many points between.
Art in America
Stephen Westfall
Torres-García's own oeuvre looks as fresh today as the work of any of his progeny... The depth of his work and the stories behind it are handsomely represented in this exhibition and the five essays in the indispensible catalogue.
in stock $60.00
Free Shipping
UPS GROUND IN THE CONTINENTAL U.S. FOR CONSUMER ONLINE ORDERS
Joaquín Torres-García was fascinated by "what is chaotic, in terms of form and what is germinal, in terms of sign or cypher," Luis Pérez-Oramas writes in MoMA's stellar new exhibition catalogue, Joaquín Torres-García: The Arcadian Modern. "He never relented in his quest to reach that utopia in which likeness would be unmade, in which a distance, however minimal, would be marked between representation and likeness. His is an abstraction that is not concrete yet is rooted in reality—an abstraction that is an instrument of representation, providing an account of reality, yet does not depend on its mundane circumstances: its moment, its fashions, it moralities, its passions." Featured image is "Construction in White and Black" (1938). continue to blog
"The more the person drawing has a spirit of synthesis, the more of a constructed image he will give us," Joaquín Torres-García wrote in his 1930 manifesto, Vouloir construire (Will to construct). "The drawings of all primitive peoples—black, Aztec, etc, as well as Egyptian, Chaldean, etc.—are great examples. This spirit of synthesis, I believe is what leads to the construction of the whole painting, and of sculpture, and to the determining of the proportions of architecture. This spirit alone allows the work to be seen in its totality as a single order, a unity. What wonders this rule has created across the ages! Why has it been overlooked?" Construction with Curved Forms (1931) is reproduced from Joaquín Torres-García: The Arcadian Modern, published to accompany the first comprehensive retrospective of the artist's work in the U.S. since 1970, currently on view at MoMA. continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9 x 10.5 in. / 224 pgs / 220 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $60.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $79 ISBN: 9780870709753 PUBLISHER: The Museum of Modern Art, New York AVAILABLE: 11/24/2015 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Edited with text by Luis Pérez-Oramas. Text by Alexander Alberro, Sergio Chejfec, Estrella de Diego, Geaninne Gutiérrez-Guimarães.
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.
Luis Pérez-Oramas is the Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Alexander Alberro is professor of Art History and Department Chair at Barnard College in New York.
Sergio Chejfec is a novelist and has published numerous works of fiction and essays. He teaches in the Creative Writing in Spanish Program at the New York University.
Estrella de Diego is a curator and professor of Contemporary Art at the Complutense University, Madrid (UCM), and a regular columnist for Spanish newspaper El País.
Geaninne Gutiérrez-Guimarães is a Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
