Joaquin Torres-García papers, 1921-1974

Collection Information

Size: 0.2 Linear feet

Summary: The papers of Joaquin Torres-García measure 0.2 linear feet and date from 1921 to 1974. The papers document Torres-García's career as an artist and writer through twenty-eight photocopied letters from Katherine Dreier, Marcel Duchamp, Julio Gonzalez, Joan Miro, Piet Mondrian, Jean Xceron, Theo Van Doesburg, Michel Seuphor, and Maria Ewa Łunkiewicz-Rogoyska, 1921-1943; an essay "Le Planisme de Torres-Garcia" by Van Doesburg, 1929; photographs of Torres-García's work; clippings, 1929-1971; and 7 exhibition announcements and catalogs, 1921-1974.

Biographical/Historical Note

Joaquin Torres-García (1874-1949) was a painter and writer from Uruguay. Torres-García was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1874, and he emigrated to Spain in 1891 where he began his artistic career. He primarily worked in Spain, but he also spent time in the United States, Uruguay, and other parts of Europe. Torres-García sought to integrate classicism and modernism in his works and he was a proponent of the Latin American Constructivist movement. He collaborated with Antoni Gaudi on the stained glass windows for the Palma Cathedral and La Sagrada Familia, and he also created frescoes for the Palau de la Generalitat de Catalunya. In addition to his artwork, Torres-García published over 150 books, essays and articles in Catalan, Spanish, French and English, and delivered more than 500 lectures. He founded several art schools in Spain and Montevideo and a number of artistic groups, including the first European abstract-art group. Torres-García founded the magazine Cercle et Carré (Circle and Square) in Paris in 1929. Torres-García died on 8 August 1949.

Provenance

Copies of letters donated by Cecilia Torres, Torres-García's daughter-in-law in 1977. Originals owned by the Getty Research Institute, History of Art and the Humanities.

Language Note

Letters and most printed items are in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and English.