Joaquín Torres-García
Graphic Construction over Five Tones (Grafismo Constructivo Sobre Cinco Tonos)
1943
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Joaquín Torres-García
Graphic Construction over Five Tones (Grafismo Constructivo Sobre Cinco Tonos)
1943
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas mounted on board, Unframed: 19 3/8 × 24 in. (49.2 × 61 cm.)
Framed: 20 1/2 × 24 3/4 in. (52.1 × 62.9 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alfredo Halegua, Washington, D.C.
Object Number
1979.168
In this painting, Joaquín Torres-García flattened space and used a complex system of vertical and horizontal lines to present an absracted view of the railway station in Montevideo, Uruguay (Ferrocarril Central or F.C.C.). The artist lived in Europe and the United States for over 40 years and retruned to Montevideo after being starstruck by an exhibition of pre-Columbian art in Paris, France.
Here, Torres-García applied the five tones of red, yellow, blue, white, and black—a palette inspried by the work of Dutch artist Piet Mondrian (1872-1944). He depicted the city through a style influenced by Tiwanaku, Nazca, and Incan art. Torres-García beleive that his byrid international style could express universally humanist concepts—a style he called "constructive universalism."
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1979; Alfredo Halegua, Washington, D.C.
Valerie Fletcher, Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, "Cross-currents of Modernism: Four Latin American Pioneers: Diego Rivera, Joaquin Torres-Garcia, Wifredo Lam, Matta," June 1 through September 9, 1992.
Valerie Fletcher, Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, "Cross-currents of Modernism: Four Latin American Pioneers: Diego Rivera, Joaquin Torres-Garcia, Wifredo Lam, Matta," 1992, p. 144/145 no. 47, ill.
On View: American Wing Second Floor, Scott 03
