Under the direction of Cecilia De Torres
Assisted by Susanna V. Temkin, Madeline Murphy Turner, and Victoria L. Fedrigotti
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Classification: Painting
Medium: Oil
Support: Cardboard
Year: 1943
1943.65
Pintura constructiva
1943
Oil on cardboard
26 3/4 x 21 3/4 in. (68 x 52 cm)
Signed lower left: JTG; dated lower right: 43
Exhibitions
Salón Municipal de Exposiciones, Montevideo, Uruguay, Homenaje de la Ciudad de Montevideo al Maestro J. Torres García: El Constructivismo Universal y su Derrotero Uruguayo, December 1969, no. 6. Traveled to: Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Buenos Aires, May 1970.
Museo Nacional de Artes Plásticas, Montevideo, Uruguay, Torres-García, July 1974, no. 124.
Musée d'art moderne de la Ville de Paris, France, Torres-García: Construction et Symboles, June 11–August 1975, no. 55. Traveled to: Museo de Arte Moderna de Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 8–July 22, 1978 (América Latina Geometria Sensível).
Published References
Cassou, Jean. J. Torrès Garcia. Paris: Fernand Hazan, 1955, ill. no. 18.
Spanudis, Theon. "A significação americana e mundial de Torrès Garcia." Habitat (Sao Paolo) (September-October 1964), ill. p. 89.
V[ernazza], E[duardo]. "Trágico golpe para el arte." El Día (Montevideo), July 23, 1978, ill.
Torres-García: Obras Destruídas en el Incendio del Museo de Arte Moderno de Rio de Janeiro. Montevideo: Fundación Torres-García, 1981, ill. p. 95, no. 64.
Semenzato, Camilo. Guia de la Pintura Grijalbo: Tutta la pittura im 440 capolavori. Mondadori, 1985, ill. p. 513.
Remark

About the 1978 fire in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

At daybreak on July 8, 1978, a devastating fire reduced the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro to ashes. It was the worst catastrophe suffered by a museum since World War II. Twenty-five years later, there are several things worth recalling about this sad event, not least that it could have been avoided, as the Museum had been alerted by the International Council of Museums that it lacked the basic equipment to extinguish a fire.

Although the origin of the fire was never conclusively established, it is believed that it began in the auditorium after a performance earlier that night. The show had ended late and the watchmen closed the premises just before they left. A hastily extinguished cigarette or a short circuit were listed as possible causes. Someone driving by the Museum alerted the fire department. The first units to arrive were helpless to act, as the Museum's main water supply was shut off because somewhere in the building there was a leaky faucet. When the firefighters finally succeeded in getting the water flowing, it was too late to salvage anything. The fire had rapidly spread through the flammable partitions and the ventilation ducts. The New York Times of July 9 reported the blaze on its front page, describing how hours later, the building's concrete shell was still smoking, littered with piles of dirty gray sludge and broken glass.

Read more about the 1978 fire in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil »

Record last updated April 28, 2015. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: de Torres, Cecilia, Susanna V. Temkin, Madeline Murphy Turner, and Victoria L. Fedrigotti. "Pintura constructiva, 1943 (1943.65)." In Joaquín Torres-García Catalogue Raisonné. www.torresgarcia.com/catalogue/entry.php?id=1930 (accessed on March 29, 2024).