Augusto Torres (1913-1992)
This exhibition presents a selection of works by the painter Augusto Torres, many of them previously unseen, in the form of a retrospective that traces the different stages of his career and showcases his highly personal style of painting, in which he alternated between Constructivism and metaphysical figuration.
Born in Terrassa, the son of Joaquín Torres-García, he lived with his family in New York, Italy and the south of France between 1919 and 1926, before settling in Paris. There, Hélion introduced him to African sculpture, and he came into contact with artists such as Van Doesburg, Calder, Arp, Mondrian and Severini, among many others. Furthermore, at just fifteen years of age, he was commissioned by the Musée du Trocadéro to illustrate and catalogue its collection of Inca and Nazca ceramics (1928), an experience that sparked his interest in Andean cultures. In 1930, he collaborated with Juli González in his studio, established connections with Picasso and held his first exhibition. After moving to Madrid in 1933, he developed a passion for Spanish painting, making copies of works by Velázquez, Goya and El Greco.
A year later, he settled in Montevideo. This move marked a turning point in his work, as he joined the Asociación de Arte Constructivo, founded by his father in 1935, and subsequently the Taller Torres-García (1942). There, he worked according to the principles of rationality and structure, producing fully Constructivist works while retaining the lessons he had learned in Europe. Known as «the Catalan», he began exhibiting in numerous group shows around the world, including in Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Paris and Washington. Augusto belonged to a generation of painters trained in Torres-García’s theories of Constructive Art, which also included prominent figures such as Julio Alpuy, Gonzalo Fonseca, José Gurvich and Francisco Matto, among others.
Following his father’s death in 1949, he took over the direction of the Taller. During the 1950s, he exhibited frequently in Europe and began a long-standing collaboration with the architect Antonio Bonet, which continued until his death. For Bonet, he created numerous murals, the last of which were in Barcelona. Following a major solo exhibition in New York in 1960, the closure of the Taller Torres-García in 1965 and several journeys, he eventually settled between Barcelona and Montevideo from 1973 onwards. In Catalonia, he held notable exhibitions, including one at Galeria Dau al Set in 1975, alongside further exhibitions in New York, Montevideo, Moscow, Rome and Buenos Aires, as well as a major retrospective at the Santa Barbara Museum in California in 1987.
