JOAQUÍN TORRES GARCÍA
Montevideo, (Uruguay) 1874 – Montevideo, (Uruguay) 1949 
He was born in Montevideo, but his family moved to Mataró (1891) and then to Barcelona (1892), where he studied at the Escola de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi and frequented the Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc, establishing relationships with the Catalan art scene. His first works were illustrations for magazines. He presented a solo exhibition at La Publicitat in 1907, and at Dalmau in 1912. Throughout the decade he tended towards Noucentisme, executing paintings and various frescos for the Generalitat’s Saló Sant Jordi. In 1913 he created the Escola de Decoració in Terrassa, combining painting and teaching. In 1917 he moved away from Noucentisme and through Barradas became acquainted with Futurism, developing a style close to Vibrationism and exhibiting at La Publicitat, Galeries Laietanes and Galeries Dalmau (1917), Sala Reig (1918) and Laietanes (1919), also taking part in the Agrupació Courbet. Various of his writings were published and he started making wooden toys (1917), which he tried to convert into a business in New York, where he lived from 1920 to 1922, and in Florence (1922-24). During that period he continued producing work, which he exhibited in New York and Barcelona. In 1926 he reached Paris, where he lived until 1932, renewing his friendship with González and establishing relationships with Luis Fernández, Van Doesburg, Seuphor and Mondrian. He produced his first Constructivist paintings, two-dimensional symbols enclosed in rectangular divisions with a charactertistic use of primary colours (1929). That year he took part in the founding of the Cercle et Carré group. In 1931 and 1932 his work was presented at various galleries –Jeanne Bucher, Percier and Pierre. In 1933, having moved to Madrid, he founded the Grupo Constructivo and a retrospective was held at the Museo de Arte Moderno and another at the Cercle Artístic de Sant Lluc. In 1934 he returned to Montevideo and that year he founded the Asociación de Arte Constructivo and exhibited his work at the Museo Municipal de Bellas Artes. Between 1934 and 1949 he advanced further with his paintings, which now included influences from Pre-Columbian art. He also continued his activity of teaching (Taller Torres-García, 1943), and publicising and theorising, with publications (Universalismo constructivo, 1944), magazines (Círculo y Cuadrado, 1936-43) and talks. In 1939 he made portraits of famous personalities, and in 1944 he produced five murals for the Hospital Saint Bois. In 1949 a retrospective was held at the Sociedad de Amigos de Arte in Montevideo, and there was a tribute exhibition at the Galeries Laietanes in Barcelona.