In the years before World War II through the end of the 1960s, the two capital cities on the banks of the Rio de la Plata enjoyed a vibrant art scene, the result of great prosperity and an active trans-Atlantic dialogue with the European avant-garde. This exhibition consists of abstract paintings, drawings and wood constructions by artists who participated in the seminal modernist movements of the region: the Asociación de Arte Constructivo (AAC), the Taller Torres-García (TTG), Arte Concreto Invención and the Madí group.

MODERNISM 1930s-1960s Cecilia de Torres, Ltd. Winter 2001-2002		MODERNISM 1930s-1960s Cecilia de Torres, Ltd. Winter 2001-2001		MODERNISM 1930s-1960s Cecilia de Torres, Ltd. Winter 2001-2002

Very few works of the 1930s survived the public's lack of appreciation, causing them now to be even more precious to the history of Modernism. The exhibition includes two delicate watercolor and ink compositions by Amalia Nieto, an artist who at 92 is the only surviving witness to the modernist struggles of the AAC. A bold composition in ink and a subtle painting by Augusto Torres, were inspired by the refined Graphisms of Paul Klee. A 1936 oil by Héctor Ragni on the other hand, is strictly geometric - composed of a circle, a triangle and rectangles. It was painted the same year that the AAC artists participated in the Salon des Surindépendants in Paris and re-issued the 1930-1 Parisian art publication Cercle et Carré as Círculo y Cuadrado in Montevideo. Published until 1943, it circulated abroad to institutions like MOMA and to artists including Piet Mondrian, Georges Vantongerloo and Julio González.

AMALIA NIETO Composition, 1936 Watercolor & ink on paper 3 3/4 x 4 7/8in., 9,6 x 12,3 cm.		AUGUSTO TORRES Ritmos, 1936 Oil on board 9 x 15 3/4 in., 23 x 40 cm.		AMALIA NIETO Composition w/Star, 1936 Watercolor & ink on paper 4 x 4 1/2 in., 10 x 11,3 cm.

A 1947 wall relief by Gonzalo Fonseca uses thin wood strips to create a form reminiscent of two figures. A schematic drawing for an outdoor mural and a hanging sculpture/ceiling lamp by Horacio Torres attest to the effort to introduce Constructivism into all aspects of daily life. Two rare 1959 oils by José Gurvich in black and white drift from geometric to organic abstraction - all curves and rhythm, inspired by his efforts to apply the rules of musical composition to painting.

CARMELLO DE ARZADUN, 1888 - 1968 Composition, 1936 Ink on paper 7 5/8x 5 3/4 in., 19,3 x 15 cm.		AUGUSTO TORRES Forms in Black, 1937 Ink on paper 8 5/8 x 11 1/2 in., 22 x 29,3		ANONYMOUS, AAC Composition, ca. 1936-7 Ink on paper 11 1/4 x 7 1/4 in., 29 x 18,5 cm.

By 1956 when Volutas was painted, Alfredo Hlito (1923-1993) had abandoned the irregular frame or shaped canvas characteristic of the Madí group. Volutas is an exploration of color and its interrelation with dynamic form; its three curlicues in bright red, green and ochre on a blue background echo Kandinsky's concept that color is the materialization of the "inner sound."

HECTOR RAGNI Constructivist Forms, 1936 Oil on board 19 1/4 x 17 3/4 in., 49 x 45 cm.		GONZALO FONSECA Form in relief, ca.1947 Painted wood relief 20 3/4 x 15 1/4 in., 52 x 39 cm.		FRANCISCO MATTO Blue Grid-Primary Colors, 1957 Oil on board 33 1/4 x 40 in., 84,6 x 101,6 cm.

Positive-Negative, two panels painted in gray, black and white by Antonio Llorens (1920-1995) investigates the optical possibilities of the space-color relation in opposition. This work exemplifies the Concrete-Invention and Madí group ideas as defined by one of its members, the sculptor Gyula Kosice: "Nothing similar to what is invented exists in the external world, it makes real what is non-existent, itself becomes a reality."

JOSÉ GURVICH Composition, 1959 Oil on board 19 3/4 x 9 1/2 in., 50 x 24 cm.		HORACIO TORRES Forms in a Structure, 1957 Oil on burlap 47 x 40 3/4 in., 119 x 103,6 cm.		JOSÉ GURVICH Composition, 1959 Oil on board 11 x 19 1/4 in., 28 x 49 cm.

A painted border surrounds the all white front of the picture plane in César Paternosto's Evidence, 1969. By emphasizing the "outer" edge over that of the front, the familiar frontal viewing experience is put to the test by this oblique mode of seeing.

HECTOR RAGNI Composition, ca.1935 Tempera & pencil on paper 8 1/2 x 7 in., 21,6 x 17,8 cm.		HORACIO TORRES Lamp, 1961 (replica) Oil on wood 21 x 55 x 7 in., 53 x 140 x 18 cm.		HECTOR RAGNI Comp.- 3 black dots, ca.1935 Tempera & pencil on paper 8 1/2 x 6 7/8 in., 21,6 x 17,3 cm.

The work shown here and in two other current exhibitions that study the sources and development of Abstraction in North and South America: Abstraction: The Amerindian Paradigm at the IVAM in Spain, and Abstract Art from the Rio de la Plata, Buenos Aires and Montevideo 1933-53 at the Americas Society in New York, have yet to be fully integrated into the history of 20th Century abstract art.

ANTONIO LLORENS, 1920 - 1995 Negativo - Positivo, 1959 (diptych) Oil on masonite 36 1/4 x 23 5/8 in., 92 x 60 cm. each				CÉSAR PATERNOSTO Evidence, 1969 Acrylic on canvas 35 1/2 x 35 1/2 in., 90 x 90 cm.