Guido Castillo, ed. Removedor(Montevideo: 1944–53). Removedor has striking covers in primary colors featuring Torres-García's graphic artwork, and on the cover of No. 20 above, Torres-García himself. Removedor was the official publication of his workshop, Taller Torres García. Torres-García introduced Cubism, Neoplasticism, and Constructivism to Uruguay. Edited by Guido Castillo, the periodical's aim was to defend and disseminate his ideas.
«Watson Library recently displayed a selection of rare documents of Latin American art including periodicals from the Constructivist school highlighting the works of Joaquín Torres-García and important Concrete Art monographs featuring artists in the Centro de Arte y Comunicación (CAYC), Artistas Modernos de la Argentina, Asociacion Arte Concreto Invención, Arte Madí, and associated movements.»
Vitrine display in Thomas J. Watson Library. Photo by the author
In addition to Removedor, another key Latin American periodical, Signals, was also on display.
David Medalla, ed. Signals: Newsbulletin of the Centre for Advanced Creative Study (London: The Centre for Advanced Creative Study, 1964–66).
This innovative and influential periodical was an international forum for European, Central, and South American artists, and primarily showcased exhibitions at London's Signals gallery. Featuring work by Latin American artists Jesús Rafael Soto, Takis, Lygia Clark, Sérgio de Camargo, Carlos Cruz-Díaz, Eduardo Chillida, and many others, in addition to prose and poetry, Signals also established a context for kinetic, time-based, performance, and environmental art. Watson holds a complete run of this publication, which was a gift of Olivier Berggruen.
Left: Ciclo (Buenos Aires: D.J. Sussmann, 1948–49). Right: Nueva Visión (Buenos Aires: Editorial Nueva Visión, 1951–57).
Other journals on display included Ciclo, a short-lived periodical on art and literature with essays by Georges Bataille, André Breton, and László Moholy-Nagy, and Nueva Vision, a quarterly periodical on architecture and design founded by Tomás Maldonado.
Far left: Joaquín Torres-García, Exposición J. Torres Garcia (Montevideo: Asociación de Arte Constructivo, 1948). Center left: Taller Torres-García, 109 Exposicion del Taller Torres-García: Ateneo de Montevideo (Montevideo: Taller Torres-García, ca.1957). Center right: Joaquín Torres-García, Exposición de J. Torres Garcia (Montevideo: Amigos del arte, 1949). Far right: Taller Torres-García, 110a Exposicion: Taller Torres-García: M. Lorieto - H. Giovanetti (Montevideo: Taller Torres-García, ca. 1958).
Far left: Guido Castillo, Primer manifiesto del Constructivismo por Joaquín Torres García: Estudio de Guido Castillo (Madrid: Ediciones Cultura Hispánica, 1976). Center left: Boletín del Museo Torres-García (Montevideo: Museo Torres-García, 1958–59). Center right: Torrès García (Paris: Fernand Hazan, 1955). Far right: Roberto Jorge Payró, Torres-García (Madrid: publisher not identified, 1934).
The library's expanding collection of Torres-García material includes manifestos, bulletins, monographs, and serials.
Escuela del Sur (Montevideo: Taller Torres-García, 1958–61).
This periodical, limited to three volumes, was the successor to Removedor and was in production after Torres-García's death.
C.A. Sitta, In/finito (Torino: Geiger, 1968).
Concrete, kinetic and optical art resources recently on display include this vivid relief print cover and inside illustrations by Maurizio Nannucci, an artist involved with ideas of Concrete poetry and Conceptual Art.
IX Bienal de São Paulo/1967, Venezuela (Caracas: Instituto Nacional de Cultura y Bellas Artes, 1967).
Latin American artists Carlos Cruz-Diez, Mario Abreu, and Harry Abend are featured in this exhibition catalogue of Kinetic and Op Art.
Gyula Kosice, Arte Hidrocinético: Movimiento, Luz, Agua (Buenos Aires: Paidos, 1968).
Gyula Kosice,Kosice: Eau, Lumière, Mouvement: La Cité Hydrospatiale (Buenos Aires: Imprenta Anzilotti, 1974).
Gyula Kosice, Kosice: Eau, Lumière, Mouvement: La Cité Hydrospatiale (Buenos Aires: Imprenta Anzilotti, 1974).
The above two monographs highlight kinetic artist Gyula Kosice (Fernando Fallik) and the philosophy and practice of the Arte Madí movement.
In alignment with The Met's commitment to Latin American art, these recent acquisitions offer a snapshot of Watson Library's growing collection.
All of the books, with the exception of Signals, were purchased with funds provided by the Friends of Thomas J. Watson Library.
Special thanks to Diane De Fazio, volunteer in the Thomas J. Watson Library, for her research.
