AnniversaryMarch 17, 2020
Galería Sur celebrated its 35th anniversary with an exhibition of works by Joaquín Torres García
Since its foundation in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in 1985, Galería Sur has embraced artists and art lovers focusing on Río de la Plata’s artistic avant-garde from the 1920s until the 1940s, and has been progressively expanding to include exhibitions of contemporary art.
Works by modern Latin American artists exhibited by Galería Sur include Torres García, Barradas, Berni, Lam, Matta, Botero, Figari, Gurvich, Di Cavalcanti, Portinari, Segall, and Diego Rivera, as well as those belonging to Río de la Plata’s Concrete and Kinetic art movements. Important contemporary artists—such as Pablo Atchugarry, Eduardo Cardozo, Marcelo Legrand, Ignacio Iturria, Wifredo Díaz Valdéz, and Octavio Podestá—are also represented.
Throughout its existence, Galería Sur has participated in multiple art fairs and organized more than 120 exhibitions accompanied by catalogues and books.
The gallery’s founders—Jorge Castillo and his son Martín, its current director—have curated eleven exhibitions focused on the works created by Torres García both in Uruguay and abroad.
The statement uttered by Torres García in 1935 upon returning from Europe—“our north is the south…. That is why we turn the map upside down, and now we have a true idea of our position, and not as the rest of the world wishes”—is reflected in the gallery’s logo. Since Jorge Castillo has close ties with the artist's family, Torres García’s wife, Manolita Piña de Torres, gave Castillo permission to use his famous inverted map of America.
Due to its ongoing interest in deepening the knowledge and diffusion of Torres García’s work, Galería Sur organized a solo show in celebration of its 35th anniversary. “Torres García: An Avant-Garde Universe” brought together seventy works belonging to different periods of his production, including his portraits from the beginning of the 20th century, rural landscapes, toys, and some of his constructivist pieces.
The artworks for this anthological show representing such diverse moments in his career were gathered with the support of local and international collectors. Among those on display was Metaphysical Harbor, a large-format mural painted by Torres García in 1947, and a great example of one of his harbor paintings. The work was fortunately not among the more than seventy paintings destroyed in the 1978 fire at Rio de Janeiro’s Museum of Modern Art.
In tandem with this exhibition, Galería Sur published a book-catalogue with an essay by Gabriel Peluffo Linari. The researcher and art critic analyzes significant stages in Torres García's career between the 1890s and 1940s.
Works by modern Latin American artists exhibited by Galería Sur include Torres García, Barradas, Berni, Lam, Matta, Botero, Figari, Gurvich, Di Cavalcanti, Portinari, Segall, and Diego Rivera, as well as those belonging to Río de la Plata’s Concrete and Kinetic art movements. Important contemporary artists—such as Pablo Atchugarry, Eduardo Cardozo, Marcelo Legrand, Ignacio Iturria, Wifredo Díaz Valdéz, and Octavio Podestá—are also represented.
Throughout its existence, Galería Sur has participated in multiple art fairs and organized more than 120 exhibitions accompanied by catalogues and books.
The gallery’s founders—Jorge Castillo and his son Martín, its current director—have curated eleven exhibitions focused on the works created by Torres García both in Uruguay and abroad.
The statement uttered by Torres García in 1935 upon returning from Europe—“our north is the south…. That is why we turn the map upside down, and now we have a true idea of our position, and not as the rest of the world wishes”—is reflected in the gallery’s logo. Since Jorge Castillo has close ties with the artist's family, Torres García’s wife, Manolita Piña de Torres, gave Castillo permission to use his famous inverted map of America.
Due to its ongoing interest in deepening the knowledge and diffusion of Torres García’s work, Galería Sur organized a solo show in celebration of its 35th anniversary. “Torres García: An Avant-Garde Universe” brought together seventy works belonging to different periods of his production, including his portraits from the beginning of the 20th century, rural landscapes, toys, and some of his constructivist pieces.
The artworks for this anthological show representing such diverse moments in his career were gathered with the support of local and international collectors. Among those on display was Metaphysical Harbor, a large-format mural painted by Torres García in 1947, and a great example of one of his harbor paintings. The work was fortunately not among the more than seventy paintings destroyed in the 1978 fire at Rio de Janeiro’s Museum of Modern Art.
In tandem with this exhibition, Galería Sur published a book-catalogue with an essay by Gabriel Peluffo Linari. The researcher and art critic analyzes significant stages in Torres García's career between the 1890s and 1940s.
