In the 1940s Joaquín Torres-García (1874–1949) had a solid reputation in Uruguayan art circles, but he was also a controversial figure. His ideals, which he had written about in many articles and essays and explained in hundreds of lectures, had generated a range of different reactions and had polarized opinions among Uruguayan intellectuals. The group at the TTG (Taller Torres-García) was very sensitive to criticism, and tended to react rather dramatically, speaking as if it were a victim. The explanation of “constructivism” presented in this article by the writer and journalist Guido Castillo does not add anything especially new to the old debate about Torres-García’s theoretical-practical doctrine, other than its sincere testimonial. It was, in fact, one of Castillo’s first forays into the public sphere, having met the maestro a year earlier, in 1942. Two years later he would publish the “Manifiesto 1” (1944) [see the ICAA digital archive (doc. no. 1250797)] and would begin his stint as an opinionated editorialist at Removedor magazine in 1945.
[As complementary reading, see the ICAA digital archive for the following articles written by Joaquín Torres-García: “Con respecto a una futura creación literaria” (doc. no. 730292); “Lección 132. El hombre americano y el arte de América” (doc. no. 832022); “Mi opinión sobre la exposición de artistas norteamericanos: contribución” (doc. no. 833512); “Nuestro problema de arte en América: lección VI del ciclo de conferencias dictado en la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de Montevideo” (doc. no. 731106); “Introducción [en] Universalismo Constructivo” (doc. no. 1242032); “Sentido de lo moderno [en Universalismo Constructivo]” (doc. no. 1242015); “Bases y fundamentos del arte constructivo” (doc. no. 1242058); and “Manifiesto 2, Constructivo 100%” (doc. no. 1250878)].