Collection 1880s–1940s

512

Circle and Square, Joaquin Torres-Garcia and Piet Mondrian

Ongoing

MoMA

Joaquín Torres-García. Composition. 1931. Oil on canvas, 36 1/8 x 24" (91.7 x 61 cm), Gift of Larry Aldrich. Photo: Thomas Griesel
  • MoMA, Floor 5, 512 The David Geffen Wing

Joaquín Torres-García and Piet Mondrian met in Paris in 1929 and, together with the Belgian artist and writer Michel Seuphor, founded the group Cercle et Carré (Circle and Square). More than eighty artists from Europe and the Americas working in abstraction came together in this coalition. They advocated a geometric, analytical approach to art making, which they conceived in opposition to Surrealism’s focus on the unconscious and irrational. Key was the notion of “construction,” or logically building a work of art based on, in Torres-García’s formulation, “the search for equilibrium, for unity, equivalent relationships between forms, planes, colors, between the simple elements that compose the work of art.”

Cercle et Carré edited a magazine of the same name and held one exhibition before it disbanded in 1930. The notion of construction versus the irrational proved important for a generation of artists in South America during the following decades.

Organized by Beverly Adams, Estrellita Brodsky Curator of Latin American Art, with Lydia Mullin, Curatorial Assistant, and Charlotte Barat, former Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture.

18 works online

Support for the exhibition is provided by the Annual Exhibition Fund. Leadership contributions to the Annual Exhibition Fund, in support of the Museum’s collection and collection exhibitions, are generously provided by Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, the Sandra and Tony Tamer Exhibition Fund, the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, Alice and Tom Tisch, the Marella and Giovanni Agnelli Fund for Exhibitions, The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Eva and Glenn Dubin, Mimi Haas, The David Rockefeller Council, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz, Kenneth C. Griffin, The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis, and Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder. Major funding is provided by The Sundheim Family Foundation.

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