Construction in Wood,

1962

Painted in earth tones with small pictograms, Gurvich’s assemblage Construction in Wood exemplifies the teachings of the Uruguayan artist Joaquín Torres-García at his school-workshop, the Taller Torres-García. Young artists, including Gurvich, came to the school when it opened in Montevideo in 1943 to learn from Torres-García, who had returned to Uruguay after forty years abroad, including a decade spent in Paris at the center of the avant-garde group Cercle et Carré. At the Taller, Torres-García taught the precepts of “universal constructivism,” his theory that art should follow the rules of geometry and proportion and the conventions of symbolism, rather than subjective expression. His students adopted his signature style, which combined painting with sculpture and merged abstraction with figuration. Torres-García died in 1949, but Gurvich and other artists kept the Taller open until 1962. Made that year, Construction in Wood seems to eulogize Torres-García’s dream of collectivity, balancing distinct elements in a harmonious whole.

Elise Chagas, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Art & Archaeology