Museu da Marioneta

Schedule: Tuesdays to sundays – 10am – 1pm / 2pm – 6pm
Closed the 25th de Dezembro
Joaquín Torres García, a painter born in Uruguay in 1874, is the author of the toys featured in this exhibition at Museu da Marioneta. Primarily known for his paintings, for financial reasons he decides to dedicate himself to building these objects, made of geometrical elements combined in several different shapes. Its manufacturing and use of natural materials (wood) combine with the modern art postulates. Taking a closer look at the work by Torres García, it is sometimes difficult to tell if it was the painting that influenced the toy or if the opposite happened – if it was the toy that changed and took its place on a canvas. Either way it is possible to look at any block of these toys and discover the abstract shapes, which characterise this artist’s work. The evolution of these objects follows Torres García’s personal path through several cities where he grasped various artistic languages. The construction begins in Barcelona – in 1918 – with the creation of the “Sociedade do Brinquedo Desmontável”. It is also here that he presents his first display of these objects, called “Art Toys”. He then moves to New York and manufactures and exports them under the designation of Alladin Toys. Back in Paris, his production has a craftsmanship character, taking a more radical geometry, and producing a type of sculptures the painter called “plastic objects”. It is during this Parisian period that the works in wood are definitively integrated in the works of Torres García, and that he begins to use wooden boxes as art media. These toys had specific goals that would meet the ideas the artist had regarding the integration and intertwining between Art and Life. It was the observation of his own children playing that led him to create these games, whose purpose was to stimulate the child’s creativity. Its construction was merely based upon the respect for children and on his knowledge on the most innovative education theories of his time. His aim was to establish a dialogue between art and childhood through shapes, lines, colour, and motion. These toys could be separated and assembled and thus ideal for the child’s psychological and physical research needs. Museu Torres García, in Montevideo, currently manufactures the copies of the original toys. Both the materials and the techniques used result from a thorough research carried out by experts in several art fields. Thanks to Francisco Capelo’s visit to this museum dedicated to the work of this painter, we are now able to proudly present this outstanding set of 12 Alladin toys, which includes “Transforming Cars”, “Harlequin”, “Gangsters” or “Numbered Village”.Our intent is to point out the possible intertwining between puppetry and modern creation. The versatility of these toys – that can be manipulated into taking several shapes – brings them close to what we may refer as puppets, because these toys can not be assembled without human intervention, and will thus remain a mere set of purely geometrical and abstract objects. The autonomy Torres García gives the child to play is his own way of allowing the child to join the artistic process, and cross the artist/public boundaries.
“ (…) The painter seemed not to be bothered by the children because they were his major helpers and disciples, and he admired them. He would learn a lot from them every day.”Michel Seuphor, Torres Garcia y los Niños