Estate of the artist, Nº 1076
Estate of Augusto Torres
Alejandra Torres
Acquired from the above by the previous owner

Montevideo, Galería de Sur, Construcciones en madera y oleos Torres-García, June-August, 1993, p. 22, no. 6, illustrated
Barcelona, Oriol Galería d'Art, Barcelona
Madrid, Guillermo de Osma Galería, Volúmenes del siglo XX, p. 17
Valencia, IVAM, El fuego bajo las cenizas (de Picasso a Basquiat), May, 2005, p. 121, illustrated
Barcelona, Oriol Galería d'Art, Torres-García: 30 pinturas de 1919 a 1949, June, 2006, pp. 42-43, no. 12, illustrated
Girona, Fundació Caiza Girona, Torres-García: Darrere la Máscara Constructiva, 2007, p. 153, illustrated

The piece is set on a metal base. There are several pinsize holes on the reverse of the work and one on the left side of the front of the work. There is slight wear to the wood consistent with the artist's use of medium as well as the age of the work. There is minor paint loss to the upper left edge from rubbing and scattered additional areas along the other edges. There is very minor paint loss to the two outside edges where the covered metal bar is holding the work upright. Overall in good and sound condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Executed in 1932, Máscara Rojo Puozzoli provides an exceedingly remarkable example of the significance of Amerindian-based sources on the artistic evolution of one of the twentieth century's most impressive and influential modern art pioneers—Joaquín Torres-García. And, while Torres-García's initial contact with pre-Colombian art predates his Parisian sojourn (1926-1932) it is undeniable that the access he encountered in the City of Lights solidified his affinity towards indigenous art forms. The latter would enable him to make the crucial transition from pure geometry to a particular approach to abstraction simultaneously rooted in European vanguard practices and the archetypal and timeless forms of pre-Colombian art. Indeed it was the artist's first-hand exposure to Amerindian art and artifacts while in Paris, including the groundbreaking 1928 exhibition Les arts anciens de l'Amérique at the Mus♉ée des Arts Decoratif as well as his eldest son Augusto Torres's internship at the Musée d'Ethnologie de Trocádero cataloguing the museum's vast pre-Colombian art collection that would provide Torres-García with unparalleled access a🔯nd opportunity to study these archaic forms in depth.

The impact of this research had an immediate and profound effect on Torres-García's work as is evident in the magnificent Máscara Primitiva.  Inspired by a Mexican Mezcala stone mask, Torres-García's version provides a rare glimpse into the artist's creative process as he adopted and further stylized a schematic form that he would later incorporate into his trademark pictographic language. It is worth noting that 1932 marks the first instance in which references to this pre-Colombian mask appear in Torres García's work. The latter would soon become a recurring motif within his trademark lexicon of ideograms as is evident in the painting from the same year Composition now in the collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC. Torres-García's use of such archaic symbolism reflects his desire to express a quintessentially American perspective, while simultaneously invoking the 🐠essential and universal concepts imbedded in these indigenous forms. Indeed, Torres-García's contribution to modernism ultimately resides in his ability to erode the limits between Western and💟 non-Western principles in order to assert the shared tradition of abstraction across all cultures and generations.