Gonzalo Fonseca

b. 1922 Montevideo, Uruguay - d. 1997 Seravezza, Italy

In 1942, Fonseca chose to leave his study of architecture in order to pursue an artistic career.  Working under the direction of Joaquín Torres-García, Fonseca joined the artist's workshop, where he participated in the group's collective exhibitions. In 1945, Fonseca traveled with other Taller Torres-García members through Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia to study pre-Columbian art.  This experience, along with numerous trips throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Egypt during the 1950s, profoundly affected Fonseca's formal and theoretical approach to art. 

Although Fonseca left the College of Architecture in Montevideo as a young man, an emphasis on structure and architectonics is present throughout his oeuvre. As a teenager, he taught himself to sculpt in stone and later returned to sculpture after studying ceramics in Spain in 1953.

Fonseca moved to the United States in 1958, settling in New York. He later spent his time between New York and Italy, where he created large-scale marble sculptures. In 1965, Fonseca contributed a playground and site-specific sculptures to the Lake Anne Village Center in Reston, Virginia, a collaborative project with architects James Rossant and William Conklin. He was invited to create a monumental concrete tower for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, and he also participated in the Faret Tachikawa Fund project in Tokyo, Japan in 1995. Fonseca also illustrated books by authors including Jorge Luis Borges, Thomas Mann, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Michel de Montaigne.

Artworks by Fonseca are included in the collections of: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin; the Portland Art Museum, Oregon; the Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Valencia, Spain; and the Palacio Libertad, Montevideo.

Please click for CV

Taller Torres-García permanent exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Taller Torres-García permanent exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

We are pleased to share the following article written by Cecilia de Torres:

El Norte es el Sur, Revista Paula, Diario El País, Uruguay, 2021.

You can read or download the article here.

 

Gallery artists at Fondation Cartier

Gallery artists at Fondation Cartier

We are pleased to announce Joaquín Torres-García, Gonzalo Fonseca and Cesar Paternosto's participation in the following exhibition:

Southern Geometries, from Mexico to Patagonia,Fondation Cartier, Paris, France

From October 14, 2018 to February 24, 2019

For more information, please click here.

Gonzalo Fonseca at the Noguchi Museum

Gonzalo Fonseca at the Noguchi Museum

We are pleased to announce Gonzalo Fonseca's current exhibition: 

The Sculpture of Gonzalo Fonseca, The Noguchi Museum, Long Island City, Queens

On view: Wednesday, October 25, 2017 - Sunday, March 11, 2018

For more information, please click here.