Julio Alpuy

JULIO ALPUY (Uruguay, 1919- New York, 2009).
Untitled.
Oil on cardboard.
Measurements: 37 x 40 cm; 62 x 64 cm (frame).
The composition, based on constructivism, represents an urban scene, with several human figures and characteristic elements of the city, such as the sign of a "BAR" and texts in blue, common resources in the artist's work to evoke everyday life and the dynamics of the urban environment.
Julio Alpuy was a central figure in Uruguayan modern art and one of the main continuators of Constructive Universalism. After moving to Montevideo as a teenager, he joined the Taller Torres-García in 1940, where he trained under the direction of Joaquín Torres García and participated actively in his exhibitions and mural projects, such as those at the Saint Bois Hospital in 1944. Over time he also taught in his own workshop.
In 1949 he began to travel around Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, which broadened his cultural horizon and enriched his symbolic imaginary. In 1961 he settled permanently in New York, the city where he developed much of his mature production. Although faithful to the constructive structure learned in the workshop, his work evolved towards more material and three-dimensional solutions, incorporating wood reliefs, sculpture and a wide technical diversity that included painting, engraving, ceramics and muralism.
His career was internationally recognized, with presence in public collections and exhibitions in America and Europe, including the exhibition La Escuela del Sur at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in 1991. In 2019, the National Museum of Visual Arts of Uruguay dedicated a retrospective to him on the occasion of the centennial of his birth, consolidating his position as one of the most relevant Uruguayan artists of the 20th century.