Born in Uruguay, in 1891 Torres-García settled in Barcelona with his family and became part of the Catalonian avant-garde. In 1926, he moved to Paris, befriended the Dutch artists Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) and Theo van Doesburg (1883-1931), and quickly became associated with an international group of abstract artists. By 1930, he began to formulate his own artistic theory, integrating symbols into his abstract compositions. He sought to create what he called a universal constructivist art, fusing pure abstraction with recognizable symbols that would prompt various associations. Like many contemporary European artists, Torres-García became fascinated by so-called primitive art, and in 1929 he began incorporating patterns found in pre-Columbian objects and images of ancient masks into his works. Construction with White Line (Construcción con línea blanca) embodies the artist's desire to combine geometric abstraction with Indo-American motifs. Rendered in earth colors typical of Andean ceramics and textiles, the painting includes symbols recurrent in Torres-García's work: the universal man, the fish (a symbol of life), the pyramid (a symbols of reason), and the pre-Columbian mask. Torres-García became catalyst in the development of abstraction in South America after his return to Uruguay in 1934. Ilona Katzew, 2008
