Rhod Rothfuss
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Carlos María "Rhod" Rothfuss (1920 – December 31, 1969) was a Uruguayan-Argentine artist who specialized in painting and sculpture. He was considered a key theoretician for the development of the
concrete art Concrete art was an art movement with a strong emphasis on geometrical abstraction. The term was first formulated by Theo van Doesburg and was then used by him in 1930 to define the difference between his vision of art and that of other abstract art ...
movement in Argentina in the 1940s and was a founding member of the international Latin American abstract art movement, Grupo Madí.


Early life and education

Rothfuss was born in Montevideo,
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
. In 1938, Rothfuss studied art at Círculo de Bellas Artes in Montevideo. He studied with the artists
Guillermo Laborde Guillermo Laborde (24 October 1886, Montevideo - 13 May 1940, Montevideo) was an Uruguayan painter, sculptor and designer. Biography He received his first art lessons at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Montevideo with Carlos María Herrera. Aft ...
and José Cúneo. In the early 1940s, he studied at the Academia de Bellas Artes in Montevideo.


Career

In 1939 while at an
Emilio Pettoruti Emilio Pettoruti (1892–1971) was an Argentine painter, who caused a scandal with his avant-garde cubist exhibition in 1924 in Buenos Aires. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Buenos Aires was a city full of artistic development. Pettorut ...
art show, Rothfuss met and became friends with the artist, Carmelo Arden Quin. In 1942, Rothfuss moved from
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
to
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
,
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, where he lived until 1945. Rothfuss soon became friends with fellow artists,
Gyula Kosice Gyula Kosice ( hu, Falk Gyula; 26 April 1924 – 25 May 2016), born as Ferdinand Fallik, was a Czechoslovakian-born and naturalized Argentine sculptor, plastic artist, theorist, and poet. He played a pivotal role in defining the concrete and non ...
,
Tomás Maldonado Tomás Maldonado (25 April 1922 – 26 November 2018) was an Argentine painter, designer and thinker, considered one of the main theorists of design theory of the legendary Ulm Model, a design philosophy developed during his tenure (1954–1967) ...
, Carmelo Arden Quin. In 1944, Rothfuss was part of the group of artists who created and edited the magazine called ''Arturo,'' which existed for only one issue, and included fellow artists, Carmelo Arden Quin, Edgar Bailey,
Gyula Kosice Gyula Kosice ( hu, Falk Gyula; 26 April 1924 – 25 May 2016), born as Ferdinand Fallik, was a Czechoslovakian-born and naturalized Argentine sculptor, plastic artist, theorist, and poet. He played a pivotal role in defining the concrete and non ...
,
Raúl Lozza Elbio Raúl Lozza (October 27, 1911 – January 27, 2008) was an Argentinian painter, draughtsman, designer, journalist, and theorist who was part of the concrete art movement. He was part of the Asociación Arte Concreto-Invención. He was the f ...
, Tomas Maldonado, and
Lidy Prati Lidia "Lidy" Elena Prati (1921–2008) was an Argentine painter who was known for her abstract, geometric paintings. Her artwork called into question representational art and was influential in defining the concrete art movement in Latin Americ ...
. Rothfuss contributed an article called: "El marco. un problema de la plástica actual (The frame: A Problem of Plastic Arts Today)," which became an important text on the theory and movement of art towards geometry. Rothfuss was stating what was then a revolutionary idea, that he was advocation for the removal of the frame of the painting, saying that it got in the way of the art. In 1945, Rothfuss participated in two seminal
concrete art Concrete art was an art movement with a strong emphasis on geometrical abstraction. The term was first formulated by Theo van Doesburg and was then used by him in 1930 to define the difference between his vision of art and that of other abstract art ...
exhibitions called ''Arte Concreto-Invención'' in Buenos Aires. In 1945, Rothfuss participated in Asociación Arte Concreto-Invención's first two
concrete art Concrete art was an art movement with a strong emphasis on geometrical abstraction. The term was first formulated by Theo van Doesburg and was then used by him in 1930 to define the difference between his vision of art and that of other abstract art ...
exhibitions organized at the homes of Swiss born psychoanalyst,
Enrique Pichon-Rivière Enrique Pichon-Rivière (June 25, 1907 – July 16, 1977) was a Swiss psychiatrist naturalized Argentine, considered one of the introducers of group psychoanalysis in Argentina and generator of the group theory known as ''Grupo operativo'' (Ope ...
, and German-Argentinian photographer,
Grete Stern Grete Stern (9 May 1904 – 24 December 1999) was a German-Argentine photographer. With her husband Horacio Coppola, she helped modernize the visual arts in Argentina, and presented the first exhibition of modern photographic art in Buenos Aires ...
. Rothfuss also participated in the group's third exhibition organized in October 1946 at the Argentinian Society of Plastic Arts. During this time, to illustrate the concrete nature of his work, Rothfuss used nontraditional materials like diamonds and employed notched and irregular shapes in his artwork. From 1945 to 1950, Rothfuss created sculptures that had moving parts. In 1946, Rothfuss joined the Asociación Arte Concreto-Invención, a
concrete art Concrete art was an art movement with a strong emphasis on geometrical abstraction. The term was first formulated by Theo van Doesburg and was then used by him in 1930 to define the difference between his vision of art and that of other abstract art ...
group founded by
Tomás Maldonado Tomás Maldonado (25 April 1922 – 26 November 2018) was an Argentine painter, designer and thinker, considered one of the main theorists of design theory of the legendary Ulm Model, a design philosophy developed during his tenure (1954–1967) ...
in 1944. Other artists in the group included Alfredo Hlito,
Lidy Prati Lidia "Lidy" Elena Prati (1921–2008) was an Argentine painter who was known for her abstract, geometric paintings. Her artwork called into question representational art and was influential in defining the concrete art movement in Latin Americ ...
, Manuel Espinosa, Enio Iommi, Raul Lozza among others. In 1946,
Gyula Kosice Gyula Kosice ( hu, Falk Gyula; 26 April 1924 – 25 May 2016), born as Ferdinand Fallik, was a Czechoslovakian-born and naturalized Argentine sculptor, plastic artist, theorist, and poet. He played a pivotal role in defining the concrete and non ...
, Carmelo Arden Quin, and Rothfuss founded the Grupo Madí.


Selected exhibitions

;Group exhibitions * 1945: "Arte Concreto-Invención." Buenos Aires – two exhibitions * 1976: "Homenaje a la vanguardia argentina: Dècada del 40." Galeria Arte Nuevo (Buenos Aires) * 1980: "Vanguardias de la década del 40. Arte Concreto-Invención, Arte Madí, Perceptismo." Museo de Artes Plásticas Eduardo Sívori (Buenos Aires) * 1992–93: "Artistas latinoamericanos del siglo XX." Estación Plaza de Armas (Seville); Musée national d’art moderne, Centre national d’art et de culture Georges Pompidou (Paris); Josef-Haubrich-Kunsthalle, Cologne; The Museum of Modern Art (New York) * 1994–95: "Art from Argentina 1920–1994." Museum of Modern Art (Oxford)
raveling exhibition George Henry Raveling (born June 27, 1937) is an American former college basketball player and coach. He played at Villanova University, and was the head coach at Washington State University the University of Iowa and the University of Southern ...
* 1997–98: "Arte Madí." Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid); Museo Extremeño e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporáneo (Badajoz) – Exhibition held at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, July 1-October 27, 1997, and at the Museo Extremeño Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporaneo, November 7, 1997 – January 11, 1998 * 2000: "Heterotopías. Medio siglo sin lugar. 1918–1968." Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid) * 2001: "Abstract Art from Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires and Montevideo, 1933–1953." The Americas Society (New York) * 2002: "Madí. L’art sud-américain." Musée de Grenoble (Grenoble) * 2003–4: "Arte abstracto argentino, Galleria d’arte moderna e contemporanea." Bergamo; Fundación Proa (Buenos Aires) * 2004: "Inverted Utopias. Avant-Garde Art in Latin America." Museum of Fine Arts, (Houston Texas) * 2007: "The Geometry of Hope. Latin American Abstract Art from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection." Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas); Grey Art Gallery, New York University (New York)


Selected works

*
Composición Madí
' at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1946) *
Pintura Madí o persistencia de un contorno Madí
' at Fundación Proa (1946) *
Composición Madí
' at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1948) * (1955)


Works and publications

* * * * * * – Catalog of an exhibition held at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, July 1-October 27, 1997, and at the Museo Extreme~no e Iberoamericano de Arte Contemporaneo, November 7, 1997 – January 11, 1998 * – Exhibition catalog of ''Cold America, Geometric Abstraction in Latin America (1934–1973),'' Fundación Juan March, Madrid, February 11-May 15, 2011 * – Folleto de la expoción celebrada ''América fría. La abstracción geométrica en Latinoamerica (1934–1973)'' en la Fundación Juan March en Madrid del 11 de febrero al 15 de mayo de 2011 ** "Regarding the Frame" (1950) by Rhod Rothfuss p. 432


See also

*
Concrete art Concrete art was an art movement with a strong emphasis on geometrical abstraction. The term was first formulated by Theo van Doesburg and was then used by him in 1930 to define the difference between his vision of art and that of other abstract art ...
* Grupo Madí


References


Further reading

* – Exhibition at the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA, 3 March-4 November 2001 * – exhibition organized by the Americas Society and presented from September 11-December 9, 2001 * – Exhibition catalog of ''Cold America, Geometric Abstraction in Latin America (1934–1973),'' Fundación Juan March, Madrid, February 11-May 15, 2011 * – Folleto de la expoción celebrada ''América fría. La abstracción geométrica en Latinoamerica (1934–1973)'' en la Fundación Juan March en Madrid del 11 de febrero al 15 de mayo de 2011 *  


External links

* *
Rhod Rothfuss
(artist file) at the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

Rhod Rothfuss
at the Museum of Geometric and MADI Art
Rhod Rothfuss
at the ''Enciclopédia Itaú Cultural'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Rothfuss, Rhod 1920 births 1969 deaths Concrete art Uruguayan painters Argentine painters Argentine male painters Argentine sculptors Uruguayan sculptors Uruguayan emigrants to Argentina