Ignacio Iturria
Uruguayan, 1949-

Sin titulo (siete escenas) [Untitled (seven scenes)], 1990 ca.
lithograph, ed. 3/90
14 3/4 x 21 1/8 in.

SBMA, Gift of Arthur B. Steinman
2003.112.18



Photo of Iturria in his studio

COMMENTS

Ignacio Iturria began painting at the age of 15 during a period of isolation resulting from an asthma condition. In 1976, Iturria moved with his family to Spain, starting off in Barcelona before settling in Cadaqués. He began exhibiting in Spain and South America in the 1980s returning in 1986 to Montevideo where influence by his travels, he began to look inwards. Using oil and acrylic on canvas, Iturria manipulated colors to bring a somber composition to life. Within these compositions, familiar objects such as old furniture become a stage or theatre for Iturrias reflections on the past and present, scale, and changes in time and space. Not knowing wither his figures are toys or real, the viewer is led into a world of ambiguity in which the artist questions what is means to be human, often with a particular focus on family life.

http://www.latinart.com/faview.cfm?id=238

SBMA CURATORIAL LABELS

Ignacio Iturria was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, and grew up along the waterfront of the Rio de la Plata. The river’s muddy waters and dry plains inspired the artist’s characteristic brown tonalities. In his paintings and works on paper, he creates an intimate world of tiny human and animal characters perched in windows and doorways. Drawn from childhood memories, these works capture a childlike sense of shrunken scale coupled with a mature feeling of isolation. The unadorned, grid-like structures that these figures inhabit recall the compositions of fellow Uruguayan, Joaquín Torres-García. Yet unlike the older artist’s rational and universal approach, Iturria presents a fantastical, personal vision.

- SBMA title card, 2013