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Leon Tovar Gallery

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Leon Tovar Gallery

Leon Tovar is a New York based gallery specializing in Modern art from Latin America
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Leon Tovar Gallery

Uptown Location:
16 Easy 71 Street, New York, NY 10021
+1 212 585 2400
Mon-Sat: 10am-6pm

Downtown Location
152 West 25 Street, New York, NY 10001
+1 917 388 3366
Mon-Fri: 10am-6pm
Sat: By appointment (Open November 19, Saturday)

[email protected]
www.leontovargallery.com

03/30/2023

Gego: Measuring Infinity
31 Mar 2023 – 12 Sep 2023

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presentation of Gego: Measuring Infinity is organized by Pablo León de la Barra, Curator at Large, Latin America, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York, and Geaninne Gutiérrez-Guimarães, Associate Curator, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, New York.

This exhibition will be the first major museum retrospective of Gego’s work to be presented in the United States since 2005, offering a fully integrated view of the influential German-Venezuelan artist and her distinctive approach to the language of abstraction. Across five ramps of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s rotunda, the chronological and thematic survey will feature approximately 200 pieces from the early 1950s through the early 1990s, including sculptures, drawings, prints, textiles, and artist’s books.

03/15/2023

Tsunami, on view through April 19th at Leon Tovar Gallery, showcases paintings, sculptures, and collages from significant Latin American artists from the mid to second half of the 20th century, creating a connection between art movements, styles, and forms, all influenced from Joaquín Torres-García -the epicenter of this exhibition- and generating the geometrical overflow in all categories.

This exhibition is a mare magnum of color and geometry, where forms, lines and color merge into the vast reaches of the earthquake originated by Torres-García.

Come see the exhibition at the gallery located on 26 East 64th Street, 2nd Floor.

For more information, please visit www.leontovargallery.com or contact the gallery directly at [email protected]

Image: “Tsunami” installation view at Leon Tovar Gallery, New York

03/01/2023

Luis Tomasello
Reflexion No 15, 1958
Signed, titled and dated on reverse
Painted Wood
49 x 49 cm
19 1/4 x 19 1/4 in

For inquiries, contact: [email protected]

Luis Tomasello
b. 1915, La Plata, Argentina; d. 2014, Paris, France

Luis Tomasello started painting since a young age in Argentina. He was an oil painter, primarily figurative, and it wasn’t until a trip to Paris in 1951 that he gravitated toward the geometric.

After returning to Argentina and establishing the Salon Arte Nuevo alongside Carmelo Arden Quin, Tomasello relocated to Paris, where he was struck by a Mondrian exhibition at the Galerie Denise René. “Influenced by Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie,” Tomasello recollects, “I continued on my path.”

In 1958, the artist developed his signature style, which consisted of white, monochrome surfaces dotted with geometric shapes protruding at regular intervals. Typically cubes, the faceted sides of these shapes were painted in colors hidden from the viewer’s direct line of sight, while the sides that face the viewer were painted the same white as the supporting surface. These pieces: the “Réflexions” and “Atmosphères Chromoplastiques”, proved to be a career-defining venture and marked the beginnings of Tomasello’s persistent examination of form, light, and reflected color.

The artist stated in a 1964 interview that “shape gives rise to the color, which is transformed from vision into sensation; it is projected into space, where it tints the atmosphere, and becomes iridescent on touching the plane. The movement is caused, not merely by the position of the viewer, but above all by the intensity and motion of the illumination. Sunlight - natural light, in other words - is ideal for appreciating the magical, infinite values of these three-dimensional objects.”

Leon Tovar Gallery
26 East 64th Street, 2nd floor
New York
212-585-2400

03/01/2023

Luis Tomasello
Reflexion No 15, 1958
Signed, titled and dated on reverse
Painted Wood
49 x 49 cm
19 1/4 x 19 1/4 in

For inquiries, contact [email protected]

Luis Tomasello
b. 1915, La Plata, Argentina; d. 2014, Paris, France

Luis Tomasello started painting since a young age in Argentina. He was an oil painter, primarily figurative, and it wasn’t until a trip to Paris in 1951 that he gravitated toward the geometric. After returning to Argentina and establishing the Salon Arte Nuevo alongside Carmelo Arden Quin, Tomasello relocated to Paris, where he was struck by a Mondrian exhibition at the Galerie Denise René. “Influenced by Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie,” Tomasello recollects, “I continued on my path.” In 1958, the artist developed his signature style, which consisted of white, monochrome surfaces dotted with geometric shapes protruding at regular intervals. Typically cubes, the faceted sides of these shapes were painted in colors hidden from the viewer’s direct line of sight, while the sides that face the viewer were painted the same white as the supporting surface. These pieces: the “Réflexions” and “Atmosphères Chromoplastiques”, proved to be a career-defining venture and marked the beginnings of Tomasello’s persistent examination of form, light, and reflected color.
The artist stated in a 1964 interview that “shape gives rise to the color, which is transformed from vision into sensation; it is projected into space, where it tints the atmosphere, and becomes iridescent on touching the plane. The movement is caused, not merely by the position of the viewer, but above all by the intensity and motion of the illumination. Sunlight - natural light, in other words - is ideal for appreciating the magical, infinite values of these three-dimensional objects.”

Leon Tovar Gallery
26 East 64th St. 2nd Fl.
New York, NY 10065

02/17/2023

Gonzalo Fonseca
Pendulum, 1976
Signed on the side
Carved Stone
47 x 47.8 x 19.8 cm
18 1/2 x 18 4/5 x 7 4/5 in

Gonzalo Fonseca
b. 1922, Montevideo, Uruguay ; d. 1997, Seravezza, Italy

Throughout the 20th century, Gonzalo Fonseca’s work ignited the imagination of his viewers and emphasized the relationship between history, memory, and the present. After studying architecture for 3 years, Fonseca left to join the painting studio of modernist Joaquín Torres-García, with whom he would work until Torres-Garcia’s death in 1949.

Fonseca then traveled extensively throughout Egypt, the Middle East, and Europe, and traded painting for sculpture. His large-scale sculptures brought his viewers a sense of nostalgia and familiarity while asking them to ponder the true difference between reality and fantasy, rendering the past concrete by granting it a physical space in the form of his sculptures.

In 1958, Fonseca moved to New York City and from that point on, split his time between there and Italy. His works have been shown in institutions all over the world including the Jewish Museum in New York, The Portland Museum, MoMA, Museo Bellas Artes (Caracas), and the Gallery San Marco (Rome, Italy). In 1990, Fonseca represented Uruguay in the 44th Venice Biennale and was honored with a retrospective by the Noguchi Museum in 2017.

For inquiries, contact [email protected]

Leon Tovar Gallery
26 East 64th Street, 2nd floor.
New York, NY 10065
212-285-2400

12/23/2022

The gallery will be open only by appointment from December 27th to January 6th, 2023.

Current Exhibition
Omar Rayo
LARUTAN ATURAL

Muy Muiname, 1994
Acrylic on Canvas
66 x 66 cm
26 x 26 in

12/08/2022

On a day like Today, Wilfredo Lam was born in 1902 in Sagua La Grande, Cuba, to an Chinese immigrant father and a mother of Afro Spanish descent.

He spent his childhood in the town of Sagua, where he was exposed to a variety of cultural influences, including Spanish, French, and African. As a young boy, he was inspired by his Chinese heritage and soon began to study Chinese and Buddhist art.

At the age of twenty-one, Lam decided to pursue his dream and moved to Madrid to study art at the Academia de San Fernando. He was inspired by the work of Picasso and other modern masters, and soon found his own style, combining elements of African, Cuban, and European culture.

Lam then went to Paris, where (through Picasso) he became part of the surrealist movement and mixed with other famous artists, such as Andre Breton and Max Ernst. His works were shown in galleries and exhibitions throughout Europe, and his reputation grew.

In 1939, Lam moved to Cuba, where he continued to create art and also taught. He spent the rest of his life in Cuba, exploring the island's culture and creating works that would bring him closer to his “own culture instead of moving away”. This is the period in his life where his most renowned work, La Jungla (1943) was born. La Jungla (1943) illustrates Lam’s Négritude and rethinks Afro-Caribbean identity outside of its Western definitions.

He died in 1982, leaving behind a legacy that continues to inspire generations of artists.

(Lam in his studio, Havana, Cuba, 1943 alongside La Jungla)

12/04/2022

Today we celebrate the birthday of Santiago Cárdenas Arroyo, born on this day in 1937. With paintings, drawings, and prints of electrical sockets, clothes hangers, suits, chalkboards, and flowers—to name only a few recurring subjects—Cárdenas refocuses Pop art’s eye for parody to ask persistent questions about the nature of representation and the pictorial surface itself. “My intentions,” the artist once reflected, “are not to trick nor to play with the viewer. I use illusionism to create a ‘presence,’ just as nature does.”

Cárdenas’s accomplished career has seen his work presented in numerous international venues, from the São Paulo Biennial to the Venice Biennale, as well as in now-canonical exhibitions like “Art in Latin America 1820–1980” at the Hayward Gallery in London and “Latin American Artists of the 20th Century” at the Museum of Modern Art. Examples of his technically exceptional practice are housed in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago; Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City; Museo de Arte Moderno de Rio de Janeiro; Museo de Arte Moderno de Santiago, Chile; Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, among other prestigious institutions.

08/31/2022

Dealers never retire. It was an honor to work together from the beginning until the very end.
You will be greatly missed but your legacy will live on. Until we meet again my friend

08/26/2022

Today we celebrate the birthday of Rufino Tamayo.
Born in the city of Oaxaca, Mexico on August 25, 1899, Tamayo was widely regarded as one of the most important Mexican painters.
He challenged muralism’s ideology that art should be political and affirmed instead that true art should go beyond the historical.
Fascinated by pre-Hispanic cultures and by contemporary art, Tamayo integrated ancient with new, creating a whole new identity of Mexican Art, focusing and creating emphasis on color.
“I always paint by daylight; it is when colors are most brilliant, when they have their correct tonal value.” And this is precisely what captivated the viewers of his work.

“The theme is always a pretext; what it is all about is having the liberty to paint. Of course, if you want me to tell you the truth, my theme has always been the human figure.”
- Rufino Tamayo

08/17/2022

A day like today in 1923, Carlos Cruz-Diez was born in Caracas, Venezuela.
Known as one of the most influential kinetic Latin-American artists, the career of Carlos Cruz-Diez was defined by a single-minded focus on the liberation of color from form and material. In his art, color was an entity constantly in flux as it intermingled with light. Color facilitated events that were driven by time and place above shape and line, interfacing as such with the human sensorium and psyche.

“Color is not simply the color of things or the color of form. It is an evolving situation, a reality which acts on the human being with the same intensity as cold, heat, sound, etc. It is a raw perception which cultural tradition prevents us from isolating from the artistic color and from its esoteric or anecdotic notion.”
Carlos Cruz-Diez, Cruz-Diez: Intégration a lÁrchitecture Réalisations et Projets (Paris: Denise René, 1975)

08/01/2022

Today we celebrate the life of Gego, born this day in 1912!

Gertrude Goldschmidt, also known as “Gego,” was a modern Venezuelan artist and sculptor born in Germany in 1912. Gego's most popular works were produced in the 1960s and 1970s, during the height of popularity of Geometric Abstract Art and Kinetic Art.

Although these two genres of art influenced her to some extent, Gego tried to develop her own style and break from the popular art of Venezuela. Her artwork is commonly exhibited with artists like Lygia Clark, Hélio Oiticica and Mira Schendel.

07/13/2022

It’s the last week of the exhibition ‘Invisible: a Tale of Ethereal Lines’

In Paris, Soto questioned the tradition of geometric abstraction inherited from Piet Mondrian on the grounds that it did not break sufficiently with representation.

In order to move “beyond Mondrian,” he brought painting into the realm of lived space and time by working in layers, at first by painting on and combining transparencies, then later working with wire, wood, and other materials placed in front of an alternating linear background.

As viewers move in front of these patterned layers, they experience electrifying optical sensations, as foreground and background moves in a pulsing interplay.

Closing Friday July 15, come and visit us in our new location 26 East 64th Street

06/27/2022

We welcome you to booth 405 from 2 pm to 7 pm

As one of the foremost galleries in the field of Modern Latin American Art, the Gallery has selected a survey of mid-twentieth century abstract practices that includes artists working in concrete, geometric, constructivist, and optical languages.

06/26/2022

Maastricht is now open to the public until June 30.

Come experience masterworks from Latin America , Stand 405.

***ySanin

06/26/2022

is open until June 30, featuring masterworks from Latin America , Stand 405.

***ySanin

06/25/2022

Maastricht is now open to the public. If you are looking for plans this weekend, join us at stand 405 at the to see the selection of works by Carmelo Arden Quin, Marcelo Bonevardi, Omar Rayo, Agustín Fernandez, Joaquín Torres-García, Jesús Rafael Soto, F***y Sanin, amongst others.

06/20/2022

We are getting ready for TEFAF Maastricht 2022!

The artists in the gallery’s presentation together capture mid-twentieth-century Modernism through a wide lens, a panoramic approach that elucidates through lines among some of Latin America’s foremost artists.

We can’t wait to see you in Booth 405 at MECC Maastricht.

For more information visit for general information and art fair access.

06/16/2022

We are thrilled to be back in TEFAF Maastricht 2022 edition. As one of the foremost galleries in the field of Modern Latin American art, the Gallery has selected a survey of mid-twentieth century abstract practices that includes artists working in concrete, geometric, constructivist and optical languages. Visit us from June 25 to June 30 at the MECC in Maastricht.

Omar Rayo
Sunday in the Attic n.2
1966
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 40 in

TEFAF Hours: Fri, 24 June, by invitation only │ Sat, June 25, 2–7pm │ Sun, June 26, 10–7pm │ Mon, June 27, 10–7pm │ Tue, June 28, 10–7pm │ Wed, June 29, 10–7pm │ Thur, June 26, 10–7pm

05/13/2022

Today we commemorate Marcelo Bonevardi's Birthday, born in Buenos Aires in 1929.

We celebrated his legacy in TEFAF New York with this unique art wall dedicated to the artist's works produced between 1963 and 1975.

Bonevardi received many distinctions over the course of his lifetime, including the International Prize at the 1969 São Paulo Biennial, induction into the Guggenheim jury of Latin American art from 1979–89, and representation at the 1983 Venice Biennial. He had retrospective exhibitions at the Musée de Art Contemporain de Montréal in 1974; the Center for Inter-American Relations, New York, in 1980; and in 2019 at the Lowe Art Museum, Miami. He is represented in the collections of several major museums, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Poem from last photo:
"If my dreams had the obsessive persistence of time,
if in meditation I could contemplate the mystery of my own skeleton and ascend the Rainbow until I reached the Great Silence,
and then dared to venture in my boat through the labyrinths of a mystic geography,
perhaps one day I could construct that object - of which I once caught a glimpse in a small wooden box with a dead scarab-"
- Marcelo Bonevardi, Sketchbook, 1965

05/12/2022

Join us at the annual Madison Avenue Spring gallery walk, this Saturday May 14 from 11 am to 4pm. This year we are pleased to present a selection of works by Venezuelan artist Jesús Rafael Soto. The paintings and installations shown exemplify the steps he took to reach his mature artistic style and define the Kinetic Art Movement. Guided tours at 12:00 and 2:00 pm.

05/10/2022

Our gallery is proud to be featured as one of the highlights at TEFAF with the work of Torres-García.
The fair closes today at 6pm, stop by to see these historical works.

Joaquín Torres García
“Constructivismo (TSF)”
1931
Oil on Canvas
31.5 x 21.5 in

05/08/2022

This week we had the privilege to welcome to our booth American artist Joel Shapiro taking a look at one of his works once more. Come visit our booth at the and see for yourself this and other fantastic creations.

05/08/2022

Today artist Joel Shapiro visited our booth at
Shapiro is best known for his wooden sculptures of abstracted human forms. Blurring the line between figural sculpture and geometric abstraction, his work is comprised of painted rectangular blocks arranged in compositions that suggest representational forms in space.
Shaprio’s work is held in major institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Tate Gallery in London.

05/07/2022

We are proud to have been selected as one of the best booths in New York this Week by editorial
We look forward to keep bringing Latin American Art to the front of the art scene.
Link to the article in our bio

05/06/2022

Our booth 366 at New York 2022 is now on view and open to the public!
We will be at the Park Avenue Armory through Tuesday, May 10th, including highlights by among others.
Photo credit to: Sarah Muehlbauer.

05/05/2022

Sneak peek from our TEFAF booth | # 366 |

We look forward to welcoming visitors at the Park Avenue Armory from May 6th to 10th

Installation shot:
Jesús Rafael Soto
Double écriture noir et vert
1966
Wood and aluminium

05/02/2022

We are delighted to share our participation at TEFAF New York with a selection of artists including Marcelo Bonevardi, Jesús Rafael Soto, Mathias Goeritz, Feliza Bursztyn, among others.

We look forward to welcoming visitors again at booth #366 at the Park Avenue Armory from May 6th to 10th.
-
Marcelo Bonevardi, “Angel’s Habitat I,” 1975, detail.

04/20/2022

Today we celebrate Bernar Venet’s 81st birthday.

Best known for his wall-mounted and freestanding metal sculptures whose systematic investigations of linear forms capture the imagination. His work can be found in different cities and museums across the world.

Venet is an important figure in the history of Leon Tovar Gallery; today we remember the gallery’s first installation of Bernar Venet’s monumental sculpture outside of the Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá in 1994.

Happy Birthday, Bernar Venet!

—

Image 1: León Tovar and Bernar Venet in Bogotá, 1991

Image 2: Bernar Venet during Museum of Modern Art of Bogotá installation, 1994

Image 3: León Tovar with Venet’s sculpture during the Museum installation, 1994

Address

New York, NY

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 6pm
Tuesday	10am - 6pm
Wednesday	10am - 6pm
Thursday	10am - 6pm
Friday	10am - 6pm

Telephone

+12125852400

Website

http://www.leontovargallery.com/

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Our gallery is proud to be featured as one of the highlights at TEFAF with the work of Torres-García. The fair closes today at 6pm, stop by to see these historical works. Joaquín Torres García “Constructivismo (TSF)” 1931 Oil on Canvas 31.5 x 21.5 in #tefaf #tefafny #leontovargallery

Sneak peek from our TEFAF booth | # 366 | We look forward to welcoming visitors at the Park Avenue Armory from May 6th to 10th Installation shot: Jesús Rafael Soto Double écriture noir et vert 1966 Wood and aluminium

We are happy to announce that our current exhibition “Breaking Boundaries” will be extended until April 16th. Tuesday to Saturday - 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. ———— Hermelindo Fiaminghi Virtual VII, 1958 Enamel on wood 43 x 50 x 1.8 cm 16 7/8 x 19 3/4 x 3/4 in

31 + premium :)

Last day to visit us at the @parkavearmory. If you are looking for plans for the weekend, stop to see our presentation at @the_adaa Art Show 2021, including an in-depth selection of works by Brazilian artists. Stand D3, the fair closes at 5pm. Don’t miss it! . . . #theartshownyc #leontovargallery #adaa

#Repost @cppcisneros • • • • • Have you seen an "Histérica" by #FelizaBursztyn in motion? This #fbf revisit this beautiful piece which was on view at the #museumofmodernart as part of "Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction" (2017). Sound on! #ColeccionCisneros #leontovargallery #MoMA • Video by @yuv.y

A detail of Julio Le Parc's "Continuous Mobile," part of a long running body of work that expands the definition of the work of art to include its surrounding conditions. Plays of light and reflection create an open and ever-changing aesthetic experience. In this particular case, evenly cut Acrylic suspended before a cream- white surface gently sways as a result of incidental air currents, resulting in a play of light, shadow, and transparency. . . . #julioleparc #modernart

🔊 Sound on to hear Isabel Suarez leading our Drawing New York tour group in a discussion on the work of Agustin Fernandez. Thanks to Drawing New York for the clip, which can be viewed in full on their website. If you're braving the cold today, our exhibition as part of Master Drawings New York is on view now!

A fantastic Wednesday afternoon field trip over at Sotheby's today, made all the more pleasing by so many familiar faces! Modern artists from Latin America were in constant conversation with their European peers and colleagues, and it was a pleasure to see their work given equal footing and presented in such vivid correspondence. The contributions of these artists weren't just contributions to a field narrowly defined as Latin American art; rather, they echoed through the development of the Modernist canon at large. So insightful to see Latin American masters sharing a platform with the household names of the avant-garde!

Waltercio Caldas creates sculptures that are akin to irresolvable puzzles. Logic is repeatedly cast aside through haunting displays of reflection and transparency. "O Mar" (2005), part of Caldas's "Black Series," is on view now at our gallery. To see more work from the series, and to hear Caldas in conversation with curator Gary Garrels, follow the link 👉 https://vimeo.com/46324836 Waltercio Caldas crea esculturas que se asemejan a rompecabezas que no se pueden resolver. La lógica es dejada de lado repetidamente a través de exhibiciones inquietantes de reflexión y transparencia. "O Mar" (2005), parte de la "Serie negra" de Caldas, está a la vista ahora en nuestra galería. En el siguiente link se pueden ver más trabajos de está serie, y escuchar la conversación completa de Caldas con el curador Gary Garrels 👉 https://vimeo.com/46324836

Last day to visit our booth! Booth 33 @tefaf_art_fair @leontovargallery come visit us!

#Repost @tate with @repostapp ・・・ 'You should be proud of this.' #WifredoLam's son describes how Picasso's words helped Lam to embrace his African ancestry. ⠀⠀

#flashbackfriday On may we presented ‘Symmetry,’ an exhibition featuring works by Colombian artist Fanny Sanin at our gallery located in the NoMad district. The exhibition was accompanied by a conversation between the artist and Fine arts Bibliographer Clayton Kirking, who spoke about the creative process of the artist. -To watch the full video don’t forget to visit our youtube channel #flashbackfriday En Mayo estuvimos presentando ‘Simetría,’ una exposición de la artista Colombiana Fanny Sanin en nuestra galeria ubicada en el distrito NoMad. La exposición estuvo acompañada de un conversatorio entre la artista y bibliógrafo de bellas artes Clayton Kirking, quienes hablaron sobre el proceso creativo de la artista. -Para ver el video completo no olvide visitar nuestro canal de youtube #leontovargallery #art #culture #inconversationwithfannysanin #fannysanin #colombianartist #latinamericanart #womenartist #geometricart #modernart #color #form #symmetry #discussion #ClaytonKirking #creativeprocess #artistatwork #nyc #arte #cultura #enconversacionconfannysanin #artistacolombiana #artelatinoamericano #mujeresartistas #artegeometrico #artemoderno #forma #simetria #procesocreativo #artistastrabajando