"I feel that in all fields and on different levels the struggle of two antagonistic forces is at the root of every action and development . . . the attraction and repulsion between electrified bodies, as well as the expressions of human feelings can be described, it seems to me, by a bipolar law of nature."
— Martin Blaszko [1]
Leon Tovar Gallery represents the Estate of Martin Blaszko.
Martin Blaszko (b. 1920, Berlin, Germany - d. 2011, Buenos Aires, Argentina) was a sculptor and painter celebrated for his exploration of harmonic proportions and geometric abstraction. Blaszko’s sleek, highly finished sculptures enact a monumental grace belying their intimate size. Assuming a stoic timelessness whether placed outdoors amidst the sky or foregrounding a rough materiality, his balanced geometric works reflect a lifelong pursuit of universal structures of order and chaos.
Fleeing rising fascism, his family left Germany in 1933, first finding refuge in Poland before immigrating to Argentina in 1939. By the mid-1940s, Blaszko emerged within Buenos Aires’ progressive avant-garde circles, joining artists advocating a revolutionary approach to geometric forms. In 1946, he co-founded the Madí group alongside Carmelo Arden Quin and Gyula Kosice to promote radical innovations breaking from traditional artistic boundaries. Though the group dissolved in 1947, Blaszko continued investigating harmonious proportions and bipolar arrangements of contrasting sculptural forces.
Over his extensive career, he exhibited internationally including shows at the São Paulo and Venice Biennales, as well as major retrospectives in Paris, Madrid and New York.