Clorindo Testa

biography

Clorindo Manuel José Testa was born by his father’s wish in Naples, Italy, on December 10, 1923. A few months later he arrived in Argentina with his family.

He grows up in Recoleta, Buenos Aires. He attends primary studies at the Montessori School and at the Italian College. He finished high school at Colegio Marista Champagnat.

After a brief and unsuccessful period studying Naval Engineering and Civil Engineering, he found his passion in studying Architecture, graduating in 1947 from the University of Buenos Aires. The following year he wins a university scholarship for a three-month study tour in Europe, which turns into a two-year stay.

Upon his return, he joined the Buenos Aires Regulatory Plan Office, a municipal body inspired by the ideas of Le Corbusier, the only architect that Testa recognizes as an influential figure in his architectural thinking.

In 1951 he became part of the Urban Planning Directorate of the Municipality of Buenos Aires; that same year, together with Boris Dabinovic, Augusto Gaido and Francisco Rossi, they won the competition to build the headquarters of the Argentine Chamber of Construction, his first built work.

The year 1952 is pivotal for his career, since he holds his first individual exhibition at the Van Riel Gallery his double professional activity began: art and architecture.

He married Teresa Bortagaray in 1962 and they spent their honeymoon in India and Europe, Clorindo’s regular destination, who goes every two or three years to see relatives and friends. In 1969 his daughter Joaquina was born.

Throughout his career, he designs public and private buildings, incorporating the distinctive features of his architecture: the use of concrete, primary colors and pure forms.

Among his most outstanding buildings are the Bank of London and South America (today Hipotecario Bank) and the National Library, both considered paradigmatic works of brutalist architecture in the region.

In subsequent decades, he carried out projects such as the Central Naval Hospital, in whose design his passion for ships is reflected, and other emblematic buildings of the urban landscape of the city of Buenos Aires, such as Paseo del Pilar (today Buenos Aires Design), the auditorium of the Soka Gakkai Buddhist center and the Book Museum.

A part of his activity was devoted to the construction of private homes, located both inside and outside the limits of the capital, maintaining a very own and identifiable style.

His plastic work is inseparable from his architectural work: all his production is crossed by reflections on issues such as large cities and living conditions in urban spaces. In 1957 he joined the Group of Seven Abstract Painters, later linked to the Boa Magazine, and since 1958 he has been working with the Group of Five.

In 1975 he became part of the Group of 13 at the CAyC (Art and Communication Center), with whom he exhibited regularly until 1994. Since then, he has regularly exhibited in galleries and museums in the country, both individually as in collective exhibitions, and in national and international biennials. Among her most notable series are: Composiciones en Blanco y Negro, La Peste en Ceppaloni, Mediciones, Gritos, Manzanas de Buenos Aires y Cuadrículas.

His work is part of numerous public and private collections: Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat Art Collection, Buenos Aires; Argentine Foreign Ministry Collection, Buenos Aires; Museum of Latin American Art Collection of Buenos Aires (MALBA), Buenos Aires; National Fund for the Arts, Buenos Aires; Museum of Modern Art (MAMBA), Buenos Aires; National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA), Buenos Aires; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, United States; among others.

He passes away in Buenos Aires on April 11, 2013.