Overview
Pablo Atchugarry was born in Montevideo to two passionate art enthusiasts; his father Pedro trained under famed Uruguayan Constructivist Joaquin Torres-Garcia before encouraging his son to develop his talent for painting. In 1972, at the age of eighteen, Pablo Atchugarry held his first solo exhibition at the Civic Room in Montevideo; that same year, he conducted his first experiment in sculpture, rendering a horse cast in concrete. In the following years, he would briefly study architecture, exhibit in Brazil and Argentina, and eventually depart South America in 1977 for Europe.
Abroad, Atchugarry experienced success showing his paintings in Copenhagen, Spain, France, Italy, and Milan. After a landmark 1978 show in Lecco, Italy, Atchugarry turned his efforts toward sculpture in 1979. He completed his first monumental sculpture in Carrara marble in 1982, and later that year moved permanently to Lecco. He held his first solo exhibition in 1987 at Bramantino’s Crypt in Milan. Beginning in the late ‘80s and throughout the ‘90s, Atchugarry completed numerous projects for monumental works, including La Pieta—carved from a single twelve-ton block of marble—and Semilla de la Eseperanza, which was installed in the sculpture park on the grounds of Uruguay’s government building.
The Museo Pablo Atchugarry, founded by the artist in Lecco in 1999, houses a body of work spanning Atchugarry’s entire career. He carefully scrutinizes and selects each block of marble with which he chooses to work, and currently sculpts in white Carrara marble from Tuscany, gray stone from Bardiglio, black Belgian marble, and pink marble from Portugal, in addition to bronze, ceramic, and wood. In 2012, the Times Square Alliance selected his Dreaming New York to be exhibited in Times Square for the duration of the Armory Show.
Museums and Public Collections
Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales, Montevideo
Museo del Parco, Portofino
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires
Museo Lercaro, Bologna
Collezione della Provincia di Milano a Palazzo Isimbardi
Collezione della Provincia di Lecco
Fundació Fran Daurel, Barcelona
Groeningemusum, Bruges
Buseu Coleção Berardo, Lisbon
Pérez Art Museum, Miami
The Patricia & Philip Frost Art Museum, Miami
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk
Museu Brasiliero da Escultura, São Paulo
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2011Â Â Â Â Holllis Taggart Galeries, New York
2010Â Â Â Â Albemarle Gallery, London;Â Bienvenu Gallery, New Orleans
2008Â Â Â Â Albemarle Gallery, London;Â Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales, Montevideo
2007    Museu Oscar Niemeyer, Curitiba; Museu Brasileiro de Escultura, São Paulo; Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Brasilia; Lagorio Arte Contemporanea, Brescia; Frey Norris Gallery, San Francisco
2006Â Â Â Â Albemarle Gallery, London; Groeninge Museum, Bruges;Â Galeria Sur, Punta del Este - La Barra;Â Gary Nader Fine Art, Miami
2005Â Â Â Â Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires;Â Park Ryu Sook Gallery, Seoul;Â Gary Nader Fine Art, Miami
2004Â Â Â Â Galeria Tejeria Loppacher, Punta del Este - Uruguay;Â Galleria Rino Costa, Valenza;Â Villa Monastero, Varenna;Â Albemarle Gallery, London
2003    Fondation Veranneman, Kruishoutem; 50° Biennale di Venezia- Padiglione dell' Uruguay, Venezia; Fondazione Abbazia di Rosazzo, Rosazzo -Udine; Galleria Les Chances de l'Art, Bolzano
2002Â Â Â Â Ellequadro Documenti, Genova
2001Â Â Â Â Palazzo Isimbardi, Milano;Â Albemarle Gallery, London;Â Fondazione Il Fiore, Firenze
2000Â Â Â Â Galerie Le Point , Monte Carlo
1999Â Â Â Â Inter- American Development Bank, Washington
1998Â Â Â Â Ellequadro Documenti, Genova;Â Fondation Veranneman, Kruishoutem
1996Â Â Â Â Valente Arte Contemporanea, Finale Ligure
1997Â Â Â Â Centro Fatebenefratelli, Valmadrera
1994Â Â Â Â Galleria Nuova Carini, Milano
1992Â Â Â Â Galerie L'Oeil, Bruxelles
1991Â Â Â Â Galleria Carini, Milano
1989Â Â Â Â Biblioteca Civica di Lecco, Lecco
1988Â Â Â Â Galleria Carini, Milano;Â Museo Salvini, Coquio trevisago
1983Â Â Â Â Villa Manzoni, Lecco
1982Â Â Â Â Galeria Felix, Caracas;Â Galleria Visconti, Lecco;Â Galleria Comuale, Monza
1981Â Â Â Â Ibis Gallery, Malmo;Â Galerie L' Art et la Paix, Paris;Â Galeria la Gruta, Bogota
1979Â Â Â Â Maison de l' Amerique Latine, Paris
1978Â Â Â Â Galleria Visconti, Lecco;Â Galleria La Colonna, Como
1974Â Â Â Â Galeria Lirolay, Buenos Aires
1972Â Â Â Â Subte Municipal, Montevideo