Lesson # 3 - Designing our own Constructive composition based on Torres-García's principles

Conceiving the Golden ratio:

As mentioned in the previous task, Torres-García is known to have used the Golden ratio in his constructivist paintings.The Greek mathematician Euclid first defined the Golden ratio around 300 BC. Found in Nature and used by artists and architects for millennia, the Golden ratio is thought to have special mystical properties related to the ideas of universal order, structure, and harmony. At the Torres García Museum in Montevideo, visitors are provided with a golden compass, a type of scissors whose ends keep that ratio between them. You can measure the components of the paintings, the pieces of the wooden toys and even corroborate on yourself the presence of the Golden ratio.

The figure below is an example of a Golden rectangle. All of the rectangles were traced with a pencil first and then re-drawn with a black marker.

You will need:

• A ruler
• Paper
• Markers or color pencils.
• A black marker
• A compass and a piece of cardboard larger than your paper.

 Step 1: To make a golden rectangle, first draw a square.  Recommendation: Practice making a golden rectangle on graph paper first.

Step 2: Extend two parallel lines from the top and bottom sides of the square.

Step 3: Mark the midpoint of the bottom side of the square.

Step 4: Position the point of the compass on the midpoint and extend the pencil to the upper right corner of the square.  Draw an arc from the upper right corner of the square to the lower parallel line.  Recommendation: place a piece of cardboard underneath the paper to anchor the compass in place.

Step 5: With the ruler, draw a perpendicular line from the point at which the arc meets the lower parallel line to the upper parallel line.  This is a Golden rectangle.

Step 6: Choose colors.  Use colored pencils, or markers to add color to some or all of the rectangles. Choose some of Torres-Garcia's pictographies to complete your artwork.

Source: http://constellations.artinterp.org/education/between-the-lines-joaquin-torres-garcias-constructive-composition/