page_title: Batuz
section_title: USA (1973-1983)
hierarchical_section_title: Batuz / Life and work / USA (1973-1983)
caption_attribution_description: English: A painting made on grass. First covering the grass for a long time with an opaque material and then burning the dried grass with gunpowder.
context_page_description: Batuz is an artist, philosopher and cultural activist. He is the founder of the Société Imaginaire, an undertaking that strives for cultural dialogue. Batuz' ideas are carried out through the support of his foundations – Batuz Foundation USA and Batuz Foundation Uruguay, as well as Helmets for Peace e.V.
context_section_description: One-man show at the Organization of American States in Washington DC. Several galleries in New York City begin to handle his work.
  Batuz was invited to lecture at The Arts Students League of New York City by Vaclav Vytlacil. Several one-man shows in museums and universities in the United States followed. Batuz turns more and more toward the source and origin of forms.
  In 1975 Batuz published his portfolio ‘Forms in Tension’. The portfolio is yet another decisive step towards his study on the ‘Interrelation of Forms’.
  Joseph and Olga Hirshhorn visit his studio on several occasions. Their interest in Batuz’ work along with their personal friendship was of great encouragement.
  Batuz travels through several South American countries for three months.  In Argentina he had two memorable dialogues with Jorge Luis Borges where they considered the function of ‘Form’ in painting and literature.
  In 1976 Batuz accepted an invitation to exhibit in West Germany. The occasion provided the opportunity to visit friends, some not seen for 30 years. Visited Oskar Kokoshka at his home in Villeneuve. First meeting with Dieter Ronte, lifelong friend and collaborator.
  Published his portfolio ‘Hommage to America’. Another step towards his becoming a cultural activist, Batuz founded the International Cultural Program to aid Latin-American artists arriving in the United States. H.H. Arnason visits Batuz at his Beachside studio in Greens Farms and writes text to the portfolio ‘Grey Botonds’.
  Purchased Franton Court, former estate of Baroness Hilla von Rebay where artists like Wassily Kandinsky and Marc Chagall visited. The place breathed creativity and the open natural setting cultivated with many gardens was ideal.  Batuz introduces other mediums into his work, making collages using pasted paper and canvas on wood. Published portfolio ‘Polyphormic’. Several large scale paintings followed. His works were shown at the new acquisition shows at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC and at the Kunsthalle, Nuremberg, West Germany.
  Batuz had one-man shows at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo in Brazil and the Phillips Collection in Washington DC. His book ‘Interrelation of Forms’, with texts by Rafael Squirru, Frank Getlein, Dieter Ronte, and Joseph H. Hirshhorn, also serves as catalogue for these shows. Experiments in the handmade paper workshop of John Koller, where he did a series of works by hydraulic press. Begins to work with pulp in his own studio in a free manner. Completes his large work, ‘Omen’, in September. Travels to Europe, where he is invited to exhibit by several museums.
  In 1980 Batuz creates several large works in paper. Film by Rawn Fulton on his life and work starts in April and continues during the following eight months, becoming an important document on the process of his work at all stages. Makes his landscape work in grass on the abandoned tennis court of his home. Works on maquettes for ceramic, stone, wood, and metal sculptures as further development of his search for form relationships.
  Together with Dieter Ronte visits Inge Morath and Arthur Miller in Roxbury. Through the next twenty years of friendship, until her death, Morath created the ‘Portrait Gallery’, documenting the Société Imaginaire.
  From January to April 1982 works in isolation on huge paintings in Blanton (Dade City), Florida.
  In 1983 Michel Butor visits Batuz in Greens Farms. Beginning of the ‘Meditacion sur la Frontier’.  It marks the beginning of a continued collaboration which studies the line as a border and markedly exposes the applicability of the ‘Interrelation of Forms’ on a social dimension.
caption: A painting made on grass. First covering the grass for a long time with an opaque material and then burning the dried grass with gunpowder.
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