Artist and architect Clorindo Manuel Jose Testa was born December 10, 1923, in Benevento, Naples, Italy; shortly thereafter his family moved to Argentina. Intending to major in naval engineering, Testa began studying at the School of Architecture at Universidad de Buenos in 1944, and soon switched to architecture. He graduated in 1948 and left for Rome to study painting. What was meant to be three months turned into three years after Testa became more involved in painting and sculpture. Meanwhile, he entered his first formal building design, a collaboration with Francisco Rossi, into a competition for the future Camara Argentina de la Contruccion building and, after three years in Italy, he returned to his adopted homeland to see it built.

By 1955 Testa had established himself as a leader in the Argentine Brutalist movement and one of the leading contemporary Modern artists of Latin America. His architectural designs continued to garner large commissions in Buenos Aires, among them the Bank of London and the National Library. In the meantime, he continued his pursuit of painting and sculpture and frequently exhibited his work throughout the Argentina and abroad, and in 1968 he cofounded the Centro de Arte y Comunicacion (Art and Communication Center).

Clorindo Testa died in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on April 11, 2013.