Mothers of Invention: Lygia Pape
A Multitude of Forms at the Met Breuer, March 21-July 23
Originally published July, 7, 2017
The confluence of art and architecture: Lygia Pape, A Multitude of Forms, at Met Breuer
There are two Brazilian Lygias of interest to artgoing New Yorkers: Lygia Pape (pah'-peh) and Lygia Clark. Both lived and worked in Rio de Janiero more or less contemporaneously, and both had manifold careers that included geometric abstraction and performance. Clark (1920-1988) was the subject of a major retrospective at MoMA in 2014. Pape (1927-2004) is featured in an important solo at Met Breuer right now. (Both can be seen together in Making Space at MoMA this summer.) But this blog, part of my irregular series, Mothers of Invention, is about Pape.
Two Lygias (and a Carmen) in Making Space at MoMA: Lygia Clark, foreground; Lygia Pape on wall, right; and Carmen Herrera
The early work was very much of its time, the Fifties
Both paintings titled Pintura (Painting), 1953, oil on canvas
Wall of Pinturas (Paintings), 1954-1956, gouache on fiberboard
I love that Pape worked rigorously with one size and one set of formal elements to wrest the most out of them, here the line and the square. The wall text notes that the work "reflected the growing interest in optics and technology," but they have a Russian Suprematist feel to me
Closer view below
Relevos (Reliefs), 1954-1956, tempera and industrial paint on wood
Notes the wall text: "Here, Pape was starting to question the two-dimensional convention of the picture plane."
Below: Alternative view, in which we see how the painted sides begin to disrupt the picture plane
Another wall of Relevos (Reliefs), 1954-1956, tempera and industrial paint on wood
Below: A closer and alternative view of the Relevo at the far right on the wall above
Wall of woodcuts on Japanese paper, Tecelar (Weaving), 1955-1957
So many of the elements in this series found their way into Pape's Night and Day Book, which follows
Below: Closer view of one Tecelar
Single element from the 36-piece Livro noite e dia (Night and Day Book), 1963-1976, tempera and acrylic on wood
All 36 elements are shown below in six-element sections. The installation itself was horizontal, two rows of 18 sculptures each
Livro do tempo (Book of Time), 1961-1963
This mural consists of 365 elements, one for each day of the year
In the foreground, a facsimile of Pape's book, Livro da criacao (Book of Creation), 1959-1960, which could be handled by visitors. (The large blue page standing up at left is what you saw in the opening photo of this post)
Below: detail of Livro do tempo
Amazonino installation
I am unfamiliar with this aspect of Pape's work, so I quote from the wall text: "Throughout her life Pape demonstrated an interest in the architecture and material culture of Brazil's indigenous population. The objects in her Tuminamba series (1997-2003) are covered with red feathers, recalling the Tupinamba, the country's original coastal tribes who were massacred during colonization. These tribes treasured the precious red feathers of the scarlet ibis and used them in their crafts and rituals . . ."
Amazonino, 1991, automotive paint on iron
Tteia 1, 1976-2004, thread
It's interesting that an artist so involved with the physicality of her painting and sculpture could, later in her career, create such an ethereal experience from those same geometric elements. Of course the textile sensibility was always there--witness her her "woven" woodcuts--but the luminosity and dramatic scale of this work create a poetic space that allows the viewer to physically participate in the work
Another view, with a look, below, at the construction