Lygia Clark

(Brazilian, 1920–1988)

Lygia Clark was a Brazilian geometric abstraction painter and installation artist. Perhaps best remembered for her participation in the Brazilian Constructivism movement, her innovative approach to modular sculpture and participatory art made her a singularly pioneering force in international art. Clark endeavored to involve the viewer in her works in an unprecedented psychological and physical way, creating multisensory experiences for her audience. “We do everything so automatically that we have forgotten the poignancy of smell, of physical anguish, of tactile sensations of all kinds,” she once said. Born on October 23, 1920 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, she went on to study in Rio de Janeiro and Paris. Working alongside other Brazilian artists such as Franz Weissman and Lygia Pape, she helped establish the Neo-Concrete movement in her home country. During her life, she participated in the São Paulo Biennial and the 1960 Venice Biennale, and in 2014 was the subject of a major posthumous retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, which brought renewed attention to the artist. Clark died on April 25, 1988 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.