Background
Lygia Pape was born in Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on April 7, 1927.
1956
Lygia Pape at the National Exhibition of Concrete Art.
Av. Pedro Calmon, 550 - Cidade Universitária, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, 21941-901, Brazil
Lygia Pape received her Master in Philosophy Esthetics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 1980.
Rua Fernando Ferrari, 75 - Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, 22231-040, Brazil
Pape taught semiotics at the school of architecture at the Universidade Santa Úrsula in Rio from 1972 to 1985.
Av. Pedro Calmon, 550 - Cidade Universitária, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, 21941-901, Brazil
Pape was appointed professor in the school of fine arts of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 1983.
Lygia Pape and her piece of art.
Lygia Pape in the process of creation of her artwork.
Lygia Pape painting in her studio.
Lygia Pape presenting her work.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Lygia Pape Trio do embalo maluco (Crazy Rocking Trio) 1967 Performance at a quarry near the artist’s home, Rio de Janeiro.
Lygia Pape with Amazonino sculpture.
Lygia Pape.
Lygia Pape was born in Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on April 7, 1927.
Lygia Pape received an informal training in fine arts, however, she graduated in Philosophy from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. In 1980 Pape received her Master in Philosophy Esthetics from the same university. Later she studied with Fayga Ostrower at the Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro.
Pape joined the Concrete Art movement at the age of 20. Other artists involved in the movement included Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica. In the 1950s, Lygia Pape executed her Tecelares Series. The minimalistic Tecelares wood prints were originally seen purely as works of Concrete art due to their precise and geometric aesthetic. In the series, she used "weaving" as a metaphor to evoke handicraft and a connection to Brazil's traditional and local culture.
Instead of using a gridded and rough composition in her artworks, Pape mixed natural and organic patterns with incised lines. The artist preferred to use simple materials, crafted minimally by her own hands to add expression into a work that is not expressionistic.
At the end of the 1950s, Lygia Pape along with Brazilian contemporaries Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Clark would abandon the group to create the new and more experimental Neo-Concrete movement. In 1959 she was a signatory of the Brazilian Neo-Concrete manifesto, which promoted the idea that art was not a static representation but rather organic and experiential.
Pape's oeuvre became greatly influenced by the concept that art required the viewer's participation and should be activated by him. This idea was well-represented in the artist's 1959 Livro da Criacão (Book of Creation), in which the artist utilized geometric shapes to create 16 wood constructions, or "pages," with abstract imagery - each representing a moment in the creation of the world. Besides, each page was accompanied by poetic lyrics and the viewer was encouraged to touch the books and read the poetry aloud.
Later on, Lygia Pape produced more installations as well as videos using sarcastic and critical metaphors against the Brazilian dictatorship. She moved beyond the movements, producing one of her best-known works, Divisor, in 1968, for which she invited people to poke their heads through slits cut into a large white sheet and move en masse in a circle. During the 1970s, Pape’s work became increasingly connected with Brazilian pop culture, as a dictatorial regime sought to suppress freedom of expression.
In addition to her career as an artist, Pape also taught semiotics at the school of architecture at the Universidade Santa Úrsula in Rio from 1972 to 1985. She was appointed professor in the school of fine arts of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 1983.
Of all of her art pieces, Ttéias (1979) is considered to be the most emblematic of her artistic career. The Ttéias was originated in 1979, but it was produced in full scale only in the 1990s. Lygia Pape invented the word "Ttéias", which is a pun based on the Portuguese word for "web" ("teia") and for "a person or thing of grace" ("teteia"). This series comprised of an immersive staging of semi-transparent prisms, which were created using gold thread.
Lygia Pape was a participant of a great number of exhibitions, including those at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, in 1998; at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, "Brazil: Body and Soul", New York, in 2002; at the Galeria Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo, and at the Galerie der Stadt Sindelfingen, both in 2003; at the Museu de Arte Moderna, São Paulo, in 2004, etc.
The artist continued to create art until her death. Towards the end of her life, she was crafting vivid installations, which, like all of her work, integrated the ethical, aesthetic, and political matters with her typical elegance and wit.
Book of Time
Carandirú
Eat Me. The Gluttony or Lust
Web #1 B
New House
Box of Ants
Balls
Guará's Eye - White
Noses and Tongues
Amazonia Black and Red
Is Your Life Sweet?
Tteia 1, C
Concerto Tupinambá
Box of Cockroaches
Visual Poem. Nest
Wanted
Visual Poem. This is not a Cloud
Book of the Clouds
Tennis game
Amazonio
Seduction II (Vem / Vai)
Tteia 1A
Amazonia Green
Livro dos Caminhos (Book of Paths)
Tteia # 7
Object of Seduction
Eye of Guara
Light-Poems: Em/Vão
Wheel of Delights
Red Bottles
Amazonia White
Amazonia Black and white
Visual Poem. Treasure
Visual Poems. Box Brazil
Cylinders
Alva de Prata
DNA
Wheels with ball
Moon Light
Drawing
Neoconcret Ballet #II
Lygia Pape and Tecelar
Painting in red and black
Ballet Neoconcreto # 1
Book of Architecture. Free Lance Concrete
Painting - Gold and Brown
Tecelar
Graphics
Books-Poem
Tecelar
Tecelar
Relief in Orange and Blue
Relief in Red and Blue
Book of Creation. Fire
Painting. Black and Brown
Painting - Gold and Blue (Sertão Carioca)
Painting. Red
Quotations:
"I always want to invent a new language that's different for me and for others, too. I want to discover new things. Because, to me, art is a way of knowing the world, to see how the world is, of getting to know the world."
"Art is my way of understanding the world."
"My concern is always invention. I always want to invent a new language... I want to discover new things."
Lygia Pape was one of the members of the Grupo Frente, which was founded by artist Ivan Serpa in 1954.
Lygia Pape was married to Gunther Pape. The couple gave birth to two daughters, Paula and Cristina Maria Pape.