Lygia Pape: Magnetized Space

Lygia Pape (1927-2004) was a founding member of Brazil’s Neo-Concrete movement. Her early work developed out of European geometric abstraction (Concrete art), but Pape expanded these idioms, drawing on the visual traditions of her native country. Her paintings, sculptures, books and films have made a defining contribution to Brazil’s artistic identity, as well as to the field of artist’s books. Pape was closely affiliated with artists such as Lygia Clark and Helio Oiticica and enjoyed comparable prominence and acclaim in Brazil. Outside of Brazil, however, Pape has remained less well known than her contemporaries, until the Reina Sofia and Serpentine Gallery’s landmark show of 2011-12. The catalogue for that exhibition-the first English-language monograph on the artist-quickly went out of print and is now a rarity. This expanded, revised edition of that catalogue reveals her oeuvre for an English-speaking audience for the first time.