- Idéia visível
- Visible Idea
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The Adolpho Leirner Collection of Brazilian Constructive Art
Waldemar Cordeiro—landscape designer, painter, electronic artist, theorist, and critic—was Brazilian on his father's side and Italian on his mother's. He studied in Italy and traveled in 1946 to Brazil, where he settled in São Paulo. In the 1950s he founded the Ruptura Group and wrote its manifesto, thus becoming a central figure in São Paulo's Concrete art movement. Cordeiro defended Concrete art's mathematical and rational principles in the face of the Rio de Janeiro Neo-Concrete group, which advocated a more sensorial and cognitive Geometric Abstraction. The concept behind the series Idéia visível (Visible Idea) clearly demonstrates that Cordeiro considered the object a mere concrete abstraction.
Related ICAA documents:
Lothar Charroux et al., “Ruptura,” 1952 (record ID 771349)
“Concretistas na Galeria das ‘Folhas,’” 1959 (record ID 1232732)
Waldemar Cordeiro and Luís Sacilotto, “Exposição nacional de arte concreta: artes visuais poesia,” 1956 (record ID 1232176)
Waldemar Cordeiro, "Ainda o Abstracionismo," 1986 (record ID 1085351)
Waldemar Cordeiro, "Arte concreta semântica," 1964 (record ID 1110835)
Waldemar Cordeiro, " O objeto," 1956 (record ID 1086891)
Waldemar Cordeiro, [Produto direto de uma atitude crítica...], 1960 (record ID 1087239)
Waldemar Cordeiro, "Realismo: "musa da vingança e da tristeza," 1965 (record ID 1110839)
Waldemar Cordeiro, "Ruptura," 1953 (record ID 1085337)
Waldemar Cordeiro, "Teoria e práctica do concretismo carioca," 1957 (record ID 10872847)
ProvenanceThe artist; [...]; Adolpho Leirner, São Paulo; sold to MFAH, 2007.
Exhibition HistoryMuseu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, September–December, 1957.
"Waldemar Cordeiro: uma aventura da razão," Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, August–September, 1986.
"Arte construtiva no Brasil: Coleção Adolpho Leirner," Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, October–December, 1998; Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, January–March, 1999.
"Mostra do redescobrimento: arte contemporânea - Brasil 500 anos artes visuais," Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, April–September, 2000.
"Versiones del Sur: Cinco propuestas en torno al arte en América. F[r]icciones," Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, December, 2000–March, 2001.
"Brazil: Body & Soul," Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, October, 2001–January, 2002.
"Cuasi-corpus: arte concreto y neoconcreto de Brasil," Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, February–June, 2003; MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Monterrey, México, July–October, 2003.
"Inverted Utopias: The Avant-Garde in Latin America, 1920–1970," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, June 20–September 12, 2004.
"Dimensions of Constructive Art in Brazil: The Adolpho Leirner Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May 20–September 23, 2007.
"North Looks South: Building the Latin American Art Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, June 7–September 27, 2009.
"Adolpho Leirner Collection of Brazilian Constructive Art," Haus Konstruktiv, Zürich, November 12, 2009–February 21, 2010.
"Constructed Dialogues: Concrete, Geometric, and Kinetic Art from the Latin American Art Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, September 16, 2012–January 6, 2013.
"Waldemar Cordeiro: Fantasia Exata," Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, July–September, 2013.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Painted on verso upper center: "waldemar / cordeiro S.P. / 1957"
Painted on verso center upside down: "(arrow-up and down) / cordeiro / 1957"
1. "MAC MUSEU DE ARTE CONTEMPORANEA / DA UNIVERSIDADE DE SÃO PAULO ..."
2. "44 Waldemar Cordeiro..."
3. (illegible, discolored w/losses on edges) "MUSEU DE MODERNE..."
1 printed label tied w/string on back- see accession folder photocopy:
"44 / Waldemar...mam-Museu de Arte Moderna..."
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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