Travel Tip: Art and Archaeology in United States
Dimensions of Constructive Art in Brazil: The Adolpho Leirner Collection

Dimensions of Constructive Art in Brazil: The Adolpho Leirner Collection is the first exhibition to present the acquisition of the Adolpho Leirner Collection of Brazilian Constructive Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Approximately 100 pieces spanning two decades (1950-1965) are on view.

Highlights of the Collection

Forerunners of abstract art in Brazil, including the first artist to embrace geometric abstraction, Cícero Dias (1907-2003) and the influential teacher Samson Flexor (1907-1971) are represented, as are major works by avant-garde artists and groups active in the 1950s: the Grupo ruptura of São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro’s Grupo Frente. Artists from these groups include Waldemar Cordeiro (1925-1973) and Mauricio Nogueira Lima (Grupo ruptura); and the brothers César (1939-) and Hélio Oiticica (1937-1980) and Lygia Pape (1929-2004) from Grupo Frente. The collection is includes work from the Neo-concrete movement, with six major constructions by Lygia Clark (1920-1988). In addition, the collection features major artists who embraced constructive tenets yet worked independently of these groups, including Alfredo Volpi (1896-1988), Mira Schendel (1919-1988), and Sergio Camargo (1930-1990).