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Lygia Clark and the European tradition : tracing the appearance of a different space

For almost 35 years the work carried out by the Brazilian artist Lygia Clark between the 1950s and until her death, in 1988, has attracted the attention of both Brazilian and European scholars and critics. Since special attention has only been given to her post-1969 work, the work carried out until 1969 has been overlooked. In particular, I would argue that through the incorporation of the human body Clark's 1959-1964 Bicho series is the first spatial performative strategy developed by Clark during the 1960s and against which all her subsequent production needs to be read. / The present essay is thus an attempt to read as spatial performative strategies Clark's Bicho series with and against the Brazilian reception of Mondrian, reception which, as I would argue has been overlooked in the context of her work. Furthermore, I would argue that in order for us to better understand how the Bicho series unfold as spatial performative strategies the Brazilian reception of Mondrian must be approached through the Brazilian reception of Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology and political and cultural movements of the time. While the role played by Merleau-Ponty's incorporation of the human body in Clark's work has not been closely examined, Clark's engagement with the political and cultural movements of her time has been underestimated. I would argue that any attempt to give an account of Clark's practice needs to take into consideration the role these three aspects played in her engagement with the problem of representation.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.26761
Date January 1996
CreatorsSuescun Pozas, María del Carmen.
ContributorsRoss, Christine (advisor)
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Arts (Department of Art History.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 001557407, proquestno: MQ29571, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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