Description
Book SynopsisArt produced outside hegemonic centers is often seen as a form of derivation or relegated to a provisional status. Forming Abstraction turns this narrative on its head. In the first book-length study of postwar Brazilian art and culture, Adele Nelson highlights the importance of exhibitionary and pedagogical institutions in the development of abstract art in Brazil. By focusing on the formation of the São Paulo Biennial in 1951; the early activities of artists Geraldo de Barros, Lygia Clark, Waldemar Cordeiro, Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Pape, and Ivan Serpa; and the ideas of critics like Mário Pedrosa, Nelson illuminates the complex, strategic processes of citation and adaption of both local and international forms. The book ultimately demonstrates that Brazilian art institutions and abstract artistic groupsand their exhibitions of abstract art in particularserved as crucial loci for the articulation of societal identities in a newly democratic nation at the onset of the Cold War.
Trade Review"
Forming Abstraction fills in many gaps and inconsistencies about this period and as such is a welcome addition to extant scholarship and especially to the classroom, where Nelson’s clear and engaging prose will undoubtedly be appreciated. More importantly, the author’s unique insight paves the way for new possibilities in addressing postwar art in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America, including further research into the racialized, classed, and gendered dimensions of abstract art." * Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture *
