259:, Schendel dealt with the desire to dismantle the teleology of language. Schendel’s technique for these works was to apply paint to a glass laminate, apply a light layer of talcum powder over it to prevent paper from picking it up on contact, then used her fingernails and other points instrumented to draw on paper she would lay on the glass. This technique makes the drawing seem to emerge from within the paper and transforms the text she draws to antitext. The lines of Schendel’s drawings are driven toward writing. The precise inscriptions are linked to letters and words and the gesture of her hand is linked to more general meanings. Her works explore the universality of language. However, later in her career lines lost association with the movement of her hand and gained the generality of concepts as she began to place them in ambiguous situations.
353:
390:(1986–87,) she coated wooden surfaces with gently modulated plaster and painted in white and black tempera. This produced soft shadows and optical lines that differentiated themselves from the other lines that were drawn in oilstick. Her assistant at the time, Fernando Bento, said that to illustrate where Schendel wanted the lines, she would point to white lines left by passing airplanes in the sky. The contrasting quality of the two lines in this work created doubt about the position of the surface, therefore forcing the viewer to focus on one line at a time.
217:. During the 1930s and 1940s figurative 'modernismo' had been dominant, but in the late 1940s and early 1950s abstract-geometric art began to be shown in Brazil and led to the founding of the Concrete art movement Ruptura in 1952. In SĂŁo Paulo, an immigrant city that was industrial and undergoing rapid growth, Schendel found a circle of emigre intellectuals from different disciplines with whom she could discuss ideas about aesthetics and philosophy; this included the Czech-born philosopher
454:
447:
236:
Schendel’s work features mixtures of calligraphy, phrases, letters, and encrypted traces of language. The graphic output in
Schendel’s paintings explore the relations between language and art, and the inquiry into that relationship reveals itself in the totality of her work. Schendel’s paintings from
418:
When
Schendel arrived in Brazil she had an experimental and reflective attitude towards things. These traits reveal themselves in her work, as well as her previous experience in art and philosophy during her time in Milan. Schendel’s experimental nature produced heterogeneous works that are not easy
348:
Schendel’s
Perfurados creates constellations, clusters, and spiderwebs of light, walls, or undersurfaces shining through their pinpricked surfaces. Although these works are small scale they evoke cosmic dimensions and ethereal distances, but at the same time call attention to the materials in which
402:
whom she met in
Sarajevo. Schendel received a Croatian passport in 1944. In 1949, she and Hargesheimer emigrated to Brazil together. They lived in Porto Alegre but in 1953 Schendel separated from Josep and moved alone to SĂŁo Paulo, where she settled. In 1954, she met Knut Schendel, a German emigre
262:
She worked rapidly and in little over a year she had made the majority of approximately 2,000 drawings. In these works she also first combined multiple languages, using words and phrases from her principle spoken languages - Italian, German and
Portuguese but also adding words in French, English,
341:
Between 1963 and 1969 in Latin
America there was a movement aimed at transforming nonobjective abstraction into penetrable forms. A key concept in this repertoire was an experience of density as a penetrable experience. However, penetrable works by Schendel, among others, displace density,
429:
Interpretations of
Schendel’s work often mention an opposition between gentleness and force. This quality is believed to result from her singular approach to reality. Her material attained intensity through gentle interventions and her works' meaning depends on preserving this tension.
337:
despite the overall repetition and accumulation, Schendel explores language as action, faltering to absolute resistance. According to Sonia
Salzstein, in Schendel’s experience, the subjectivity emerges in the course of a process and therefore, can’t be reduced to a psychology.
237:
the mid-1950s depict shallow surfaces, simplified figuration, and muted tones, and the textures and materials stand out more than the values of the color. These early works suggest a play of opposition between visual elements and the hand of the artist.
379:, Schendel pressed graphic letters and symbols on rice paper between sheets of acrylic laminate and displayed them in space. Superimposition, transparency and space were all important to this work, narrating the interplay of chaos and meaning.
251:
drawings. Between 1964 and 1966, Schendel produced almost two thousand drawings in oil paintings on fine rice paper, as well as the
Monotypes series. The central subject Schendel explored in these notebooks was time, the dimension of language.
414:
Schendel was in communication with other artists in Brazil, but she was not heavily influenced by any of them. She had no ties to any specific school or movement, and she was constantly evolving her work and techniques throughout her life.
425:
Schendel neither attempted to order reality or to impose meaning on it in her art. Through her art she examined the possibilities of our presence in the world with the recognition of both our limitations and relating achievements.
196:
Mira
Schendel's arrival in Brazil ended a tortuous journey. Her significant background perhaps explains the theme of emancipation from the body/mind dialect and the metaphysical experience coinciding found throughout her work.
382:
By the early 1970s, the essential character of Schendel’s work had emerged with an aesthetic that didn’t attempt any classification or justification which lead to the most original expressions of contemporary art.
233:, in the idea of being and nothingness, in mystical thinking and her deep reading of Wittgenstein. But the impact of these works does not depend upon the viewer sharing either that knowledge or those interests.
403:
and owner of an important bookshop, Canuto, which was a hub for SĂŁo Paulo's intellectuals. In 1957, Schendel and Knut had a daughter, Ada Clara Schendel. Mira Schendel married Knut on March 17, 1960.
691:
Carvajal, Rina, Alma Ruiz, and Susan Martin. The Experimental Exercise of Freedom: Lygia Clark, Gego, Mathias Goeritz, HĂ©lio Oiticica, Mira Schendel. Los Angeles: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1999.
311: By 1966 Schendel put a hold on painting to create sculptures made from rice paper rolled up into strings that were woven into knots. This technique resulted in shapeless forms. Schendel’s
419:
to confine to a consistent style. She explored multiple directions in her work which allowed her to enjoy the freedom of fluid form of thought and play with the limits of form and work itself.
326:(Still waves of probability—Old Testament, I Kings 19), an installation consisting of nylon thread and wall text on acrylic sheet which was Schendel's only work of an environmental nature.
31:
345:
Penetrable works by Schendel at the end of the 1960s contributed heavily to the conversion of abstract form into a specific place that began demanding participation from the viewer.
767:
PĂ©rez Oramas, Luis, LeĂłn Ferrari, Mira Schendel, Andrea Giunta, and Rodrigo Naves. LeĂłn Ferrari and Mira Schendel: Tangled Alphabets. New York, N.Y.: Museum of Modern Art, 2009.
117:
and was also active as a painter, poet, and sculptor. Her work drew upon the art of language and poetry, and what appears to have driven her was the ability to reinvent it.
173:
in 1938, she was designated as Jewish, stripped of her Italian citizenship and forced to leave university, and so decided to flee Italy in 1939. After travelling through
811:
240:
In the early 1960s, the corporeal component of Schendel’s paintings began to change as she moved toward a more imprecise and all-embracing involvement with space.
161:. Schendel's parents divorced in September 1922, and her mother married Count Tommaso Gnoli in 1937. In the late 1930s, Schendel began to study philosophy at the
229:
painter and sculptor. She used paint with talc and brick dust, and made many drawings on rice paper. According to Laura Cumming her art has its sources in
894:
375:
These works depict constellations of letters, numbers, and graphic symbols and give the impression of symbols floating in immediate space. In her work
929:
747:
Butler, Cornelia H., and Alexandra Schwartz. Modern Women: Women Artists at the Museum of Modern Art. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2010.
367:
Between the late 1960s and the early 1990s, Schendel began making works out of acrylic and hung them from the ceiling, like in her works
899:
342:
transforming it and using it to transcend purely sensory perception and therefore suggesting new dimensions according to Perez-Oramas.
919:
924:
162:
422:
Schendel’s work drew upon the art of language and poetry, and what appears to have driven her was the ability to reinvent it.
939:
914:
795:
185:. After spending the war in Sarajevo, she returned to Italy, with her first husband Josep Hargesheimer, and worked for the
636:
702:
602:
904:
889:
186:
193:. Having applied to various countries in the Americas, in August 1949 she emigrated and settled with Josep in Brazil.
352:
303:
and discovering the quality of the material, Schendel began to use it as an autonomous medium itself in her works
884:
934:
664:
849:
Mexico City, Fundacion Olga y Rufino Tamayo, and Monterrey, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey, 2004.
170:
562:
230:
169:. During her time in Milan Schendel also attended an art class. Because of racial laws introduced in
909:
787:
781:
319:
refuse any objecthood as they are sculptures that are humorously without volume or interiority.
269:
513:
501:
489:
477:
465:
273:(1955–1956), an early piece of electronic music that employed vocals drawn from the biblical
264:
879:
874:
669:
518:
506:
494:
482:
470:
777:
8:
278:
244:
222:
791:
110:
218:
158:
274:
153:
at her mother's request at the Kirche St. Peter and Paul, a Catholic church in
868:
855:. SĂŁo Paulo, Museu de Arte Contemporanea da Universidade de SĂŁo Paulo, 1990.
665:"Tangled Alphabets: LeĂłn Ferrari and Mira Schendel (April 5-June 15, 2009)"
607:
214:
206:
329:
Mira Schendel also plays against the grain of language. In works such as
225:
and the psychoanalyst Theon Spanudis among others. She became a prolific
174:
134:
30:
446:
324:
Ondas paradas de probabilidade—Antigo Testamento, Livro dos Reis, I, 19
114:
360:
226:
210:
637:
Mira Schendel: the refugee from Nazi Europe who settled in SĂŁo Paulo
154:
398:
On April 19, 1941, Schendel married Josep Hargesheimer, a Catholic
248:
182:
142:
138:
406:
She died at the age of 69 in 1988 from lung cancer, in SĂŁo Paulo.
263:
Croat and Czech. One important group of monotypes was inspired by
453:
399:
178:
150:
243:
In the early 1960s, Schendel received a gift of rice paper from
146:
130:
166:
659:
657:
655:
653:
651:
649:
109:(June 7, 1919 – July 24, 1988) was a 20th-century Brazilian
502:
Untitled from the series Graphic objects (Objetos gráficos)
190:
646:
443:
Untitled Located in NYC part of Private Collection 1956*
100:
Josep Hargesheimer (1941–1953); Knut Schendel (1960–1988)
460:
Untitled Located in NYC part of Private Collection 1956
783:
Modern Women: Women Artists at The Museum of Modern Art
780:(2010). Butler, Cornelia and Alexandra Schwartz (ed.).
631:
629:
627:
625:
623:
621:
619:
617:
478:
Untitled, from the series Refrigerators (Geladeiras)
322:For the 1969 Bienal de SĂŁo Paulo, Schendel created
433:
861:. Paris, Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, 2001.
614:
213:was dominated by a debate between figuration and
866:
541:(Porto Alegre), January 7, 1950, pp. 1, 4.
842:. Tate Publishing, Pinacoteca do Estado, 2013.
786:. New York: The Museum of Modern Art. p.
277:. A number of these were included in the 1965
597:
595:
593:
591:
589:
587:
585:
583:
141:, and her mother, Ada Saveria BĂĽttner, was a
776:
181:, she joined a group of refugees heading to
563:"Mira Schendel – Exhibition at Tate Modern"
514:Untitled from the series Splints (Sarrafos)
580:
157:, on October 20, 1920 and was raised as a
29:
895:Brazilian people of German-Jewish descent
137:. Her father, Karl Leo Dub, was a fabric
452:
445:
351:
812:"Mira Schendel's Graphic Object | post"
700:
867:
557:
555:
247:and in 1964 began to use this to make
743:
701:Cumming, Laura (September 28, 2013).
930:20th-century Brazilian women writers
763:
761:
759:
757:
755:
753:
741:
739:
737:
735:
733:
731:
729:
727:
725:
723:
359:(1967-1968, 1967-1968, and 1972) at
163:Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
113:. She was known for her drawings on
552:
537:"O drama dos imigrantes europeus."
373:Objetos Graficos (Graphic Objects.)
13:
838:Barson, Tanya and Taisa Palhares.
832:
386:In one of Schendel’s last series,
187:International Refugee Organisation
14:
951:
900:Brazilian people of Swiss descent
845:Kautz, Willy, and Rodrigo Naves.
750:
720:
920:20th-century Brazilian sculptors
847:Mira Schendel. Continuum amorfo.
393:
925:20th-century Brazilian painters
804:
434:Selected works and publications
357:Objeto gráfico (Graphic object)
288:(Little Nothings), c. 1965–68,
770:
694:
685:
534:. Stuttgart, E. Walther, 1967.
292:(Little Train), 1965, and the
1:
545:
120:
16:Brazilian painter (1919-1988)
940:20th-century women sculptors
915:20th-century Brazilian poets
7:
335:Still Waves of Probability,
10:
956:
409:
299:After using rice paper in
905:Swiss emigrants to Brazil
890:Brazilian women sculptors
296:(Graphic objects), 1967.
200:
96:
84:
80:Swiss, Italian, Brazilian
76:
60:
37:
28:
21:
284:These drawings included
331:Droguinhas, Trenzinhos,
149:heritage, Schendel was
125:Mira Schendel was born
703:"Mira Schendel Review"
603:Mira Schendel – review
457:
450:
364:
935:Brazilian women poets
532:Grafische Reduktionen
456:
449:
355:
265:Karlheinz Stockhausen
670:Museum of Modern Art
643:, September 13, 2013
611:, September 29, 2013
519:Museum of Modern Art
507:Museum of Modern Art
495:Museum of Modern Art
483:Museum of Modern Art
471:Museum of Modern Art
270:Gesang der JĂĽnglinge
205:When she arrived in
885:Artists from ZĂĽrich
209:in 1953, Brazilian
145:. Although she had
111:contemporary artist
55:Zurich, Switzerland
778:PĂ©rez-Oramas, Luis
458:
451:
365:
797:978-0-87070-771-1
127:Myrrha Dagmar Dub
104:
103:
71:SĂŁo Paulo, Brazil
42:Myrrha Dagmar Dub
947:
826:
825:
823:
822:
816:post.at.moma.org
808:
802:
801:
774:
768:
765:
748:
745:
718:
717:
715:
713:
698:
692:
689:
683:
682:
680:
678:
661:
644:
633:
612:
599:
578:
577:
575:
573:
559:
294:Objetos graficos
279:SĂŁo Paulo Bienal
221:, the physicist
67:
51:
49:
33:
19:
18:
955:
954:
950:
949:
948:
946:
945:
944:
865:
864:
835:
833:Further reading
830:
829:
820:
818:
810:
809:
805:
798:
775:
771:
766:
751:
746:
721:
711:
709:
699:
695:
690:
686:
676:
674:
663:
662:
647:
635:Laura Barnett,
634:
615:
601:Laura Cumming,
600:
581:
571:
569:
561:
560:
553:
548:
539:Correio do Povo
436:
412:
396:
377:Graphic Objects
349:they are made.
245:Mário Schenberg
223:Mário Schenberg
203:
123:
91:
89:
72:
69:
65:
56:
53:
47:
45:
44:
43:
24:
17:
12:
11:
5:
953:
943:
942:
937:
932:
927:
922:
917:
912:
910:Jewish artists
907:
902:
897:
892:
887:
882:
877:
863:
862:
856:
850:
843:
834:
831:
828:
827:
803:
796:
769:
749:
719:
693:
684:
645:
613:
579:
550:
549:
547:
544:
543:
542:
535:
528:
527:
523:
522:
510:
498:
486:
474:
441:
440:
439:Selected works
435:
432:
411:
408:
395:
392:
388:Monochromatics
275:Book of Daniel
202:
199:
159:Roman Catholic
122:
119:
102:
101:
98:
94:
93:
86:
82:
81:
78:
74:
73:
70:
68:(aged 69)
62:
58:
57:
54:
41:
39:
35:
34:
26:
25:
22:
15:
9:
6:
4:
3:
2:
952:
941:
938:
936:
933:
931:
928:
926:
923:
921:
918:
916:
913:
911:
908:
906:
903:
901:
898:
896:
893:
891:
888:
886:
883:
881:
878:
876:
873:
872:
870:
860:
859:Mira Schendel
857:
854:
853:Mira Schendel
851:
848:
844:
841:
840:Mira Schendel
837:
836:
817:
813:
807:
799:
793:
789:
785:
784:
779:
773:
764:
762:
760:
758:
756:
754:
744:
742:
740:
738:
736:
734:
732:
730:
728:
726:
724:
708:
704:
697:
688:
672:
671:
666:
660:
658:
656:
654:
652:
650:
642:
638:
632:
630:
628:
626:
624:
622:
620:
618:
610:
609:
604:
598:
596:
594:
592:
590:
588:
586:
584:
568:
564:
558:
556:
551:
540:
536:
533:
530:
529:
525:
524:
520:
516:
515:
511:
508:
504:
503:
499:
496:
492:
491:
487:
484:
480:
479:
475:
472:
468:
467:
463:
462:
461:
455:
448:
444:
438:
437:
431:
427:
423:
420:
416:
407:
404:
401:
394:Personal life
391:
389:
384:
380:
378:
374:
370:
362:
358:
354:
350:
346:
343:
339:
336:
332:
327:
325:
320:
318:
314:
310:
306:
302:
297:
295:
291:
287:
282:
280:
276:
272:
271:
266:
260:
258:
253:
250:
246:
241:
238:
234:
232:
231:phenomenology
228:
224:
220:
219:Vilem Flusser
216:
212:
208:
198:
194:
192:
188:
184:
180:
176:
172:
171:Fascist Italy
168:
164:
160:
156:
152:
148:
144:
140:
136:
132:
128:
118:
116:
112:
108:
107:Mira Schendel
99:
95:
87:
85:Occupation(s)
83:
79:
75:
64:July 24, 1988
63:
59:
40:
36:
32:
27:
23:Mira Schendel
20:
858:
852:
846:
839:
819:. Retrieved
815:
806:
782:
772:
710:. Retrieved
707:The Guardian
706:
696:
687:
675:. Retrieved
668:
641:The Guardian
640:
608:The Guardian
606:
570:. Retrieved
566:
538:
531:
526:Publications
512:
500:
488:
476:
464:
459:
442:
428:
424:
421:
417:
413:
405:
397:
387:
385:
381:
376:
372:
368:
366:
356:
347:
344:
340:
334:
330:
328:
323:
321:
316:
312:
308:
304:
300:
298:
293:
289:
285:
283:
268:
261:
256:
254:
242:
239:
235:
204:
195:
126:
124:
106:
105:
66:(1988-07-24)
52:June 7, 1919
880:1988 deaths
875:1919 births
215:abstraction
175:Switzerland
135:Switzerland
129:in 1919 in
77:Nationality
869:Categories
821:2020-03-10
546:References
317:Droguinhas
313:Trenzinhos
309:Trenzinho.
305:Droguinhas
286:Droguinhas
121:Early life
115:rice paper
48:1919-06-07
712:3 October
677:3 October
361:Glenstone
301:Monotypes
290:Trenzinho
257:Monotypes
227:modernist
211:modernism
207:SĂŁo Paulo
97:Spouse(s)
572:16 March
490:Untitled
466:Untitled
400:Croatian
249:monotype
183:Sarajevo
151:baptized
143:milliner
139:merchant
92:Sculptor
517:at the
505:at the
493:at the
481:at the
469:at the
410:Artwork
363:in 2023
179:Austria
90:Painter
794:
673:. 2009
521:(1987)
509:, 1967
497:, 1964
485:, 1960
473:, 1953
369:Discos
201:Career
155:Zurich
147:Jewish
131:Zurich
88:Artist
167:Milan
792:ISBN
714:2015
679:2015
574:2018
567:Tate
371:and
333:and
315:and
307:and
191:Rome
177:and
61:Died
38:Born
788:317
267:'s
255:In
189:in
165:in
871::
814:.
790:.
752:^
722:^
705:.
667:.
648:^
639:,
616:^
605:,
582:^
565:.
554:^
281:.
133:,
824:.
800:.
716:.
681:.
576:.
50:)
46:(
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
