Mira Schendel

The exhibition Mira Schendel explored Schendel's drawings from the 1960s through the 1980s. This exhibition included a selection of approximately fifty of Schendel's monotypes from the 1960s and two series of drawings—Objetos Lineares and Objetos Gráficos. The exhibition was part of Art from Brazil in New York, a series of Brazilian art exhibitions representing over twenty artists and three generations of art, presented in New York galleries and exhibition spaces.

Mira Schendel was born in Zürich in 1919. Upon arriving in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1949, she began her artistic career as a self-taught painter. In 1964, Schendel began to work with a special technique of indirect drawing, using extremely thin sheets of Japanese paper. Drawings were created by applying ink to a surface and then transferring the image to a single sheet of paper. Her drawings during this period featured calligraphic signs and letters, with a marked preponderance of black on white. Schendel also explored ways to exhibit her delicate, nearly translucent drawings with both recto and verso sides visible. This was achieved by placing the drawings between acrylic plates, which were then suspended from the ceiling—a method that could be viewed in the exhibition. Schendel lived and worked in São Paulo until her death in 1988. The exhibition featured the artist's last drawings, a series of serene and elegant collage works on Japanese paper.

The exhibition was accompanied by a free brochure that included an essay by Brazilian critic and cultural theorist Paulo Herkenhoff.