Lygia Clark (b. Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 1920; d. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1988) studied in Rio de Janeiro and moved to Paris to study with Fernand Léger in 1950. She was a central figure in Brazil's art scene in the 1950s and 1960s alongside Hélio Oiticica. Clark was one of the key personalities associated with the Grupo Frente (formed in 1953) and the Neo-Concretist Manifesto (1959), and also worked extensively in Europe as an artist and teacher, later exploring the healing and therapeutic potential of art. Important solo and group exhibitions during her lifetime included the early São Paulo Biennials (1953-1967), the Second Pilot Show of Kinetic Work, curated by Guy Brett at the Signals Gallery, London in 1962, Mouvement II at the Galerie Denise René in Paris in 1964, and a retrospective at the Venice Biennale in 1968. Important posthumous exhibitions include a major retrospective at the Fundació Tàpies, Barcelona (1997; travelled to MAC Marseille; Fundação de Serralves, Porto; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels and Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro); The Experimental Exercise of Freedom, LA MOCA, Los Angeles (1999); The Art of Participation: 1950 to Now, SFMoMA, San Francisco (2008); Elles@CentrePompidou at the Pompidou Centre in Paris (2009), and Estudos e Maquetes at Alison Jacques Gallery, London (2010). Clark featured in the 2011 Istanbul Biennial and will feature again in the São Paulo Biennial in 2012. She will also be the subject of solo presentations at Alison Jacques Gallery, London, and Gladstone Gallery, New York (both 2013), and a major retrospective at MoMA, New York in 2014.
