Mira Schendel - Latin America New York Thursday, May 29, 2014 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Galeria Millan, São Paulo
    Private Collection

  • Artist Biography

    Mira Schendel

    Brazilian • 1919 - 1988

    Born in Zurich and of Jewish heritage, Mira Schendel escaped Switzerland during World War II to settle in Sarajevo and Rome, finally immigrating to Brazil in 1953. In the 1960s, she began to produce her iconic monotipas, delicate drawings on luminescent rice paper. She rejected the notion of painting as a primary medium, abandoning the genre in the 1970s for almost a decade. Schendel worked mostly with paper and objects made of unusual materials such as Plexiglas, fabrics and aqueous inks.

    Recurring themes in her work include letters, geometric figures and phrases reflecting a radical lexicon, often juxtaposing elements from two languages (visual and numerical). Many of her works hover in the space between drawing and writing, creating a certain visual poetry that is completely her own. Schendel's works go beyond the materiality of making art and allow viewers to understand the relationship between language, time and human thought processes.

    View More Works

52

Two works: Untitled

1964-65
monotype on rice paper, between 2 Plexiglas sheets
each 18 3/8 x 8 7/8 in. (46.7 x 22.5 cm.)
(ii) Signed and dated "Mira, 64" lower right.

Estimate
$10,000 - 15,000 

Sold for $20,000

Contact Specialist
Laura González
Head of Latin America Sale
lgonzalez@phillips.com
+1 212 940 1216

Latin America

New York Auction 29 May 2014 4pm