Brasil First ~ Judith Lauand

 

Judith Lauand (Pontal,1922 – São Paulo, 2022) was a Brazilian painter and printmaker, regarded as the “lady of concretism” in Brazil. She became widely recognized for her work marked by geometric precision, mathematical rigor, and compositions built from lines, planes, and vectors, establishing herself as one of the leading figures of concrete art in the country.


She graduated in 1950 from the School of Fine Arts of Araraquara and began her career with figurative paintings. After moving to São Paulo in 1953, she came into contact with artists associated with the Concrete Movement, joining the Ruptura Group in 1954. She was the only woman in the group, a fact that highlighted her trajectory in an art scene still largely dominated by men.

Her production spans painting, drawing, and printmaking, always exploring the balance between form, color, and space. In the following decades, she also incorporated elements of constructivism as well as optical and kinetic experimentation, while maintaining the rational and experimental character of her visual research.


Judith took part in several editions of the São Paulo Biennial, including the historic 2nd Biennial (1953), where she came into contact with works from the international avant-garde. Her art became increasingly recognized, appearing in major exhibitions in Brazil and abroad, such as the Venice Biennale (1960).


Throughout her career, she received awards and honors and had retrospectives in major museums, such as MASP and MAM-SP, becoming a reference for later generations of artists.
Her trajectory is essential to understanding the development of concrete art in Brazil and the pioneering role of women in this context. Judith Lauand passed away in 2022, at the age of 100, leaving a lasting legacy for Brazilian art.


Works