In 1959, fifteen years after Piet Mondrian’s death, Clark wrote in a letter to him, “If I work, Mondrian, my reason is more than anything to achieve myself in the highest ethical-religious sense. It’s not just to make one surface or another.” That same year, Clark produced Cocoon no. 2, a structure that reflects her intentions to literally and figuratively go beyond the “surface” of geometric abstraction as represented by the paintings of Mondrian. The black trapezoidal plane protrudes from the white diamond-shape backing, thereby entering the viewer’s space. The work is a transitional move toward Clark’s experiments with viewer participation.

Gallery label from

2020

Provenance

The artist.
? - 1999, Galeria César Aché, Rio de Janeiro.
1999 - 2016, Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, New York, and Caracas, purchased through Galeria César Aché.
2016, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, acquired as promised gift from Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.

Medium Cellulose nitrate on sheetmetal
Dimensions 11 13/16 × 11 13/16 × 4 5/16" (30 × 30 × 11 cm)
Credit Gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros through the Latin American and Caribbean Fund in honor of Kathy Halbreich
Object number 799.2016
Department Painting & Sculpture

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Lygia Clark

Lygia Clark

Brazilian, 1920–1988 19 works online

The notion that the work of art was more like a body than a discrete object was a radical idea that led many Brazilian artists to embrace the viewer’s subjective experience as the main criterion in art making.

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