Waldemar Cordeiro
Biography
1925, Rome, Italy – 1973, São Paulo
Waldemar Cordeiro was a key figure in the development of concrete art, a vanguard movement essential for the transition of modern art to contemporary art, which came to define 20th-century Brazilian art. Besides being a pioneer in computer art as early as the 1960s, Waldemar Cordeiro developed and implemented important landscaping designs in Brazil. In his interdisciplinary research he defended painting in its essence, with self-supporting basic colors and lines, without the backing of figurative representation. He was notable for his objective and rational art, very much associated to his theoretical studies, as well as for his investigation of industrial materials and elements. Cordeiro worked for an art accessible to all, seeking a collective sense that was also aligned with technology, to design and to landscaping. His research in art was always coupled with a social and political concern.
Waldemar Cordeiro studied at the Academy of Fine Arts of Rome (1938) and at the Tasso Lyceum of Rome (1945). In 1949, he took up residence in Brazil. He participated in the inaugural show of the Museu de Arte Moderna of São Paulo (MAM-SP), Do figurativismo ao abstracionismo (1949), and in the 1st Bienal de São Paulo (1951). He was also one of the organizers of the show Ruptura, also at MAM-SP (1952), and of Arteônica, at Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado, FAAP-SP (1971). Solo shows of his work have been held at noteworthy venues, including MAM-RJ/SP, CCSP, Buffalo University (USA), MAC-SP, Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, and the Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro. Group shows featuring his work have been held at important venues which include the Walker Art Center (USA), the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (USA), the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (USA), CCBB-SP/RJ, Goethe-Institut, New York (USA), the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (Spain), Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, the Bienal de São Paulo (2012, 1975, 1973, 1969, 1967, 1965, 1963, 1961, 1959, 1957, 1955, 1953 and 1951), and the Biennial of Nuremberg (Germany). Waldemar Cordeiro’s works figure in many prominent collections, including those of the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (USA), the Museu de Arte Contemporânea of the University of São Paulo, the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection (USA), the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) of New York (USA), the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (USA), and ZKM Museum (Germany).
Works
Exhibitions
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Waldemar Cordeiro | Geometria Intuitiva
2 April - 18 June 2022Waldemar Cordeiro was one of the main agents in the history of Brazilian art, a key figure for the transition of modern to contemporaneity art, being a forerunner of artistic...Read more -
Ruptura
10 November 2018 - 9 March 2019The Modernism of Rupture in Brazil On December 9, 1952, the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo inaugurated the first show of Grupo Ruptura [Rupture Group] – the pioneering...Read more -
Luciana Brito - NY Project | Selected Works
15 December 2017 - 24 February 2018After its highly appraised debut exhibition “Ruptura”, Luciana Brito – NY Project presents until February 24th, 2018 a selection of works from the collection by artists from different nationalities and...Read more -
Luciana Brito - NY Project | Ruptura
6 September - 4 November 2017Luciana Brito Galeria will launch Luciana Brito - NY Project at 186 Franklin Street with Ruptura [Rupture] , an in-depth exhibition of work by the São Paulo-based Grupo Ruptura ....Read more -
Residência Moderna
5 April - 14 May 2016The group show gathers works by 11 artists that dialogue with the gallery’s new space, a modernist house designed by Rino Levi at Avenida Nove de Julho.Read more
Artists: Caio Reisewitz, Gaspar Gasparian, Geraldo de Barros, Héctor Zamora, Pablo Lobato, Rafael Carneiro, Regina Silveira, Rochelle Costi, Thomaz Farkas, Tiago Tebet, Waldemar Cordeiro -
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27 November - 27 February 2015Curated by Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, Maria Montero and Rafael Vogt Maia Rosa, the show is the last one presented in the space at Gomes de Carvalho street, as in 2016 the gallery will move to a house designed by Rino Levi at Jardim Europa. The selection of works includes pieces by artists such as Regina Silveira, Nelson Leirner, Marina Abramović, Geraldo de Barros, Rochelle Costi, Caio Reisewitz, Thomaz Farkas and Tiago Tebet, exhibited exactly at the same location where they where originally shown in the gallery.Read more -
Waldemar Cordeiro | Jardins de Vanguarda LTDA
23 August - 11 October 2014After his awarded retrospective in 2013, the investigations by Waldemar Cordeiro (1925-1973) – which involved painting, drawing, photography, pioneering experiences with digital media, objects, and close relationship with landscaping and...Read more