Biography

Ivan Ferreira Serpa (Rio de Janeiro, 1923 - Rio de Janeiro, 1973). Painter, engraver, draughtsman. Studied painting, engraving and drawing with Axl Leskoschek (1889 - 1975) in Rio de Janeiro from 1946 to 1948. In 1949, he gave his first lectures at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro - MAM/RJ [Museum of Modern Art of Rio de Janeiro], where, from 1952 onwards, he taught on a systematic basis, in particular to children. In 1954, he published the book Crescimento e Criação [Growth and Creation], with a text by Mário Pedrosa (1900 - 1981), on his experience of teaching art to children, also creating the Grupo Frente [Frente Group], which included Franz Weissmann (1911 - 2005), Lygia Clark (1920 - 1988), Aluísio Carvão (1920 - 2001), Hélio Oiticica (1937 - 1980), Décio Vieira (1922 - 1988) and Lygia Pape (1927 - 2004), and remaining as its leader until its dissolution in 1956. Despite the freedom of opinion within the group, it was dominated by concrete artists. In 1957, he received the foreign travel prize of the Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [National Salon of Modern Art]. He took part in the Opinião 1965 exhibition, an event that marked the spread of a new trend in figurative art, neofiguration. From the start of his career, Ivan Serpa's work oscillated between figurativism and  Concrete Art. In 1970, together with Bruno Tausz (1939- ), he founded the Centro de Pesquisa de Arte [Centre for Art Research] in Rio de Janeiro.