11 Facts About Ivan Serpa

Ivan Ferreira Serpa was a Brazilian painter, draftsman, printmaker, designer, and educator active in the concrete art movement.

Ivan Serpa founded Grupo Frente, which included fellow artists Lygia Clark, Helio Oiticica, and Franz Weissmann, among others, and was known for mentoring many artists in Brazil.

From 1946 to 1948, Ivan Serpa studied printmaking with printmaker Axl Leskoschek in Rio de Janeiro.

From 1949 and 1952, Ivan Serpa taught painting, sculpture, and art theory at the Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, where he often held an open studio which incorporated critical review of student work with a new pedagogy of allowing instinctual exploration of innate creativity.

Ivan Serpa had previously taught art therapy to psychiatric patients at the Occupational Therapy center of the National Psychiatric Hospital in Brazil.

In 1954, Ivan Serpa co-founded Grupo Frente, which included artists Aluisio Carvao, Lygia Clark, Helio Oiticica, among others.

In 1954, Ivan Serpa published a book he wrote with Mario Pedrosa called, Crescimento e criacao, which incorporated his work as a teaching children.

From 1957 to 1959, Ivan Serpa won the foreign travel prize at the 6th Salao Nacional de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro.

Ivan Serpa often worked with Lygia Pape on art projects.

In mid-1960s, Ivan Serpa reconnected with geometric art, which moved his work toward kinetic and op art.

In 1973, Ivan Serpa died on his 50th birthday from a heart attack and stroke.