Art Basel

Judith Lauand at Art Basel is the Daily Pic by Blake Gopnik

The Daily Pic: In 1959, Judith Lauand took abstraction to the next level.

The last treasures I spotted at Art Basel were these drawings by the “Concretist” artist Judith Lauand, on view at the Stephen Friedman booth. Lauand, I discovered, was the only woman in the Grupo Ruptura movement in Brazil, which helped solidify the place of abstract art in that country. These works are titled “Concreto 143, Acervo 194” (left) and “Concreto 142, Acervo 301”, and both were made in 1959. What strikes me most about them is how much they recall the pioneering computer-generated art made 15 years later. Lauand’s drawings seem to look ahead to later art, rather than back to classic European abstraction.

For a full visual survey of past Daily Pics visit blakegopnik.com/archive.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Blake Gopnik

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.