Collection 1950s–1970s

Lygia Clark. Breaking the Frame. Composition no. 5. 1954 495

Oil and oleoresin on canvas and wood, 41 15/16 x 35 13/16 x 13/16" (106.5 x 91 x 2 cm). Gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros through the Latin American and Caribbean Fund

Narrator: Curator Luis Pérez-Oramas.

Luis Pérez-Oramas: This painting looks like an abstract painting, however, we can also think of this painting as something that looks like an architectural floor plan. What Clark has done here is that she integrated the frame as part of the painting's body.

Glenn Lowry: By doing so, Clark was able to discover what she called the “organic line”—the space between the frame and the central part of the painting. This was an integral element of her thinking—that a painting is a three-dimensional object, not just a two-dimensional image.

Narrator: This series is called The Breaking of the Frame. Even more importantly than including the frame in the body of the painting is producing a painting that would like to invade, if you want, the outside of the painting.