Pape was a founding member of Grupo Frente, which embraced the rigorous geometric abstraction practiced by the Russian avant-garde and the German Bauhaus as a visual language worthy of the utopian spirit of Brazilian modernist reinvention in the 1950s. Pape rigorously restricted her artistic vocabulary to a few elements to show their limitless possibilities. By using the same material, color scheme, and square format, she created a modular system.

Gallery label from

"Collection 1940s—1970s", 2019

Gallery label from Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction , April 19 - August 13, 2017.

Orange comprises nine identical geometric modules configured to show various possibilities of their rotation. In its use of repetitive, activated geometry, Orange exemplifies the Concrete art created by the Rio de Janeiro–based avant-garde group known as Grupo Frente, which also included artists Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica.

Medium Oil and tempera on board, nine panels
Dimensions Each 15 5/8 x 15 5/8 x 1 1/2" (39.7 x 39.7 x 3.8 cm)
Credit Promised gift of Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis
Object number PG1897.2008.a-i
Department Painting & Sculpture

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