A double exclusion: Judith Lauand and Jandyra Waters, between concretism, mysticisms and possible feminisms

Abstract

The already institutionalized narratives about the concrete movement in Brazil and its reverberations include international references for the artists who were part of the movement, and the conflicts of cultural hegemony between the two economic poles of the country at the time: Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The considerable analytical production about the period and its agents has been one of the most fertile within the historiography of Brazilian art, encompassing critics, manifestos, works, artists and places of circulation – and yet, only recently have some researchers and curators pointed out the sexism of some members of the groups, and the difficulties of professional consolidation of the female artists who participated in the projects and meetings. In this sense, Judith Lauand, the only female artist to officially participate in the group Ruptura in São Paulo, is emblematic of the feminist historical revisionist movements, but next to her, we also have Jandyra Waters occupying a still fragile place in the system, without due integration. Although these two artists have had a considerable circulation in the Brazilian artistic milieu, their critical reception and historical insertion is not the same as that of their male peers, therefore, they are cases that need to be revisited in order to tear the historiographic mesh.