Sérgio Camargo

Sérgio Camargo (Rio de Janeiro RJ 1930 – same place 1990)

Sérgio Camargo (Rio de Janeiro, April 8, 1930 – 1990) was a renowned Brazilian sculptor and visual artist, recognized as one of the most important figures in modern, constructivist, and kinetic art in Brazil. He began his artistic training at sixteen at the Academia Altamira in Buenos Aires, under the guidance of Emilio Pettoruti (1892–1971) and Lucio Fontana (1899–1968).

In 1948, he traveled to Europe, where he encountered works and ideas from sculptors fundamental to his aesthetic formation, including Constantin Brancusi (1876–1957), Hans Arp (1886–1966), Henri Laurens (1885–1954), and Georges Vantongerloo (1886–1965). In France, he studied philosophy at the University of Sorbonne with the philosopher Gaston Bachelard and attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. His early sculptural experiments arose from remnants of works by artists such as Henri Laurens and Pablo Picasso, and were deeply influenced by Brancusi’s pursuit of simple, nature-inspired volumetric forms.

He returned to Brazil in 1950, contributing to the constructivist movement gaining momentum in the country. In 1953, he participated in the National Salon of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro and, the following year, traveled again to Europe and, subsequently, to China in 1954. During this period, he produced his first figurative bronze sculptures, still marked by a more traditional language.

Between 1961 and 1974, he settled in Paris, deepening his intellectual and artistic formation. He studied the sociology of art with Pierre Francastel (1905–1970) at the École Pratique des Hautes Études and, in 1963, became a member of the Groupe de Recherche d'Art Visuel (GRAV), a collective focused on visual, optical, and kinetic research. That same year, he began experimenting with materials such as plaster, sand, and fabric. During this period, he worked in his studio in Malakoff, Paris, and also collaborated with the Soldani studio in Massa, Italy, refining his sculptural techniques.

Also in 1963, Sérgio Camargo created the first works of his emblematic Relevos series, using wooden cylinders in abstract, modular compositions. A notable anecdote, recounted by critic Guy Brett, reveals that the inspiration came from cutting an apple: the planes of light and shadow created by the slice offered the formal synthesis the artist had been seeking for years. From this insight, he began producing painted wooden reliefs, exploring modular, monochromatic patterns with subtle variations, generating an extremely dynamic and poetic visual field.

Throughout the 1960s, he focused primarily on structuring white surfaces composed of cylindrical or parallelepiped forms, creating visual effects of light and shadow that proposed tensions between order and chaos, fullness and emptiness. These works came to be described as “polyhedral volumes with mutable readings,” a concept resonating with Gaston Bachelard’s phenomenological ideas on light and space. His three-dimensional language, though rigorous, incorporated a certain dynamism and organic quality, resulting from the systematic combination of simple geometric forms—cylinders, cubes, and rectangles—into compositions reflecting what the artist defined as “empirical geometry.”

With this innovative production, he gained international recognition. In 1963, he received the International Sculpture Prize at the Paris Biennale. In 1964, he held his first solo exhibition at the Signals London Gallery, a key venue of the British avant-garde that would later showcase Brazilian artists such as Lygia Clark, Mira Schendel, and Hélio Oiticica. He also participated in the São Paulo Biennale in 1965, where he was awarded Best National Sculptor, the Venice Biennale in 1966, and Documenta in Kassel, Germany, in 1968.

From the 1970s onward, Sérgio Camargo primarily worked with marble, especially Carrara marble, consolidating his sculptural language and enabling him to produce monumental works. Later, in the 1980s, he also began using Belgian black marble, drawn to its light-absorbing quality, replacing shadow as a compositional element. During this period, his works revisited cylinders on a smaller scale, presenting a mature synthesis of his formal research. Light, combined with the materiality of marble, became central to the perception of forms, intensifying the dynamic quality of his compositions.

In 1974, he returned to Rio de Janeiro, where he began building his studio in Jacarepaguá and continued producing works that gained significant attention nationally and internationally. He created major works for public and architectural spaces, including the structural wall of the Palácio do Itamaraty in Brasília, executed in 1967 in collaboration with architect Oscar Niemeyer; a triptych for the Banco do Brasil in New York; the column Homenagem a Brancusi at the Faculty of Medicine in Bordeaux, France; a marble sculpture at Praça da Sé in São Paulo (produced in 1979 for the Sculpture Park); and a monument in Parque da Catacumba, Rio de Janeiro.

Although his work was closely related to movements such as Concretism, Neo-Concretism, and Kinetic Art, he never adhered rigidly to any of them. Sérgio Camargo developed a unique language based on modular repetition, formal rigor, and the manipulation of light. Critics such as Ronaldo Brito describe his work as a pursuit of the “madness of order,” where the viewer’s perceptual engagement is constantly challenged.

Sérgio Camargo passed away in Rio de Janeiro in 1990. His legacy lives on in public and private collections in Brazil and abroad, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, the Stedelijk Museum in the Netherlands, and the Tate Gallery in London, where his works are part of the permanent collection.

In 2000, the Paço Imperial in Rio de Janeiro inaugurated a permanent room dedicated to the artist, including a faithful replica of his Jacarepaguá studio. His work has also been featured in major retrospectives, such as at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (1993), the Stedelijk Museum in Schiedam (1994), and the Instituto de Arte Contemporânea in São Paulo (2010), which traveled to the Museu Oscar Niemeyer in Curitiba in 2012.

Sérgio Camargo has been represented by Galeria Raquel Arnaud since 1975, and his estate has been managed by the gallery since 1990, playing a key role in preserving and promoting his work.

In his honor, the Rua Escultor Sérgio de Camargo was named in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro, in a neighborhood that also features streets commemorating other Brazilian artists of the same period, such as Alfredo Ceschiatti, Franz Weissmann, and Mário Agostinelli.

Critiques

Ronaldo Brito

The Order of Madness and the Madness of Order

"To view them (Sérgio de Camargo’s works) as some form of informalism seems to me a simple mistake, undoubtedly resulting from a coarse and purely visual reading. But to consider them as constructive work, based on a concrete system of relationships that is, so to speak, their very essence—it is worth noting that these sculptures do not strictly have forms, but rather combined elements—one must go beyond a certain formalist rationalism traditionally linked to Western European constructivist design. The importance of Camargo’s work for our cultural environment can be identified mainly in two aspects. First, through the rigorous logic of his production process, which ties art to a sequence of intellectual investigation, he transforms the prevailing approach to viewing art. [...] The second point may be harder to demonstrate: it concerns the connection of Camargo’s work to the issue of Latin American art. His constructivism is not merely non-rationalist, nor, very likely, European. The discovery of his work in Europe in the 1960s—simultaneously with the recognition of Soto, Lygia Clark, Hélio Oiticica, among others—was due at least in part to the particular logic he employed, certainly foreign to the rigid European constructivism, and can be considered, so to speak, specifically Latin American. Without, of course, falling into metaphysics or postulating an independent Latin American thought, it is safe to affirm that works like Camargo’s belong to a distinct Latin American constructivism, whose theoretical framework, yet to be fully developed, can provide a productive field for study and debate."
Source: BRITO, Ronaldo. The Order of Madness and the Madness of Order. In: CAMARGO, Sérgio de. Sérgio de Camargo. São Paulo: Galeria Arte Global, 1975. p. 1

Sônia Salzstein

Construction

"Sérgio de Camargo’s work introduced a surprising variable into the modern constructive tradition as it unfolded in Brazil from the 1950s onwards. An unexpected and heterodox strand—lyrical and radiant—emerged from his work, practically at the same time that, internationally, the skeptical informalism of European production and the irreverent, ‘integrated’ anti-metaphysics of Pop Art began challenging the legacy of modern art. That is, when it seemed that the constructive lineage had reached its historical exhaustion—finally reduced to the banal technicalities of Op Art or the many mathematical-geometric trends being popularized worldwide—and when the best of contemporary art revealed the slow onset of cultural saturation, Sérgio’s work repositioned the notion of form at the center of an essentially optimistic and experimental speculation."
Source: SALZSTEIN, Sônia. In: CAMARGO, Sérgio de. Construction. São Paulo: Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud, 1997. p. 17.

Guy Brett

A Radical Leap

"In his extensive series of reliefs and sculptures, the artist repeatedly returns to the same constructive paradigm—a cylinder or a cube and the ways they can be cut and combined—and the more he explores this paradigm, the more he articulates its possibilities, the more he empties its status as a paradigm, as a ‘law,’ the more he prompts us to question what kind of stability and purpose we assign to paradigms. Perhaps the subtlest aspect is that Camargo does not investigate this paradox conceptually or ideally, but in relation to light, its variations in the everyday world, and the incalculable complexity of its nuances."
Source: BRETT, Guy. A Radical Leap. In: ADES, Dawn. Art in Latin America: The Modern Era, 1820-1980. São Paulo: Cosac & Naify, 1997. p. 253-283.

Frederico Morais

Three-Dimensionality in 20th-Century Brazilian Art

"Sérgio de Camargo created reliefs and sculptures to capture the light—the white as a trap. Light was his raw material, he would often say. Yet, after traversing his works, this white desert, the light seems to seek rest. Better yet, it desires shadow without losing sight of the sun. Solombra. And it is in this very shadow that the work comes alive. In silence. The shadow functions as a cut. An interception of light. The cut is precise, swift, rigorous, but never harsh or aggressive. It always falls obliquely. Like the shadow. Against the fullness of form, the cut. Against the fullness of light, the shadow. A discreet sensuality runs through the artist’s entire oeuvre."
Source: MORAIS, Frederico. Three-Dimensionality in 20th-Century Brazilian Art. In: TRIDIMENSIONALIDADE: arte brasileira do século XX. 2nd ed. São Paulo: Itaú Cultural: Cosac & Naify, 1999. p. 233.

Maria Alice Milliet

Constructive Trends and the Limits of Visual Language

"The originality of Sérgio de Camargo’s work alone demonstrates the heterogeneity of the sources that shaped the constructive repertoire in Brazil. Within his references, there are Fontana, Brancusi, and Arp, but not Bill’s mathematical conception. There is also the classical tradition of relief, from the Parthenon to the doors of Florence’s Baptistery. However, when in the 1960s his work appeared at the Signals Gallery in London, before Oiticica and Lygia Clark, a common trait emerges: a strong sense of the body and physical movement, which critic Guy Brett attributes to a shared cultural foundation. In poetic texts, the artist himself lends a carnal connotation to his relationship with the material, described in terms of 'intimate commerce whose breath I confused with my own.' [...] Conclusion: Sérgio de Camargo cannot be easily categorized. To interpret his work as an expression of rationalist formalism would overlook its complexity. The internal logic of his sculptural oeuvre does not adhere to cold rationality. It is a systemic body open to unpredictability: what nourishes and animates it is simultaneously a source of disturbance and disorder. Its organicity corresponds to a combinatory of truncated elements arranged on a wall-mounted panel or resting on the floor; light is the material with which it interacts. For many years, the reliefs and columns were entirely white. The artist arranges the fragments, but it is the light that makes the surface pulse. In the final phase, the revenge of the black blocks comes, absorbing, devouring the light. At every moment, visual perception merges with the tactile: in the reliefs, the oscillation of light and dark evokes crusts, sun-bleached scaly skins, while the black marble solids appear soft and warm to the eye—evocations that call forth the archaic memory of sensation."
Source: MILLIET, Maria Alice. Constructive Trends and the Limits of Visual Language. In: MOSTRA DO REDESCOBRIMENTO, 2000, SÃO PAULO. Arte moderna. São Paulo: Fundação Bienal de São Paulo: Associação Brasil 500 anos Artes Visuais, 2000. p. 44-59.

Solo Exhibitions

1958 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Galeria GEA,
1958 - São Paulo, Brazil - Galeria de Arte das Folhas,
1964 - London, England - Signals Gallery,
1965 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro,
1965 - São Paulo, Brazil - Galeria São Luiz,
1967 - Milan, Italy - Galleria del Naviglio,
1967 - Rome, Italy - Galleria L'Obelisco,
1967 - Genoa, Italy - Galleria La Polena,
1968 - Zurich, Switzerland - Gimpel et Hanover Galerie,
1968 - London, England - Gimpel Fils Gallery,
1968 - Turin, Italy - Galleria Notizie,
1968 - Munich, Germany - Galerie Buchholz,
1969 - New York, USA - Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer,
1970 - London, England - Gimpel Fils Gallery,
1970 - Oslo, Norway - Galleria Gromholt,
1971 - Macerata, Italy - Artestudio,
1971 - Brescia, Italy - Artestudio,
1971 - Bochum, Germany - Galerie M. Bochum,
1972 - Caracas, Venezuela - Estúdio Actual,
1972 - São Paulo, Brazil - Galeria Collectio,
1972 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Petite Galerie,
1974 - London, England - Gimpel Fils Gallery,
1974 - Oslo, Norway - Galleria Gromholt,
1974 - Mexico City, Mexico - Museo de Arte Moderno,
1975 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro,
1975 - São Paulo, Brazil - Galeria de Arte Global,
1977 - São Paulo, Brazil - Gabinete de Artes Gráficas,
1980 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Espaço Arte Brasileira Contemporânea, Funarte,
1980 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Galeria Paulo Klabin,
1980 - São Paulo, Brazil - Museu de Arte de São Paulo,
1980 - Buenos Aires, Argentina - CAYC,
1981 - Pordenone, Italy - Galleria Sagittaria,
1981 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro,
1982 - Paris, France - Galerie Bellechasse,
1982 - London, England - Gimpel Fils Gallery,
1983 - São Paulo, Brazil - Galeria Raquel Arnaud,
1985 - São Paulo, Brazil - Galeria Raquel Arnaud,
1987 - São Paulo, Brazil - Galeria Raquel Arnaud,
1987 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Paço Imperial,
1988 - Lisbon, Portugal - Galeria 111,
1990 - São Paulo, Brazil - Galeria Raquel Arnaud.

Posthumous Solo Exhibitions

1994 - Lisbon, Portugal - Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian,
1994 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro,
1994 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Galeria Paulo Fernandes,
1995 - Oslo, Norway - Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter,
1995 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Charlottenborg Museum,
1995 - Schiedam, Netherlands - Stedelijk Museum,
1996 - Oxford, England - Museum of Modern Art of Oxford,
1996 - Paris, France - Galerie Denise René,
1996 - Paris, France - Maison de l’Amérique Latine,
1997 - São Paulo, Brazil - Galeria Raquel Arnaud,
1999 - Brasília, Brazil - Palácio do Itamaraty,
2003 - São Paulo, Brazil - Centro Cultural Maria Antonia – Projects, Prototypes and Small Formats,
2010 - São Paulo, Brazil - Instituto de Arte Contemporânea.

Group Exhibitions

1951 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna,
1952 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna,
1953 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna,
1954 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna,
1954 - São Paulo, Brazil - Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna,
1955 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna,
1955 - São Paulo, Brazil - Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna,
1957 - Buenos Aires, Argentina / Montevideo, Uruguay / Santiago, Chile / Lima, Peru - Arte Moderno Brasileño,
1957 - São Paulo, Brazil - 4th São Paulo Biennial,
1958 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Galeria GEA,
1961 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Galeria IBEU,
1961 - Porto Alegre, Brazil - Contemporary Art Festival,
1962 - Paris, France - L'Art Latino-Américain,
1962 - Paris, France - Formes et Magie,
1962 - Paris, France - 7 Brazilian Artists of the École de Paris, Galerie XXème,
1962 - Paris, France - La boîte et son contenu, Galerie H. Legendre,
1962 - Brussels, Belgium - Transitions, Galerie Ravenstein,
1962 - Paris, France - 3rd Paris Biennale,
1962 - Paris, France - Salon de la Jeune Sculpture,
1964 - Mannheim, Germany - Galerie Margarette Lauter,
1964 - Arras, France - L'aujourd'hui de demain, Palais Saint Veast,
1964 - London, England - Festival of South American Art, Signals London,
1964 - London, England - First Pilot Exhibition, Signals London,
1964 - London, England - Second Pilot Exhibition, Signals London,
1964 - Paris, France - Salon de la Jeune Sculpture,
1964 - Paris, France - Salon Comparaisons,
1965 - São Paulo, Brazil - 8th São Paulo Biennial,
1965 - Paris, France - Galerie Denise René,
1965 - Edinburgh, Scotland - Artmouvement, Royal Scottish Academy,
1965 - Midland, England - Spatial-Kinetic Art,
1965 - Nottingham, England - Group Gallery,
1965 - London, England - Cornucópia 65, Molton Gallery,
1965 - Tel Aviv, Israel - Mouvement in Art, Tel Aviv Museum,
1965 - Paris, France - Objectif 65, Galerie de la Librairie Anglaise,
1965 - Cannes, France - Galerie Cavalero,
1965 - London, England - Signals London,
1965 - Lincoln, USA - White on White, The Cordoba Museum,
1965 - Paris, France - Galerie Kerchache,
1965 - Glasgow, Scotland - Artmouvement, Art Museum,
1965 - London, England - Sonomontage, Hampstead Theatre Club,
1965 - Manchester, England - Mouvement, Art Gallery,
1965 - Liverpool, England - ArtScience 65, University of Liverpool,
1965 - Andover, USA - White on White, Adilson Gallery of American Art,
1965 - Paris, France - Salon Comparaisons,
1965 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Salão Esso,
1966 - Venice, Italy - 33rd Venice Biennale,
1966 - Sheffield, England - Mouvements, University of Sheffield,
1966 - London, England - Indications, Indica Gallery,
1966 - Rome, Italy - Bianco: Bianco, Galeria L’Obelisco,
1966 - London, England - The Artist at Work, Hampstead Arts Center,
1966 - Leeds, England - Leeds Student Art Week,
1966 - Antwerp, Netherlands - International Kinetic Show, Galerie ad libitum,
1966 - Bern, Switzerland - White Structures, Kunsthalle,
1966 - Paris, France - Galerie Kerchache,
1966 - São Paulo, Brazil - Sculptures, Galeria 4 Planetas,
1966 - Coventry, England - Exhibition of Kinetic Art, Herbert Art Gallery,
1966 - Dublin, Ireland - Kinetic Art, Ritchie Hendriks Gallery,
1966 - Montevideo, Uruguay / Buenos Aires, Argentina - Contemporary Brazilian Artists,
1966 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Brazilian Group Show, Galeria IBEU,
1966 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 4th Art Summary of Jornal do Brasil, MAM-RJ,
1966 - Paris, France - Salon Comparaisons,
1966 - Paris, France - Salon de Mai,
1967 - Paris, France - Structures et Mouvement, Galerie Denise René,
1967 - Paris, France - Lumière et Mouvement, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris,
1967 - Paris, France - Ouvertures, Galerie Maywald,
1967 - Paris, France - Galerie Europe,
1967 - Vienna, Austria - Kinetika, Museum des XX Jahrhunderts, Schweinzergarten,
1967 - Italy (various cities) - Ipotesi Linguistiche Intersoggettive,
1967 - Geneva, Switzerland - Galerie Loo,
1967 - Liguria, Italy - Galleria Regis,
1967 - Paris, France - Formes et Lieux, Galerie Maywald,
1967 - Brussels, Belgium - Galerie Accent,
1967 - Malakoff, France - Paintings and Sculptures, Centre Communal de Malakoff,
1967 - Paris, France - Salon de la Jeune Sculpture,
1967 - Paris, France - Salon Comparaisons,
1967 - Paris, France - Salon de Mai,
1967 - Paris, France - Salon Réalités Nouvelles,
1968 - Kassel, Germany - 4th Documenta,
1968 - Wilmington, USA - Latin American Artists, The Delaware Art Center,
1968 - San Antonio, USA - Hemis-Fair,
1968 - Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France - Art Vivant 1965-1968, Fondation Maeght,
1968 - Oslo, Norway - Kunstnernes Hus,
1968 - Nottingham, England - Six Latin American Countries, Midland Art Group,
1968 - Otterlo, Netherlands - Silence et Mouvement, Rijkmuseum Kröller-Müller,
1968 - Oslo, Norway - Galerie Gromholt,
1968 - Paris, France - Des Formes Inventées, Galerie Vercarmer,
1968 - Cologne, Germany - Kunstamarkt,
1968 - Oslo, Norway - Kunsten Inag,
1968 - Rome, Italy - 2001, Gavina,
1968 - Hovikodden, Norway - Nikust i Tussen Ar, Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter,
1968 - Paris, France - Salon de la Jeune Sculpture,
1968 - Paris, France - Salon Grands et Jeunes d'Aujourd'hui,
1969 - Saint-Étienne, France - Experimental Art, Musée d'Art et d'Industrie,
1969 - Innsbruck, Austria - Hommage an das Schweigen, Tiroler Kunstpavillon,
1969 - Avignon, France - L'Oeil Écoute, Palais des Papes,
1969 - London, England - Open Air Sculptures, Syon Park,
1969 - Roussillon, France - Fondation Port Bacarès,
1969 - Paris, France - Position, Galerie Denise René,
1969 - Cologne, Germany - Kunstmarkt 69,
1969 - Oslo, Norway - Galerie Gromholt,
1969 - New Paltz, USA - New York State University,
1969 - Munich, Germany - Galerie Buchholz,
1969 - New York, USA - Collector's Choice, Grimpel & Weitzenhoffer,
1969 - Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France - Depuis Rodin, Musée Municipal,
1969 - Toulouse, France - Bijoux d'Art Contemporain,
1969 - Paris, France - Salon de la Jeune Sculpture,
1969 - Paris, France - Salon Réalités Nouvelles,
1970 - Menton, France - Menton Biennale,
1970 - Medellín, Colombia - Medellín Biennale,
1970 - Munich, Germany - Der Wanderbare Raum, Galerie Buchholz,
1970 - Saint-Étienne, France - Itinéraires Blancs, Musée d'Art et d'Industrie,
1970 - Paris, France - Selection d'Oeuvres, Centre National d'Art Contemporain,
1970 - Rome, Italy - Vision 24, Istituto Italo-Latinoamericano,
1970 - Montargis, France - Festival d'Art Plastique,
1970 - Basel, Switzerland - Kunstmarkt,
1970 - Cologne, Germany - Kunstmarkt,
1970 - Paris, France - Salon de Mai,
1970 - Paris, France - Salon Réalités Nouvelles,
1970 - Paris, France - Salon Grands et Jeunes d'Aujourd'hui,
1971 - Oslo, Norway - Latin America in Scandinavia, Kunstnernes Hus,
1971 - Charlottelund, Denmark - Gentolfre Kunstvernner,
1971 - Lund, Sweden - Lunds Konsthall,
1971 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Konsthalle,
1971 - Berlin, Germany - Third International Spring Fair,
1971 - Paris, France - Salon de Mai,
1971 - Paris, France - Salon Réalités Nouvelles,
1973 - Italy - Carrara,
1973 - Paris, France - Latin American Week in Paris-Cefral,
1973 - Odense, Norway - 50 Young Sculptors of the École de Paris, Sophienholm,
1973 - Nanterre, France - 5 Artists from Latin America,
1973 - Hovikodden, Norway - Gromholts Collection, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter,
1973 - São Paulo, Brazil - Brazil/50 Years Later, Galeria Collectio,
1973 - Paris, France - Salon de Mai,
1974 - London, England - Basically White, Lucy Milton Gallery,
1974 - Bern, Switzerland - Internationale Kleinformat, Ausstellung, Galerie Lydia Megert,
1974 - Bergen, Norway - Gromholts Collection,
1975 - Campinas, Brazil - Arte no Brasil Documento/Debate, Org. Prefeitura de Campinas,
1975 - Austin, USA - Latin American Artists Today, The University of Texas at Austin, University Art Museum,
1975 - Birmingham, USA - Birmingham Museum of Arts, Alabama,
1975 - Portland, USA - 20th Century Wooden Works, Portland Art Museum,
1975 - Campinas, Brazil - 10th Contemporary Art Salon of Campinas,
1976 - São Paulo, Brazil - Sala Brasília (13th São Paulo Biennial),
1976 - Mexico City, Mexico - Contemporary Latin American Creators,
1976 - São Paulo, Brazil - Brazil Documento/Debate, Pinacoteca do Estado,
1976 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro,
1977 - São Paulo, Brazil - Graphic Arts Cabinet,
1977 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Brazilian Constructive Art Project, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro,
1977 - São Paulo, Brazil - Pinacoteca do Estado,
1977 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Outdoor Sculpture, Sesc Tijuca,
1978 - São Paulo, Brazil - Panorama of Contemporary Brazilian Art, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo,
1978 - Caracas, Venezuela - Four Brazilian Artists, Fundación Eugenio Mendoza,
1978 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 50 Years of Brazilian Sculpture in Urban Space, Praça Nossa Senhora da Paz,
1979 - São Paulo, Brazil - 15th São Paulo Biennial,
1979 - Mexico City, Mexico - Festival Cervantino,
1979 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Brazilian Sculpture, Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage,
1979 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Brazilian Sculptors, Galeria Aktuel,
1980 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Homage to Mário Pedrosa, Galeria Jean Boghici,
1980 - São Paulo, Brazil - Amílcar de Castro, Lygia Clark, Sérgio Camargo, Frans Weissmann (Inaugural Exhibition), Galeria Raquel Arnaud,
1981 - Osaka, Japan - Contemporary Latin American Art and Japan, National Museum of Art,
1982 - Venice, Italy - 41st Venice Biennale,
1983 - São Paulo, Brazil - 17th São Paulo Biennial,
1983 - Havana, Cuba - Galeria Aidé Santamarina, Casa de las Américas,
1984 - Bogotá, Colombia - Five Brazilian Artists, Casa Negret,
1984 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - One Anniversary and Five Great Artists, Galeria Aktuel,
1984 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Wood as Artistic Matter, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro,
1985 - São Paulo, Brazil - Highlights of Contemporary Brazilian Art, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo,
1985 - New York, USA - Geometric Abstraction in Latin American Art, CDS Gallery,
1985 - São Paulo, Brazil - Galeria Paulo Klabin,
1985 - São Paulo, Brazil - Pinacoteca do Estado,
1985 - Buenos Aires, Argentina - Abstracción en el Siglo XX, Museo de Arte Moderno,
1985 - São Paulo, Brazil - Denison Collection of Contemporary Brazilian Art, Museu de Arte de São Paulo,
1985 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Homage to Maria Leontina, Petite Galerie,
1985 - São Paulo, Brazil - Panorama of Contemporary Brazilian Art/Three-Dimensional Forms, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo,
1985 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 8th National Salon of Visual Arts (Special Room "White and Black Salon in the 3rd National Salon, 1954"), Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro,
1986 - Fortaleza, Brazil - 1st International Exhibition of Ephemeral Sculptures, Fundação Demócrito Rocha,
1987/88 - Paris, France - Modernity: Brazilian Art of the 20th Century, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris,
1987/88 - São Paulo, Brazil - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo,
1990 - São Paulo, Brazil - Coherence & Transformation, Galeria Raquel Arnaud

Posthumous Group Exhibitions

1993 - São Paulo, Brazil - Poética, Galeria Raquel Arnaud
1993 - São Paulo, Brazil - Brazilian Art in the World: A Trajectory, Dan Galeria
1994 - São Paulo, Brazil - 20th Century Brazil Biennial, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo
1994 - Poços de Caldas, Brazil - Unibanco Collection, Casa de Cultura de Poços de Caldas
1997 - Porto Alegre, Brazil - Mercosul Biennial
1997 - São Paulo, Brazil - Galeria Brito Cimino (inaugural exhibition)
1997 - Washington, USA - Brazilian Sculpture from 1920 to 1990: Profile of an Identity, BID Cultural Center
1997 - São Paulo, Brazil - Brazilian Sculpture from 1920 to 1990: Profile of an Identity, Banco Safra Cultural Space
1998 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Theory of Values, Casa França-Brasil
1998 - São Paulo, Brazil - Theory of Values, São Paulo Museum of Modern Art
1998 - São Paulo, Brazil - Constructive Art in Brazil: Adolpho Leirner Collection, São Paulo Museum of Modern Art
2000 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Mira Schendel, Sérgio Camargo, Willys de Castro, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil
2000 - São Paulo, Brazil - Brazil +500: Rediscovery Exhibition, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo
2000 - Madrid, Spain - Heterotopias: Medio Siglo Sin Lugar, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía
2001 - London, England - Century City: ArtCulture in the Twentieth Century Metropolis, Tate Modern

Awards

Jury Exemption, 3rd National Salon of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1954
Acquisition Award, 3rd São Paulo Salon of Modern Art, São Paulo, Brazil, 1954
Jury Exemption, 5th National Salon of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1956
Jury Exemption, 6th National Salon of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1957
Jury Exemption, 7th National Salon of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1958
Jury Exemption, 9th National Salon of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1960
International Sculpture Prize, 3rd Paris Biennale, Paris, France, 1963
National Sculpture Prize, 8th São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo, Brazil, 1965
H. Stern Award for Best Sculpture Exhibition of the Year, 4th JB Art Summary, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1966
Best Sculpture Exhibition of the Year (solo at Gabinete de Artes Gráficas), São Paulo Association of Art Critics, São Paulo, Brazil, 1977
Best Retrospective of the Year (solo at São Paulo Museum of Art), São Paulo Association of Art Critics, São Paulo, Brazil, 1980

Museums and Public Collections

Banco Itaú S.A. Collection, São Paulo, Brazil
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, USA
Austin Museum of Art, Austin, USA
Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, USA
Casa de las Américas, Havana, Cuba
Centre National d'Art Contemporain, Paris, France
Contemporary Art Society, London, England
Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, USA
Didrichsen Art Museum, GunnarMarie-Louise Didrichsen Foundation, Helsinki, Finland
Fondazione Antonio e Carmela Calderara, Vacciago, Italy
Fundação José e Paulina Nemirovsky, São Paulo, Brazil
Fundación Cisneros, Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection, New York, USA / Caracas, Venezuela
Fundación Museo de Arte Moderno Jesús Soto, Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy
Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, USA
Instituto de Arte Contemporânea, São Paulo, Brazil
Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, USA
Kunstmuseum Bern, Victor Loeb Collection, Bern, Switzerland
Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg, Germany
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA
Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
Musée des Sables, Port-Barcarès, France
Musée National d'Art Moderne – Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, Fundación Costantini, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Museo de Arte Moderno de Medellín, Parque de las Esculturas del Cerro Nutibara, Medellín, Colombia
Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, Mexico
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela
Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende, Santiago, Chile
Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
Museu de Arte Brasileira, Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado, São Paulo, Brazil
Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói / João Sattamini Collection, Niterói, Brazil
Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Museu Nacional de Belas-Artes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston / Adolpho Leirner Collection, Houston, USA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, Norway
Oklahoma Museum, Oklahoma, USA
Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paulo, Brazil
Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, Netherlands
Tate Gallery, London, England
Ulster Museum, Belfast, Ireland

Works in Public Spaces

Oslo Cemetery, Norway
Itaú Business Center, São Paulo, Brazil
Collège d’Enseignement Technique, Équeurdreville, France
Faculty of Medicine, Bordeaux, France
Fylkeshuset, Trondheim, Norway
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brasília, Brazil
Musée des Sables, Port-Barcarès, France
Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela
Parque da Catacumba, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Parque de las Esculturas del Cerro Nutibara, Medellín, Colombia
Praça da Sé, São Paulo, Brazil