doodle google

21.11.2023

Today's Google Brasil Doodle celebrates the 110th birthday of Japanese-Brazilian artist Tomie Ohtake, one of the main representatives of abstract art in Brazil.

The Doodle refers to works such as the large-scale tapestry conceived for the Auditório Simón Bolívar (1990), no Memorial da América Latina, in São Paulo, Brazil; the public sculpture for the Parque do Emissário Submarino (2008), in Santos, Brazil; the Untiled sculpture that were part of the 23rd Bienal de São Paulo (1996) and the Monument to the 80th Anniversary of Japanese Immigration (1988) in São Paulo, Brazil.

Ohtake's career as an artist began at the age of 37, when she became a member of the Seibi group, which brought together artists of Japanese descent. In the late 1950s, she immersed herself in abstract explorations. In this phase, she performed a series of paintings which became known as Blind Paintings, where she would blindfold herself in experiments that challenged the ideas that grounded the Brazilian Neo-concrete movement, also bringing sensibility and intuition to the fore of her practice. In the late 1980s, the artist undertook large-scale sculptural projects and public works in São Paulo and neighboring cities. Having worked until very late in life, Tomie Ohtake passed away in 2015, when she was 101 years old.

Learn more about the artist.