Jandyra Waters Brazilian, 1921-2025
![Jandyra Waters, Sem título [Untitled], 1967, Oil on canvas, 55 x 46 cm (21 5/8 x 18 1/8 in)](https://static-assets.artlogic.net/w_500,h_500,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/ws-cbprojects/usr/images/artists/group_images_override/items/97/97ca1c6ebe6a44bf8458ae68e8c43447/jw016-image-1-.jpg)
Born in Sertãozinho, in the interior of São Paulo state, Jandyra Waters trained in the city that would become the centre of Brazil's postwar art world, studying with Yoshiya Takaoka and Clóvis Graciano. Working independently of the Concrete and Neo-Concrete groups that defined the period, she developed a language of her own across seven decades - moving from figuration through Tachisme-influenced abstraction into the bold, sculptural Lyrical Abstraction and architectural Geometric Abstraction for which she is now recognised. Long overlooked, her work is undergoing a significant critical revival, with recent exhibitions in São Paulo and now, for the first time, London.
Waters’ first solo exhibition was held in 1963 at Galeria Aremar, Campinas, São Paulo. More recently, Waters has been the subject of several solo exhibitions across Brazil, notably Jandyra Waters: 104 years at Club Athletico Paulistano (São Paulo, Brazil, 2025); Desvendador at Galeria MaPa (São Paulo, Brazil, 2019); and a retrospective entitled Jandyra Waters – Rhythm of Time at Almeida & Dale (São Paulo, Brazil, 2015). Her work has been included in many group exhibitions, including Acervo Vivo [Living Collection] at Almeida & Dale (São Paulo, Brazil, 2026); Centenarians: Three Brazilian Women Artists at Jeff Lincoln Art + Design in collaboration with Haslauer Gallery (New York, US, 2026); Theodore Ereira-Guyer and Jandyra Waters: We Lost Lots of Beautiful Things, curated by Maria do Carmo M. P. de Pontes at Elizabeth Xi Bauer (London, UK, 2025); Five Essays on MASP- Geometries at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (São Paulo, Brazil, 2025); and Mapa das Mulheres [Map of Women] at Galeria MaPa (São Paulo, Brazil, 2024).
Her work, lauded by critics such as Theon Spanudis, Mário Schenberg, and José Geraldo Vieira, can be found in some of the most important private collections in São Paulo and at institutions such as Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), Museu de Arte Contemporânea (MAC-USP), Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, and the FAAP’s Brazilian Art Museum (BAM).
