Art, Candido Portinari

 

 

 

 

Candido Portinari; born in  Brodowski, December 29, 1903  and died in  Rio de Janeiro, February 6, 1962

 
He was one of the most important Brazilian painters and a noted influence of the neo-realism style of painting.
He was born of Italian immigrants in a coffee plantation near Brodowski, in São Paulo. He studied at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes (ENBA) in Rio de Janeiro and in 1928 he won a gold medal at the ENBA and a trip to Paris where he stayed until 1930. He eventually returned to Brazil.
He joined the Brazilian Communist Party and stood for senator in 1947 but due to political unrest and persecution he left Brazil and travelled to  Uruguay. He returned to Brazil in 1951 but by this time he was already suffering ill health. He died in 1962, sadly  due to lead poisoning from his paints.

Portinari's works can be found in galleries and settings in Brazil and abroad, ranging from the family chapel in his childhood home in Brodowski to his panels Guerra e Paz (War and Peace) in the United Nations building in New York. The range and styles of his work is remarkable. It includes images of childhood, paintings depicting rural and urban labour, refugees fleeing the hardships of Brazil's rural north-east, key events in the history of Brazil, portraits of family and Brazilian intellectuals, book illustrations, tiles decorating the Church of São Francisco at Pampulha, Belo Horizonte. There were a number of commemorative events in the centenary of his birth in 2003, including an exhibition of his work in London.

delete reply starfishred wrote on Sep 10, '09 THESE ARE GREAT LORETTA THANK YOU

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Sep 9, '09 There are so many woderful artists and Portinari is one of them.

delete reply aimlessjoys wrote on Sep 9, '09 ;-)

delete reply bennett1 wrote on Sep 8, '09 I was noticing the different styles. In some of his works he seems to have been influenced by Diego Rivera or perhaps they inffluenced each other.

delete reply pestep55 wrote on Sep 8, '09 Love his use of color /:-)

edit delete reply forgetmenot525 wrote on Sep 8, '09 Thanks Frank..............you're right, some of it is wonderful, think the thing that suprises me is how versatile he was. He seems to have used a lot of different styles

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Sep 8, '09 Some absolutely fantastic art here Loretta. I must look into what may be in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. It would be worth a trip to town to see some Portinari art. Thank you.