Geraldo de Barros (February 27, 1923 – April 17, 1998) was a Brazilian painter and photographer who also worked in engraving, graphic arts, and industrial design. He was a leader of the

concrete art Concrete art was an art movement with a strong emphasis on geometrical abstraction. The term was first formulated by Theo van Doesburg and was then used by him in 1930 to define the difference between his vision of art and that of other abstract ar ...

movement in Brazil, co-founding Grupo Ruptura and was known for his trailblazing work in experimental abstract photography and

modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

. According to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

,'' De Barros was "one of the most influential Brazilian artists of the 20th century." De Barros is best known for his ''Fotoformas'' (1946–1952), a series of photographs that used multiple exposures, rotated images, and abstracted forms to capture a phenomenological experience of Brazil's exponential urbanization in the mid-twentieth century.

Early life and education

De Barros was born in the city

Chavantes Chavantes is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 12,418 (2020 est.) in an area of . The elevation is . Geography Chavantes is a city in the southwestern part of the state of São Paulo, Brazil, that borders the ...

, in the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. When he was 16 years old, De Barros began taking pictures using a homemade camera that he built himself. At the time he was interested in experimenting with scratching and manipulating the negatives and images. From 1945 to 1947, De Barros studied drawing and painting with Clóvis Graciano, Collete Pujol, and Yoshioka Takaoka, with a focus on figurative and landscape painting. He moved into the world of abstraction and studied European abstract constructivism and art of the 1920s and 1930s. He was particularly influenced by

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), known after 1911 as Piet Mondrian (, , ), was a Dutch Painting, painter and Theory of art, art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He w ...

and

Theo van Doesburg Theo van Doesburg (; born Christian Emil Marie Küpper; 30 August 1883 – 7 March 1931) was a Dutch painter, writer, poet and architect. He is best known as the founder and leader of De Stijl. He married three times. Personal life Theo van Do ...

and the

De Stijl De Stijl (, ; 'The Style') was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 by a group of artists and architects based in Leiden (Theo van Doesburg, Jacobus Oud, J.J.P. Oud), Voorburg (Vilmos Huszár, Jan Wils) and Laren, North Holland, Laren (Piet Mo ...

movement. In 1946, De Barros began studying painting at the Associaçião Paulista de Belas Artes.

Career

For many years De Barros supported himself by working at

Banco do Brasil Banco do Brasil S.A. (, ) is a Brazilian financial services company headquartered in Brasília, Brazil. The oldest bank in Brazil, and among the oldest banks in continuous operation in the world, it was founded by John VI, King of Portugal, on ...

. In 1946 and 1947, De Barros began to explore photography. In 1948, he co-founded Grupo XV, which was a collective of mostly

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

painters interested in exploring

Post-Impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

art. In 1948, De Barros was introduced to the concepts of

Gestalt theory Gestalt may refer to: Psychology * Gestalt psychology, a school of psychology * Gestalt therapy, a form of psychotherapy Arts and media * ''Gestalt'' (album), a 2012 album by the Spill Canvas * ''Gestalt'' (manga), a manga series by Yun Kōga * ...

, where he focused heavily on form, by the critic Mário Pedrosa. He was also influenced at the time by

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky ( – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstract art, abstraction in western art. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in ...

, and the

Bauhaus movement The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 2009), , pp. 64� ...

in relation to industrial design. In 1949, he started a photography lab with his friend Athaíde de Barros and

Thomaz Farkas Thomas Jorge Farkas, born ''Farkas Tamás György'' (October 17, 1924 – March 26, 2011), was a Hungarian-born Brazilian photographer and film producer. Born in Budapest, Farkas grew up in São Paulo, where his parents emigrated in 1930, when ...

, and, with the intention of deepening his knowledge, he joined the Foto Cine Clube Bandeirante in São Paulo, a group of artists who focused on

pictorialism Pictorialism is an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the later 19th and early 20th centuries. There is no standard definition of the term, but in general it refers to a style in which the photographer ha ...

. Artists in this group included German Lorca, José Yalenti,

, among others. During this time, De Barros studied photographic experimental practices from Europe and United States in the work of Moholy-Nagy and

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...

. In 1949, De Barros began teaching and organized the photography laboratory of the

São Paulo Museum of Art The São Paulo Museum of Art (, or ') is an art museum in São Paulo, Brazil. It is well known for the architectural significance of its headquarters, a 1968 concrete and glass structure designed by Lina Bo Bardi. It is considered a landmark of ...

(MASP). In 1950, De Barros held ''Fotoformas'' at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, an exhibition which represented a new era in the process of photography in Brazil. The title was influenced by

. In 1951, received a scholarship from the French government, and taking a one-year leave from his job at Banco do Brasil, he went to Paris to study

lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

at the National Superior School of Fine Arts and engraving at

Stanley William Hayter Stanley William Hayter (27 December 1901 – 4 May 1988) was an English painter and master printmaker associated in the 1930s with surrealism and from 1940 onward with abstract expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers ...

's atelier. He went on to attend the

Ulm School of Design The Ulm School of Design () was a college of design based in Ulm, Germany. It was founded in 1953 by Inge Aicher-Scholl, Otl Aicher and Max Bill, the latter being first rector of the school and a former student at the Bauhaus. The HfG quickl ...

Ulm, Germany Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...

, where he studied graphic arts with

Otl Aicher Otto "Otl" Aicher (; 13 May 1922 – 1 September 1991) was a German graphic designer and typographer. Aicher co-founded and taught at the influential Ulm School of Design. He is known for having led the design team of the 1972 Summer Olympics ...

and met

Max Bill Max Bill (22 December 1908 – 9 December 1994) was a Swiss architect, artist, painter, typeface designer, industrial designer and graphic designer. Early life and education Bill was born in Winterthur. After an apprenticeship as a silversmit ...

. At this point he abandoned his work in photography to focus on concrete art. In 1952, De Barros co-founded Grupo Ruptura with Judith Lauand, Luiz Sacilotto, Lothar Charoux, Waldemar Cordeiro, among others. He was involved in writing the manifesto that outlined abstract and concrete art. De Barros founded the photography group called Escola Paulista. In 1954, De Barros founded with Frei João Batista a cooperative furniture design company called Unilabor, which was successful and allowed him to leave his job at Banco do Brasil. In 1964, De Barros went on to found in association with Aloísio Bione another furniture design company called Hobjeto. Both Unilabor and Hobjeto went bankrupt due to the political instability and economic hardship of the time. In the 1960s, De Barros worked with Nelson Leirner, putting on pop art events, often including outdoor advertisements that had been removed, re-worked, and replaced in the street. In 1966, De Barros, founded Galeria Rex with Carlos Fajardo, Frederico Nasser,

José Rezende Filho José Rezende Filho (1929–1977) is a Brazilian writer. José Rezende Filho was born in Recife, in 1929. He spent most of his childhood in Carpina, in Pernambuco state, where he completed his elementary education. He started his literary ac ...

, Nelson Leiner, and

Wesley Duke Lee Wesley Duke Lee (December 21, 1931 in São Paulo – September 12, 2010 in São Paulo) was a Brazilian painter. Career Lee was a grandson of Americans and Portuguese and started his learning of art in the drawing course of São Paulo Muse ...

as an experiment in the art market and selling art. Although the gallery closed after a year, the Grupo Rex and the work of the group continued for over 12 years. In 1977, De Barros returned to geometric art and concepts of concrete art, using

Formica ''Formica'' is a genus of ants of the subfamily Formicinae, including species commonly known as wood ants, mound ants, thatching ants, and field ants. ''Formica'' is the type genus of the Formicidae, and of the subfamily Formicinae. The type ...

as his base material in further exploring industrial design. Geraldo abandoned photography for over 30 years, devoting himself to focus on arts and design. In 1996, his daughter put together an exhibit of photographs from his archive that was held at Musée de l'Elysée in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, which led to an interest in De Barros' early work in photography. In 1996, after suffering several brain ischemia and with his motor functions totally debilitated, he resumed working in photography, and with the help of his assistant, the photographer Ana Moraes, made a last series of 250 works called "Sobras." It wasn't until 1998 that De Barros' work was exhibited in the United States, at Sicardi-Sanders Gallery in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Death

De Barros died on April 17, 1998, in São Paulo at the age of 75.

Legacy

Following his death, the legacy of De Barros' work led to an increased coverage and academic and art history-based awareness of his importance and impact as a central figure in Brazil's recent art history. Retrospectives were held in Europe and North America.

Documentary

In 1999, a documentary on De Barros directed by Michel Favre called ''Geraldo de Barros: Sobras em Obras'' was released. The film was produced by De Barros' daughter, Fabiana de Barros.

Awards

* 1952: Forth Centenary of the São Paulo City, Brazil, First Prize for Graphic Design * 1953: II Bienal de São Paulo, Brazil, Acquisition Award * 1967: IX Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, Brazil, Acquisition Award * 1991: XXI Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, Brazil, Second Prize

Selected exhibitions

Selected group exhibitions

* 1951: I Bienal Internacional de Arte de São Paulo (São Paulo) * 1953: II Bienal Internacional de Arte de São Paulo (São Paulo) * 1955: "Incisioni e disegni Brasíliani", Villa Ciani (Lugano) * 1956: XXVIII Biennale di Venezia (Venice) * 1960: "konkrete kunst. 50 jahre entwicklung", Helmhaus (Zurich) – traveling exhibition * 1967: IX Bienal Internacional de Arte de São Paulo (São Paulo) * 1967: "Nova objectividade brasileira", Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro) * 1977: Projeto construtivo brasileiro na arte * 1950–1962: Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro); Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (São Paulo) * 1979: XV Bienal Internacional de Arte de São Paulo (São Paulo) * 1986: XLII Biennale di Venezia (Venice) * 1991: XXI Bienal Internacional de Arte de São Paulo (São Paulo) * 1992: "Brasilien. Entdeckung und Selbstentdeckung", Kunsthaus Zürich (Zurich) * 1999: "Brasilianische Fotografie 1946–1998. Labirinto e Identidades",

Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg The Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg is an art museum in central Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, opened 1994. It presents modern and contemporary art and is financed by the ''Kunststiftung Volkswagen.'' It takes up aspects of the industrial city of Wolfsburg, whi ...

(Wolfsburg) * 2000: "Heterotopías. Medio siglo sin lugar. 1918–1968", Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid) * 2000: "Século 20. Arte do Brasil", Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão (Lisbon) * 2000–2002: "Brasil 1920–1950. De la antropofagia a Brasília", Institut Valencià d’Art Modern, Centre Julio González (Valencia); Museu de Arte Brasileira (São Paulo) * 2002: "Grupo Ruptura. Arte concreta paulista. Revisitando a exposição inaugural",

Maria Antônia University Center The Maria Antônia University Center is an organ of the Pro-Rectory of Culture and University Extension of the University of São Paulo, which promotes modern and contemporary art exhibitions, courses in the field of humanities, seminars, debates ...

of University of São Paulo (São Paulo) * 2003: "Cuasi-corpus. Arte concreto y neoconcreto de Brasil", Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Internacional Rufino Tamayo (Mexico City); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (Monterrey) * 2006: "Cruce de miradas. Visiones de América Latina. Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros", Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City) * 2006: "The Sites of Latin American Abstraction", Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (Miami, Florida) – traveling exhibition * 2007: "Desenho construtivista brasileiro", Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro) * 2007: "The Geometry of Hope. Latin American Abstract Art from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection", Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas); Grey Art Gallery, New York University (New York) * 2007-08: "New Perspectives in Latin American Art, 1930–2006: Selections from a Decade of Acquisitions",

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

(New York) – November 21, 2007 – February 25, 2008 * 2008: "Diálogo concreto – Design e construtivismo no Brasil", Caixa Cultural (Rio de Janeiro) * 2009: "Foto Cine Clube Bandeirante. 70 Anos", Centro Cultural São Paulo (São Paulo) * 2009: "Experimentaciones. La experiencia concreta y neoconcreta en la fotografía brasileña", Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Parque Forestal y Espacio ArteAbierto de Fundación Itaú (Santiago) – traveling exhibition * 2010: "Moderna para sempre. Fotografia modernista brasileira na Coleção Itaú", Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul Ado Malagoli (Porto Alegre) * 2010: "Vibración. Moderne Kunst aus Lateinamerika. The Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection", Bundeskunsthalle (Bonn) * 2010: "Constructive Spirit. Abstract Art in South and North America, 1920s–50s", Newark Museum (Newark, New Jersey); Amon Carter Museum (Fort Worth, Texas)

Selected solo exhibitions

* 1950: "Fotoformas", Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (São Paulo) * 1965:

Museo de Arte Moderno The Museo de Arte Moderno (MAM) is a museum dedicated to modern Mexican art located in Chapultepec Park in Mexico City. The museum is part of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura and provides exhibitions of national and internat ...

(Buenos Aires) atalogue* 1976: "12 anos de pintura, 1964 a 1976", Museu de Arte Moderna de Sao Paulo (São Paulo) atalogue* 1987: Tschudi Galerie (Glarus, Switzerland) rochureref name=GlarnerZeitung-GalerieTschudi-1987> * 1993: "Peintre et photographe", Musée de l’Elysée (Lausanne) * 1994: "Fotógrafo", Museu da Imagem e do Som (São Paulo) atalogueref name=FolhaSP-Fotografo-1994> * 1996: "Precursor",

Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil The Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil (CCBB, in English: ''Bank of Brazil Cultural Center'') is a cultural organization of the Bank of Brazil based in Brazil with centers in Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The CCBB began i ...

(Rio de Janeiro) atalogueref name=Veredas-Precurser-1996> * 1999: MMA Collection, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro) atalogueref name=OGlobo-MAM-2000> * 1999–2000: "Fotoformas",

Museum Ludwig Museum Ludwig, located in Cologne, Germany, houses a collection of modern art. It includes works from Pop Art, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It holds many works by Andy Warhol and Roy Lic ...

(Cologne); SESC Pompéia (São Paulo); Musée de l’Elysée (Lausanne) atalogueref name=FrankfurterAllgemeineZeitung-Ludwig-1999> * 2001: "Geraldo de Barros and Lygia Pape",

Americas Society The Americas Society is an organization dedicated to education, debate, and dialogue on the Americas. It is located at Percy R. Pyne House, 680 Park Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and was established by David Rockefeller in 1965. ...

(New York) atalogueref name=FolhaSP-Americas-2001> * 2005: "Javier Pérez. Geraldo de Barros", Galerie Guy Bärtschi (Geneva) * 2006: "Fotoformas. Fotografías – Photographies", Museu da Imagem e do Som (São Paulo) atalogue* 2008: "Free, Freed and Freeing", Sicardi Gallery (Houston, Texas) atalogue* 2013: "Fotoformas" / "Sobras", The Photographers' Gallery (London)

Selected works

* (1949) * (1949) * (1949) * (1949) *
Mouvement giratoire
' at

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follo ...

(1949) *
São Paulo, Brazil, Neg. 50
' at

(1949) * (1948–50) * (1952) *
Concreto
' at

(1953) *
Cartaz para o IV Centenário de São Paulo
' at

(1954)

Selected publications

* – 5. September bis 10. Oktober 1987, Galerie Tschudi, Glarus * – Catálogo de exposição 25 de janeiro a 24 de março de 1996 * – Published on the occasion of the exhibition "Geraldo de Barros: Fotoformas", held at Museum Ludwig, Köln, (26.8.1999 - 25.1.2000); SESC Pompeia, Sao Paulo, (3.11.-3.12.1999); Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne (July-Sept. 2000) * – Published in conjunction with an exhibition organized by the Americas Society as part of "Forma: Brazil series" held from March 20-May 6, 2001 * * – Published on the occasion of the exhibition, "Geraldo de Barros", which took place at the Sicard Gallery in Houston Texas from May 28-July 5, 2008 * – Published on the occasion of the exhibition "Geraldo de Barros: What Remains", held at the Photographers' Gallery, London, 17 January - 7 September 2013 * – Published on the occasion of the exhibition "Geraldo de Barros: Jogos de Dados e Sobras (1980–1990)" held 11 July - 8 Sept., 2013 at Sesc Vila Mariana in São Paulo

References

External links

* * *
Geraldo de Barros
(artist file) at the

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barros, Geraldo de 1923 births 1998 deaths Brazilian photographers Brazilian designers Brazilian painters Brazilian graphic designers Brazilian furniture designers Alumni of the Ulm School of Design