Antonio Maluf (São Paulo SP 1926 - idem 2005)
Antonio Maluf was a painter, draftsman and graphic artist. He began studying civil engineering and later attended the Escola Livre de Artes Plásticas in São Paulo, directed by Flávio Motta (1916). He also took painting courses with Waldemar da Costa (1904–1982) and Flexor (1907–1971). He studied printmaking at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (Masp) with Poty (1924–1998) and Darel (1924–2017). He attended the first industrial design course in Latin America, at Masp's Instituto de Arte Contemporânea (IAC), where he studied with Sambonet (1924–1995), among others. At that time, he came into contact with constructive art through the work of Max Bill (1908–1994), shown at the 1st São Paulo International Biennial in 1951 and at Masp in 1952.
The constructive tendency came to characterize his work as an artist, graphic designer and visual programmer. In 1951, he won the competition for the poster of the 1st São Paulo International Biennial, considered a landmark of graphic design in Brazil. He used various supports and made mural paintings and modular elements, collaborating with architects such as Vilanova Artigas (1915–1985), among others.
Antonio Maluf
Critical Commentary
Antonio Maluf studied at the Escola Livre de Artes Plásticas in São Paulo in the 1940s, and also studied painting in the studios of Waldemar da Costa (1904 - 1982) and Flexor (1907 - 1971). In 1951, he enrolled in the first industrial design course in Latin America, at the Instituto de Arte Contemporânea - IAC of the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand - Masp. Among his IAC classmates were future major Brazilian designers and concrete artists such as Alexandre Wollner (1928 - 2018) and Maurício Nogueira Lima (1930 - 1999).
Maluf followed a singular path: although he adopted the constructive language shared by several artists from the 1950s on, he was not linked to any group. In 1951, he produced one of his first concrete works, Equação dos Desenvolvimentos em Progressões Crescentes e Decrescentes [Equation of Developments in Increasing and Decreasing Progressions], which was adapted for the poster competition of the 1st São Paulo International Biennial. He won the competition, and the work is considered a landmark of Brazilian graphic design. The poster shows rectangles that become denser as they shrink toward the center of the sheet. It thus presents an optical vibration resulting from the suggestion of movement created by the parallel lines. In the Progressões Crescentes e Decrescentes [Increasing and Decreasing Progressions] series, the artist creates a rhythm that seems to expand into infinity through the repetition of a single geometric structure.
Maluf used various supports, devoting himself to tile murals and fabric prints, always guided by his vision of concrete art. In the view of critic Regina Teixeira de Barros, Antonio Maluf's production is based on the concept of the equation of developments, establishing a relationship of equality between the elements of the artistic language and the support on which they are applied. In the murals created, for example, for the Vila Normanda building in downtown São Paulo, the arrangement of the tiles serving as support is proportional to that of the rectangles making up the mural. Through the possible variations obtained by dividing rectangles into twelve units, the artist works with principles of balance and color contrast, creating rigorously elaborated rhythms.
As a designer, he created posters, logos, fabric patterns and billboard projects, and integrated his graphic work into architectural projects. He made murals and modular elements, collaborating with architects such as Vilanova Artigas (1915 - 1985). The constructive tendency characterizes his career as an artist and his work as a designer and visual programmer. Through his works, he contributed to the transformation of the visual identity of the city of São Paulo, integrating art into the daily life of its population.
Solo Exhibitions
2002 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Centro Universitário Maria Antonia
Group Exhibitions
1951 - São Paulo SP - 1st São Paulo International Biennial, at Pavilhão do Trianon - poster prize
1953 - Petrópolis RJ - 1st National Exhibition of Abstract Art, at Hotel Quitandinha
1965 - Punta del Este (Uruguay) - 1st Applied Art Biennial
1965 - São Paulo SP - Proposals 65, at MAB/Faap
1967 - São Paulo SP - 9th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1969 - São Paulo SP - 10th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1970 - São Paulo SP - Arte Fantástica [Fantastic Art], at Galeria Seta
1977 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Constructive Project in Art: 1950-1962, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1977 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Constructive Project in Art: 1950-1962, at MAM/RJ
1978 - São Paulo SP - The Biennials and Abstraction: The 1950s, at Museu Lasar Segall
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - I Exposição Nacional de Arte Abstrata-Hotel Quitandinha 1953 [1st National Exhibition of Abstract Art-Hotel Quitandinha 1953], at Galeria de Arte Banerj
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradição e Ruptura [Tradition and Rupture], at Fundação Bienal
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Geometric Abstraction: Concretism and Neo-Concretism, at Fundação Nacional de Arte. Centro de Artes
1987 - São Paulo SP - 1st Geometric Abstraction: Concretism and Neo-Concretism, at MAB/Faap
1991 - São Paulo SP - Construtivismo: Arte Cartaz 40, 50, 60 [Constructivism: Poster Art of the 1940s, 50s, 60s], at MAC/USP
1994 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Brasil Século XX, at Fundação Bienal
1998 - São Paulo SP - Constructive Art in Brazil: Adolpho Leirner Collection, at MAM/SP
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Constructive Art in Brazil: Adolpho Leirner Collection, at MAM/RJ
1999 - São Paulo SP - Cotidiano/Arte. O Consumo - Metamorfose do Consumo [Everyday/Art. Consumption - Metamorphosis of Consumption], at Itaú Cultural
1999 - São Paulo SP - The 1950s and Their Involvements, at Jo Slaviero Galeria de Arte
2000 - São Paulo SP - The Artists' Bardi, at Galeria Marta Traba. Memorial da América Latina
2000 - Valencia (Spain) - De la Antropofagia a Brasília: Brasil 1920-1950 [From Anthropophagy to Brasília: Brazil 1920-1950], at IVAM. Centre Julio González
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Parallels: Brazilian Art of the Second Half of the 20th Century in Context, Colección Cisneros, at MAM/RJ
2002 - São Paulo SP - From Anthropophagy to Brasília: Brazil 1920-1950, at MAB/Faap
2002 - São Paulo SP - Map of Now: Recent Brazilian Art in the João Sattamini Collection of the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói, at Instituto Tomie Ohtake
2002 - São Paulo SP - Parallels: Brazilian Art of the Second Half of the 20th Century in Context, Colección Cisneros, at MAM/SP
2003 - Mexico City (Mexico) - Cuasi Corpus: arte concreto y neoconcreto de Brasil: una selección del acervo del Museo de Arte Moderno de São Paulo y la Colección Adolpho Leirner [Quasi Corpus: Concrete and Neo-Concrete Art from Brazil: A Selection from the Collection of the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo and the Adolpho Leirner Collection], at Museo Rufino Tamayo
2004 - São Paulo SP - Construtivos e Cinéticos [Constructivists and Kinetics], at Galeria Berenice Arvani
2004 - Niterói RJ - Transitive Modernity, at MAC/Niterói
2004 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Version, at Galeria Brito Cimino
2005 - Petrópolis RJ - Abstract Express, at Museu Imperial
Source: Itaú Cultural
