Calasans Neto (1932 - 2006)
Calasans Neto was a painter, engraver, illustrator, draftsman, carver and set designer. He began his artistic trajectory as a painter in the studio of Genaro de Carvalho, but soon abandoned the painting in favor of engraving. At the School of Fine Arts of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), he studied metal engraving with Mário Cravo Júnior. He became known in Brazil for his ability with woodcutting, specializing in the relationship between engraving and popular culture, especially cordel.
In Salvador, he was one of the founders of the jester (a form of theatricalization of poems), from MAPA magazine and publisher Macunaíma. Between 1956 and 1965, he created sets for films such as God and the Devil in the Land of the Sun, by Glauber Rocha, and they don't wear Black-Tie by Gianfrancesco Guarnieri. He also illustrated several novels, such as Tereza Batista Tired of Guerra and Tieta do Agreste, by Jorge Amado.
In the 1980s, Calasans also began to dedicate himself to painting, resuming his initial artistic practice. He actively participated in the cultural movement of his generation, creating scenarios for films by Glauber Rocha and Ruy Guerra, and contributing to the foundation of the magazine MAPA, aimed at the Bahian intellectuals of the 1950s, and the publisher Macunaíma, specialized in illustrated books of drawing Limited.
Using his engravings, he produced several albums, some authentic works of his own and others with Brazilian editors. He made covers and illustrations for renowned books, including Tereza Batista Tired of Guerra and Tieta do Agreste, by Jorge Amado, and the Natural History of Pablo Neruda, by Vinícius de Moraes.
His career includes intense professional activity, with several exhibitions in Brazil and abroad, and its participation in the 18th International Biennial of São Paulo, in 1985, and at the II Bienal de Havana, in 1986.
Calasans Recorder
The spiritual insecurity of our time, which privileges the degradation of the human being, jeopardizes the superiority of the culture and asphyxiates the current aesthetic thinking. The artist of today lives during the search for the present and the confrontation with modernity - this word in search of meaning, according to Octavio Paz.
The best summary of the vast and magnificent graphic work of Calasans Neto could be, perhaps, the recent series of his Exceptional metal engravings. He, who in his initial and obstinate work of a lifetime, resisting for so long the boring mediocrity of an academic environment, always seemed to be a definitive adept of the woodcut. A conscious and predestined artist, Calasans obeys the laws of matter and reveals a rare power of creativity, which gives his abstraction a figural meaning of telluric characteristics. His plastic language is a poetic process of great wealth of signs.
In conclusion, Calasans Neto is like a bard of antiquity worshiping mythological animals, our docile animals. Virgílio's goats lend a bucolic climate to his figuration by populating the sweetness of his graphic universe. We are facing an artist and his symbols of high contemporary and universal sense"
Wilson Rocha
Criticism
"Calasans Neto, like some of his fellow Bahians, who begin with the master Mário Cravo, demonstrates himself to be the lord of the new possibilities of woodcutting, in which a whole vocabulary resides that lends himself an extension that seems impossible to reach to the wood. Modulations are achieved by the author of Das Cabras with resources that only the security and passion of the craft can allow. Tonal modulations that for a long time seemed restricted to resources that very particularized the effects already well conventionalized in the technique of engraving on wood, and of which the different bureaus and the various openings of the gouges were discharged when handled with due Ability.
Calasans Neto offers us a rich woodcut of tonal values that brilliantly customize their work, ensuring a fair measure of creation. Without straying from a simplicity in the recording or use of gouge and burin, a whole texture exuberantly of expressions taken from the engraved material itself is achieved for the greater meaning of a formal context that seems to us absolutely valid plasticly and graphically. surfaces in different recesses affect the printing (printing), ensuring an invaluable amplitude of new effects, which is equivalent to saying meanings, other plastics for modern woodcutting".
Quirino Campofiorito
Calasans Neto. Text Glauber Rocha, Fernando da Rocha Peres, Carlos Drummond de Andrade Salvador : Casa da Palavra, 1998, p. 38-39.
"(...) In Calasans Neto, there is no recourse to the composition of figures in view of a concerted action. Resumed by modern art, at least since Gauguin, the assemblages of juxtaposition can be seen in the goats and whales of Calasans, a procedure that values the rhythmic meaning printed to the figures, sometimes arranged in a processional way. (...) The rhythm in Calasans presupposes an iteration in which, even when uniformly inked, the figures are very light. As an illustrator, Calasans is much closer to the cordel in Tereza Batista, by Jorge Amado, for his humor. The figures, relieved of scenery, juxtapose in unconcerted action, which makes, at a time, very visible the figures and very clear the action. More than close to the cordel, the engravings of Tereza Batista imitate him, which is widened in the texts recorded by Calasans Neto, who simulates his spelling errors".
Leon Kossovitch and Mayra Laudanna
engraving: Brazilian art from the 20th century. 2000. P. 28.
Individual exhibitions
1956 - Porto Alegre RS - Engravings and Monotypes, at the DARIANO Gallery
1956 - Caxias do Sul RS - engravings, at the Franco-Brazilian Culture Association
1958 - Belo Horizonte MG - woodcuts, in the interior gallery
1958 - Salvador BA - Velas series, at the Domus Gallery
1959 - Salvador BA - Individual, in the small gallery of the Public Library
1960 - Belo Horizonte MG - Individual, at MAP
1960 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the Macunaíma Gallery
1962 - Salvador BA - Individual, at MAM/BA
1964 - Salvador BA - Taigara Series, at Galeria Querino
1965 - Salvador BA - Xylographs, at the Convivium Gallery
1966 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Woodcuts matrices, in the Bonino Gallery
1966 - Salvador BA - Matriz, at Galeria Convivium
1968 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Engravings of the Cabras album, at the Bonino Gallery
1968 - São Paulo SP - Matriz, at A Gallery
1969 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Engraving matrices, at Galeria da Praça
1973 - Lisbon (Portugal) 30 Wood-Engravings by Calasans Neto, at Kendal & Dent Ltda.
1974 - Washington (United States) - Engravings of the book Tereza Batista, in The Library of Congress, Hispanic Society Room
1975 - Salvador BA - Jazz and 10 album prints Monotypes on the subject, at Galeria Acbeu
1976 - Washington (United States) - Art Gallery of Brazilian, at the Brazilian American Cultural Institute
1978 - Natal RN - eleven prints for the book Tieta do Agreste, at the Alberto Maranhão Theater
1978 - California (United States) - Individual, at California State University
1978 - Fortaleza CE - Individual, at the University of Ceará Museum
1978 - Resende RJ - Xylograph, at MAM/Resende
1978 - Goiânia GO - Matrices, at the Casa Grande Arteria
1978 - Brasília DF - Matriz, at Marchant Marlene Gastal
1978 - Lisbon (Portugal) - woodcut, at the Lisbon National Library
1979 - Salvador BA - Monotypes, at Shopping Center Iguatemi
1980 - Quebec (Canada) - engravings, Université Laval Cité Universitaire
1981 - California (United States) - Individual at California State University
1981 - Washington (United States) - Paintings and Monoprints, Washington World Gallery
1981 - Fortaleza CE - Album prints Tereza Batista Tired of Guerra and Itapuã, at the University of Ceará Museum
1981 - New York (United States) - Color US Brazilian, at W & J Sloane
1981 - Dakar (Senegal) - Semaine Culturelle de Bahia Au Theater Daniel Sorano
1982 - Salvador BA - Prints from the album Itapuã Sol, at the Brazilian Civilization Bookstore
1982 - Paris (France) - Individual, at the Hotel Inter Continental
1982 - Estoril (Portugal) - prints from the album Atlantis, at the Casino Galeria Estoril
1983 - Porto Alegre RS - Paintings, at the Modus Vivendi Gallery
1983 - Salvador BA - Abaeté Night Birds, at Art Boulevard Gallery
1984 - Salvador BA - Monotypes for the book The Legend of the Bird Who Stole Fire, at the Desenbanco Art Nucleus
1984 - Feira de Santana BA - Monotypes for the book The Legend of the Bird Who Stole the Fire, at the Regional Museum of Feira de Santana
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, in the gallery Antonio Bandeira
1984 - Luanda (Angola) - Paintings, in the union of plastic artists
1985 - Salvador BA - Individual, at the Bahia Art Office
1986 - Maceió Al - Monotypes, at the Pierre Foundation Chalita
1986 - João Pessoa PB - Monotypes, at Galeria Gamela de Arte Ltda.
1987 - Fortaleza CE - Metamorphosis, at Imperial Othon Palace
1987 - Brasília DF - Duality of Metamorphosis, at the JBR Gallery
1987 - Salvador BA - Duality of Metamorphosis, at the Anarte Gallery
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Symbology of Metamorphosis, at the Bonino Gallery
1988 - Brasília DF - Monotypes, at Casa Thomas Jefferson
1989 - Salvador BA - Monotypes, at Galeria Canizares
1990 - Salvador BA - Urban Fragments, at ADA Art Gallery
1991 - Salvador Ba - Chronicle in Eight Times, at ACBEU
1992 - Salvador BA - Monotypes for the book The Gods Homes, at the Center for Desbanco
1992 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Monotypes, at Lojas Quintão
1992 - Zurich (Switzerland) - Metamorphosis, at Wellenberg Hotel
1992 - Salvador BA - Individual, at Roberto Alban Art Gallery
1992 - Salvador BA - 25 Monotypes: Tereza Batista and Tieta. Exhibition commemorating the 80th anniversary of Jorge, at Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado
1993 - Salvador BA - Paintings, at Galeria Prova do Artista do Artista/Hotel Sofitel
1994 - Salvador BA - Monotypes, at the Companhia das Índias Gallery
1995 - Fortress CE - Engravings Ponta-Seca and Buril, at the Jorge Amado Gallery of the French Alliance
1995 - Campos do Jordão SP - Engravings, Na Casa da Xylogravura
1996 - Salvador BA - Engravings of the book Natural History of Pablo Neruda, by Vinicius de Moraes, at MAM/BA
1997 - Salvador BA - Prints Dry and Buril, at Acbeu
1997 - Salvador BA - Paintings, at Espaço Calasans Neto
1997 - Bagé RS - engravings, at the Brazilian Engraving Museum
1997 - BA Waterfall - Individual, at the Hansen Bahia Museum Foundation
1997 - Brasília DF - Engravings Ponta-Seca and Buril, at Casa Thomas Jefferson
1998 - Salvador BA - Frutaria. Monotypes, at the Dante Alighieri Cultural Association
1998 - Salvador BA - Monotypes, at the Casa de Jorge Amado Foundation gallery
1998 - Salvador BA - Lagoa e Mar, at MAM/BA
1999 - Feira de Santana BA - Calasans Neto: Paintings, at the Carlo Barbosa Art Gallery
2000 - Salvador BA - Individual, at MAM/BA
Collective exhibitions
1952 - Feira de Santana BA - 1st Exhibition of Modern Art of Feira de Santana, at Banco Econômico
1956 - Salvador BA - Modern Artists from Bahia, at Galeria Oxumaré
1958 - Belo Horizonte MG - Brazilian engraving, at MAP
1958 - Salvador BA - Paintings, at the Monte Serrat Fort
1959 - Salvador BA - Inauguration of the Museum of Art and History of Bahia
1960 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 9th National Salon of Art
1960 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Artists Novos da Bahia, at Galeria do Ibeu
1960 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Three Bahian artists, at the Macunaíma gallery
1960 - Salvador BA - seven modern artists from Bahia, at MAM/BA
1960 - São Paulo SP - 9th Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1962 - Paris (France) - 2nd International Exhibition of Contemporary Film Posters
1962 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - New Artists from Bahia, at the IBEU Gallery
1963 - Paris (France) - Young Brazilian recorders, at Casa do Brasil
1963 - Salvador BA - Artists from the Northeast, at the Unhão Museum of Popular Art
1964 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Artists from Bahia, at Copacabana Palace
1964 - Salvador BA - Abstract Artists of Bahia, at the Instituto de Cultura Brasil-Germany
1965 - Salvador BA - The engraving of Bahia, at Galeria Convivium
1966 - Madrid and Barcelona (Spain) - Artists from Bahia, at the Hispanic Culture Institute
1966 - Salvador BA - 1st National Biennial of Plastic Arts - Special Room
1966 - Washington D. C. and Philadelphia (United States) - Artists Baianos
1967 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Cycle of Studies of Brazilian Art, at the Macunaíma Gallery
1967 - São Paulo SP - Artists from Bahia, at A Galeria
1968 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Cinema Posters International, at MAM/RJ
1968 - Salvador BA - Grand Auction, at the Renoted Gallery
1969 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Grandes da Bahia, at the Irishini Gallery
1970 - São Paulo SP - Artists from Bahia, The gallery
1970 - São Paulo SP - Art fair, at the gallery
1971 - Fortaleza CE - Artists from Bahia, at Galeria Vila Rica
1971 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Engraving album Sete Engravers, at Mini Gallery
1971 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Arte Jovens da Bahia, at Galeria Voltaico
1971 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Plastic artists from Bahia, at the Castro Alves Theater
1971 - Salvador BA - Collective, at Banco Crefisul
1971 - São Paulo SP - 3rd Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1971 - São Paulo SP - Artistas da Bahia, at A Galeria
1971 - São Paulo SP - Entampadores Baianos, in the gallery
1972 - Belo Horizonte MG - Bahian artists, at the AMI
1972 - Belo Horizonte MG - Three artists from Bahia, at the Guignard Gallery
1972 - Milan (Italy) - Artists Baianos, at Chettini Gallery
1972 - Salvador BA - Homage to the book Gente da Terra, by Antonio Celestino, at MAM/BA
1972 - Salvador BA and Recife PE - Arte Bahia Hoje, at MAM/BA
1972 - São Paulo SP - 50 years of modern art in Brazil of the week of 22, at A Galeria
1972 - São Paulo SP - Artists from Bahia, at A Galeria
1972 - São Paulo SP - Recorders, at A Galeria
1973 - Belo Horizonte MG - Jorge Amado and the artists of Tereza Batista, at the AMI
1973 Gallery - Brasília DF - Exhibition 4 Baianos, in the multiple art gallery
1973 - Salvador BA - Didactic exhibition of 22 artists from Bahia, in the Bahia Cultural Heritage Foundation
1973 - Salvador BA - Homage to Genaro de Carvalho, at the Berlinda Gallery
1974 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Brazilian cinema poster, at MAM/RJ
1974 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Small History of Brazilian Painting, at the Mini Gallery
1974 - São Paulo SP - Artists from Bahia, at A Galeria
1975 - New Orleans (United States) - Jazz Album, at the New Orleans Jazz Museum
1975 - Salvador BA - Collective, at Galeria Tempo
1975 - Salvador BA - Festival da Arte Bahia, at Galeria Canizares
1975 - São Paulo SP - The Brazilian mulatto, at A Galeria
1975 - Washington d. C. (United States) - Four artists from Bahia, at the Art Gallery of the Brazilian American Cultural Institute
1976 - Waterfall BA - 1st Cachoeira City Winter Festival
1976 - Salvador BA - Collection of the Museum of Modern Art of Bahia, at MAM/BA
1976 - Salvador BA - Collective, at Galeria Arco-Íris
1976 - Salvador BA - Collective, at Panorama Galeria Arte
1976 - São Paulo SP - Collective, at A Galeria
1977 - Natal RN - Collective, at the Câmara Cascudo Library
1977 - Salvador BA - The engraving in Bahia, at MAM/BA
1977 - Salvador BA - Centenary of the School of Fine Arts of the University of Bahia, in the MAM/BA
1977 - Salvador BA - Collective, at Galeria Grossman
1977 - Salvador BA - Collective, at Panorama Galeria Arte
1977 - São Paulo SP - 9th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, in the MAM/SP
1978 - Salvador BA - Bahia Art Version 78, at Eucatexpo
1978 - Salvador BA - Collective, at Galeria Grossman
1978 - Salvador BA - Exhibition of Verde, at the Natal Tourism Center
1978 - Salvador BA - Brazilian engraving, at the Grossman Gallery
1979 - Salvador BA - Collective, at Citibank's headquarters
1979 - São Paulo SP - Collective, at A Galeria
1980 - Estoril (Portugal) - Six artists from Bahia, in Bahia Week in Estoril
1980 - Fortaleza CE - 11 artists from Bahia, at the UFCE Museum of Art
1980 - Salvador BA - Collective, at Bistro do Luiz
1980 - Salvador BA - Engraving Arte Maior, at the Costa Pinto Museum
1980 - São Paulo SP - Collective, at the Grossman Gallery
1981 - Salvador BA - 1st Salon of Veterans and News, in Vilas do Atlântico
1981 - Salvador BA - 5 artists, at the Hotel Le Meridien Bahia
1981 - Salvador BA - Collective, at the time Gallery
1981 - São Paulo SP - Collective, at the Grossman Gallery
1982 - Bilbao (Spain) - Artender 82. Muestra International Graphic Art
1982 - Brasília DF - Three artists from Bahia, at Casa Thomas Jefferson
1982 - London (England) - Brazilian Exhibition, at The Wraxall Gallery
1982 - Londrina PR - Collective, at the Bahiarte Gallery
1982 - Maracaibo (Venezuela) - 2nd Bienal del Grabado da América, at the Municipal Museum of Graphic Arts
1982 - Salvador BA - Bahia seen by its artists, at Shopping Itaigara
1982 - Salvador BA - Contemporary plastic artists at the 4th Latin American Monastic Meeting
1982 - Salvador BA - Bahian Artists, at the Alberto Bonfiglioli Art Gallery
1982 - Salvador BA - O Espaço da Cultura, at the Alberto Bonfiglioli Art Gallery
1982 - São Paulo SP - 15th Exhibition of Contemporary Art, at Chapel Art Show
1983 - Porto Alegre RS - The landscape through Brazilian artists, at the Modus Vivendi gallery
1983 - Salvador BA - Influence of Candomblé on the art of Bahia. Celebration of 90 years of Mother Girl of Gantois, at MAB
1983 - Salvador BA - Os Sertões de Euclides da Cunha, at MAM/BA
1983 - São Paulo SP - Collective, at Chapel Art Show
1984 - Curitiba PR - 6th Exhibition of Engraving City of Curitiba - The woodcut in the history of Brazilian art, at Casa Romário Martins
1984 - Dakar (Senegal) - Afro-Bahia Exhibition, in the The Nationale Gallery
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The woodcut in the history of Brazilian art, at Funarte. Sérgio Milliet Gallery
1984 - Salvador BA - 1st Mostra Sul América de Arte Bahia, at Bahia Othon Palace
1984 - São Paulo SP - 15th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1984 - São Paulo SP - 17th Exhibition of Contemporary Art, at Chapel Art Show
1985 - Costa Rica (Central America) - Afro-Bahian art, at Temporales
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Collective, at Way Art Gallery
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 8th National Salon of Plastic Arts, at MAM/RJ
1985 - São Paulo SP - 18th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1986 - Brasília DF - Baianos in Brasília, at Casa da Manchete
1986 - Havana (Cuba) - 2nd Bienal de Havana
1986 - Salvador BA - Bahia of All Arts, IBM Latin American Convention, at the Bahia Convention Center
1986 - Salvador BA - Reflections, at Art Boulevard Galeria
1987 - Itaparica BA - Collective, at Club Mediterranée
1987 - Itaparica BA - Collective, Galeão Sacramento
1987 - Salvador BA - 12 Brazilian artists, at Anarte Galeria
1987 - Salvador BA - Collective, at Galeria Rodin
1987 - São Paulo SP - 20th Contemporary Art Exhibition, Chapel Art Show
1988 - Estoril (Portugal) - Exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the literary life of the writer Fernando Zamora, at the Casino do Estoril
1988 - Porto Alegre RS - Collective, in the Aurora de Arte
1988 - Salvador BA - Collective, at the Gallery of the City Council
1988 - Salvador BA - Collective, at Shopping Barra
1988 - Salvador BA - The illustrators of Jorge Amado, at Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado
1988 - Salvador BA - Summer Project, at MAM/BA
1988 - São Paulo SP - Bahian Art Week, at the Transamérica hotel
1991 - Fortaleza CE - Bahians honoring Floriano Teixeira, at the Ceará
1991 - Salvador BA - Rosa Ibarra and Calasans Neto, at ACBEU
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Eco Art, at MAM/RJ
1992 - Salvador BA - ACBEU
1992 - Salvador BA - Universo Amado, at Anarte Galeria
1993 - João Pessoa PB - Woodcut: from cordel to the gallery, at Funesc
1994 - São Paulo SP - Woodcut: From Cordel to Galeria, in the Metro
1995 - Salvador BA - Contemporary Artists from Bahia, at Galeria Canizares
1995 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian recorders at the triad, at Clube da Engravura
1996 - Salvador BA - Tribute to the President of Chile Eduardo Frei, at MAM/BA
1997 - Feira de Santana BA - Twelve Brazilian artists, at the Cultural Space of Feira de Santana
1997 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Fifteen Monotypes Bahia Week, at the Intercontinental Hotel
1997 - Salvador BA - A toast to the café, at Espaço Cafelier
1999 - Curitiba PR - Arte-Arte Salvador 450 years, at the Cultural Foundation of Curitiba. Solar do Barão
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Arte-Arte Salvador 450 years old, at the Historical Museum of the City of Rio de Janeiro
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Rio Engraving Show. Brazilian modern engraving: collection National Museum of Fine Arts, at the MNBA
1999 - Salvador BA - 100 plastic artists from Bahia, at the Museum of Sacred Art
1999 - Salvador BA - Arte-Arte Salvador 450 years old, MAM/BA
2000 - São Paulo SP - Investigations. The Brazilian engraving, at Itaú Cultural
2001 - Brasília DF - Investigations. The Brazilian engraving, at Galeria Itaú Cultural
2001 - Penápolis SP - Investigations. The Brazilian engraving, at Galeria Itaú Cultural
Source: Itaú Cultural
