Carlos Oswald (Florença, Itália 1882 - Petrópolis RJ 1971)
Printmaker, painter, stained-glass artist, draftsman, decorator, teacher, writer.
He graduated in physics and mathematics in 1902 from the Istituto Galileo Galilei in Florence. The following year, he entered the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze. He traveled to Brazil for the first time in 1906 and held his first solo exhibition in the country in Rio de Janeiro. He returned to Europe in 1908, studied printmaking with the American Carl Strauss (1873-1957) in Florence and traveled to Munich, where he learned etching. In 1911, he took part in decorating the Brazilian pavilion at the Turin International Exhibition. He made his second trip to Rio de Janeiro in 1913 and held an exhibition with Eugênio Latour (1874-1942) at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes (Enba). The following year, he was appointed teacher of printmaking and drawing at the Liceu de Artes e Ofícios do Rio de Janeiro, a post made permanent in 1930. That year, he made the final design for the Christ the Redeemer Monument. The work was executed in France by the sculptor Paul Landowski (1875-1961) and installed on Corcovado mountain, Rio de Janeiro, in 1931. From 1946, he taught a printmaking course at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas - FGV. In 1957, he published his autobiography, Como Me Tornei Pintor [How I Became a Painter].
Critical Commentary
Carlos Oswald's output is highly diverse. He painted landscapes and still lifes but, as art historian Quirino Campofiorito (1902-1993) points out, religious themes dominate his painting, always in keeping with liturgical requirements. He also produced numerous decorative works for the Palácio São Joaquim and the Palácio Pedro Ernesto in Rio de Janeiro.
A pioneer of intaglio printmaking (etching and aquatint) in Brazil, his work affirms the expressive character of the technique. In prints such as Boi à Tarde [Ox in the Afternoon], 1908, Carregando Madeiras [Carrying Timber], 1909, or Bois Descansando [Oxen Resting], 1910, one can see a dialogue with the works of Italian artists such as Giuseppe de Nittis (1846-1884) and Giovanni Fattori (1825-1908). For Oswald, printmaking is the most spiritual of the visual arts, as it is based on line and dot, whose immateriality makes it possible to express artistic states of mind.
Carlos Oswald was responsible for training new generations of printmakers in Brazil, such as Poty (1924-1998), Darel (1924), Fayga Ostrower (1920-2001), Renina Katz (1926), Henrique Oswald (1918-1965) and Orlando DaSilva (1923).
Critiques
"Carlos Oswald's work is always focused on form. Even in painting, in phases such as the studies of artificial light (Retrato de Azeredo Coutinho [Portrait of Azeredo Coutinho]) or the Petropolitan phase (Rua em Petrópolis [Street in Petrópolis]), in which color plays a prominent role, form is important in the structure of the picture (...). This preference was already evident when he exchanged music studies for training at an engineering school. We also see his grasp of form when he makes drawings for sculptures, notably the studies on which the construction of the Christ the Redeemer monument was based. Thus nothing could be more natural than his fondness for drawing, and especially for printmaking.
The written word did not escape him either, as we can see in the author of Como me Tornei Pintor and in the frequent contributor to newspapers and magazines, always eager to promote the refinements of printmaking".
Orlando DaSilva
CARLOS Oswald. Texto de Orlando DaSilva. Apresentação de Alcidio Mafra de Souza. Rio de Janeiro: MNBA, 1982.
"He shows himself to be a painter of very personal characteristics, which among Brazilians is found only in Eliseu Visconti, always willing to extend his work with the vivid marks of a restless artist attentive to activities not limited to handling brushes or modeling. Visconti turned to the industrial arts and valued them as a creative calling. Carlos Oswald, likewise master of all that painting offers, turned to the graphic arts, which in Brazil continued to be held in low esteem compared with the arts still considered major. (...) Carlos Oswald breaks this prejudice and is the first artist in Brazil to add intaglio printmaking ('etching' and 'aquatint') to the most legitimate pursuits of artistic activity. He develops a personality that never ceased to show unrestrained professional enthusiasm, exercising his creative sense in painting as well as in drawing, printmaking and illustration, to which must be added his literary activity, in which he expounded at length on artistic knowledge and ideas, particularly regarding sacred art.
His long stay in Florence, where his whole artistic formation took place, accentuates the dominant influences in the part of his work produced up to 1913. From then on, what may be called his Brazilian period unfolds in a constant evolution that always places him among our greatest artists. The way he defines himself equally as painter, draftsman and printmaker - fully assured in all three distinct fields - already sets him apart in Brazilian art. No comparable example is found among our artists until Carlos Oswald becomes master of the three techniques, achieving decisive results in all of them".
Quirino Campofiorito
CAMPOFIORITO, Quirino. História da pintura brasileira no século XIX. Rio de Janeiro: Pinakotheke, 1983. p. 263-264.
"The path of artists who felt the presence of Symbolism in the first two decades of the century but ultimately moved toward a predominance of academic solutions can be represented by Carlos Oswald (...). In oil on canvas, he painted Retrato de Azevedo Coutinho [Portrait of Azevedo Coutinho] and Boi com Carro Vermelho [Ox with Red Cart] (...), well-known works in a Symbolist key. In his pictorial decorations for buildings, however, he mainly produced academic works. Likewise, from the strong printmaking of his Italian phase he declined into an academicism in his portraits and works of religious feeling".
Walter Zanini
ZANINI, Walter, org. História geral da arte no Brasil. Apresentação de Walther Moreira Salles. São Paulo: Instituto Walther Moreira Salles, Fundação Djalma Guimarães, 1983.
Testimonials
"Certainly another artist, sooner or later, would have taken my place as a pioneer of printmaking in the early 1900s, but the indisputable fact is that it was I who directed, began and accompanied the graphic arts movement in Brazil to maturity. I am proud of this, and it would be false modesty to wish to remain hidden and forgotten. I know that throughout the world the awakening of interest in printmaking was born and developed in our century for reasons everyone knows: 'synthetism', in opposition to the exaggerated polychromy of the Post-Impressionists; enthusiasm for the resurrection of an art that had been killed by the mechanical processes derived from photography; the mystery of its chiaroscuro effects and its alchemist-like technique; its practice, which allowed it to be reproduced in many copies and made it an art more in harmony with our democratic customs; a democratic art, in short; and, finally, its novelty, which made not only the general public but most artists themselves open their eyes wide when one spoke to them of etching, drypoint, aquatint, mezzotint, line engraving, woodcut, etc.".
Carlos Oswald 1957
GRAVURA Brasileira/textos de Leon Kossovitch e Mayra Laudanna, Ricardo Resende; apresentação Ricardo Ribenboim. São Paulo: Cosac & Naify/Itaú Cultural, 2000, p. 38.
"Examining my father's life and trying to set aside my position as his daughter, I am always amazed not only by his versatility but also by his dynamism. His diary allows us to follow days extremely full of activities, projects and achievements, as well as a vision of concepts of great interest. Accustomed to recording at the end of each day everything he had done, he sometimes leaves me astonished at the quantity and variety of his occupations. I conclude that, despite his slight appearance, he had an iron constitution. Or was it the strength of the spirit dominating body and mind? There was no genre he did not take up, sometimes simultaneously. He did mural and easel painting, printmaking, drawing and illustration; he was a stained-glass artist, teacher and columnist, all without ceasing to lead an intense social life attending concerts, gatherings and exhibitions. And he was always present as a father in our lives, although his activities multiplied even further as he answered every call relating to art. He served on the most varied institutional committees, taking a deep interest in what he did and giving himself wholly to any undertaking he decided to support. Those who knew him socially would have no idea of the depth of his religious life. He did not speak of it. His works spoke. He accepted people as they were; he did not seek to change anyone, nor did he try to instill his own convictions in others. This is not to say that he did not greatly enjoy a debate on art, when he would become heated, showing all the ardor of his Italian blood, as Manuel Bandeira noted".
Maria Isabel Oswald Monteiro
MONTEIRO, Maria Isabel Oswald. Carlos Oswald (1882-1971): pintor da luz e dos reflexos. Rio de Janeiro: Casa Jorge Editorial, 2000, p. 159.
Solo Exhibitions
1904 - Florence (Italy) - Solo
1906 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Escola de Música
1906 - Rome (Italy) - Solo
1907 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Rua Chile
1910 - Munich (Germany) - Solo
1911 - Paris (France) - Solo
1917 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Jorge
1918 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Rua Líbero Badaró, 111
1920 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Jorge
1938 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Heubergen
1955 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at MNBA
1962 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at MNBA
Group Exhibitions
1904 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 11th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba - second-degree honorable mention
1906 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 13th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba - silver medal
1907 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 14th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1908 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 15th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1909 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 16th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba - first-degree honorable mention
1911 - Paris (France) - Paris Art Salon
1911 - Turin (Italy) - Turin International Exhibition
1912 - Florence (Italy) - Group show - Province of Florence Prize
1912 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 19th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba - bronze medal
1912 - São Paulo SP - Second Brazilian Fine Arts Exhibition, at Liceu de Artes e Ofícios
1913 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 20th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba - small gold medal
1913 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Carlos Oswald and Eugênio Latour, at Enba
1914 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 21st General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1915 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 22nd General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1916 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 23rd General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba - large silver medal
1917 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 24th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1918 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 25th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1919 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 26th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1919 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Rio Etching Exhibition
1920 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 27th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1921 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 28th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1922 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 29th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1922 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Independence Centenary Exhibition
1924 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 31st General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1925 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 32nd General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1927 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 34th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1928 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 35th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1929 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 36th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1929 - Rosario (Argentina) - 11th Rosario Art Salon, at Comisión Municipal de Bellas Artes
1930 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 37th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1931 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Revolutionary Salon, at Enba
1933 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 40th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1934 - São Paulo SP - 1st São Paulo Fine Arts Salon, at Rua 11 de Agosto
1937 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 43rd National Salon of Fine Arts, at MNBA
1938 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 44th National Salon of Fine Arts, at MNBA
1939 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 45th National Salon of Fine Arts, at MNBA
1940 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 46th National Salon of Fine Arts, at MNBA
1940 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Carlos Oswald and Hans Steiner, at Galeria Ibeu Copacabana
1942 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 48th National Salon of Fine Arts, at MNBA
1943 - London (England) - Brazilian Art Exhibition, at Burlington House
1943 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 49th National Salon of Fine Arts, at MNBA
1943 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Religious Painting, at MNBA
1944 - London (England) - Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, at Royal Academy of Arts
1944 - Norwich (England) - Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, at Norwich Castle and Museum
1944 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 50th National Salon of Fine Arts, at MNBA
1945 - Bath (England) - Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, at Victory Art Gallery
1945 - Bristol (England) - Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, at Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery
1945 - Edinburgh (Scotland) - Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, at National Gallery
1945 - Glasgow (Scotland) - Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, at Kelvingrove Art Gallery
1945 - Manchester (England) - Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, at Manchester Art Gallery
1946 - São Paulo SP - 12th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1950 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - A Century of Brazilian Painting: 1850-1950, at MNBA
1954 - Goiânia GO - Exhibition of the National Congress of Intellectuals
1958 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Work in Art, at MNBA
1969 - Ouro Preto MG - Ouro Preto Salon
Posthumous Exhibitions
1971 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Aliança Francesa
1972 - Petrópolis RJ - Solo, at Salão Wim van Dijk
1974 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Printmaking Show, at Fundação Bienal
1977 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Cesar Aché
1978 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st National Visual Arts Salon, at Museu Nacional de Belas Artes
1978 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Fundação Biblioteca Nacional
1978 - São Paulo SP - Carlos Oswald: Prints and Drawings, at Graphus Galeria de Arte
1979 - Curitiba PR - 2nd Curitiba Annual Printmaking Show, at Centro de Criatividade
1981 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Museu Nacional de Belas Artes
1981 - Washington (United States) - A Pioneer of Printmaking in Brasil, at Brazilian-American Cultural Institute
1982 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Carlos Oswald: One Hundred Years, at Museu Nacional de Belas Artes
1982 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at PUC/RJ. Solar Grandjean de Montigny
1982 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Universe of Football, at Museu de Arte Moderna
1982 - São Paulo SP - Italian Painters in Brazil, at Museu de Arte Moderna
1983 - São Paulo SP - Carlos Oswald: Prints from Various Periods, at Museu Lasar Segall
1984 - Fortaleza CE - 7th National Visual Arts Salon
1984 - Porto Alegre RS - Prints: A Journey Through Time, at Cambona Centro de Arte
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Recent Donations 82-84, at Museu Nacional de Belas Artes
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The 1931 Salon, at Funarte
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradition and Rupture: A Synthesis of Brazilian Art and Culture, at Fundação Bienal
1986 - Curitiba PR - 7th Collection of the Museu Nacional da Gravura - Casa da Gravura, at Museu Guido Viaro
1986 - São Paulo SP - Dezenovevinte: A Turn of the Century, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1988 - Curitiba PR - Oswaldo Goeldi and Carlos Oswald - MNBA, at Centro Cultural Palacete Leão Junior
1988 - São Paulo SP - Brasiliana: Man and the Land, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1989 - Fortaleza CE - 19th- and 20th-Century Brazilian Art in Ceará Collections: Paintings and Drawings, at Espaço Cultural da Unifor
1990 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Ibeu: 1940-1990, at Galeria Ibeu Copacabana
1991 - São Paulo SP - Project: 100 Years of Avenida Paulista, at Casa das Rosas
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Fine Art Printmaking in Brazil: A Proposal for Mapping, at Centro Cultural do Banco do Brasil
1994 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Brasil Século XX, at Fundação Bienal
1994 - São Paulo SP - A Critical Look at the 19th-Century Collection, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1994 - São Paulo SP - Poetics of Resistance: Aspects of Brazilian Printmaking, at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
1996 - São Paulo SP - Ex Libris/Home Page, at Paço das Artes
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Negotiated Images: Portraits of the Brazilian Elite, at Centro Cultural do Banco do Brasil
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Never-Seen Rio, at Centro Cultural do Banco do Brasil
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solar Grandjean de Montigny Collection, at PUC/RJ. Solar Grandjean de Montigny
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Rio Printmaking Show. Armando Sampaio Collection: Brazilian Printmaking, at Centro de Artes Calouste Gulbenkian
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Rio Printmaking Show. Brazilian Modern Printmaking: Museu Nacional de Belas Artes Collection, at Museu Nacional de Belas Artes
2000 - Porto Alegre RS - Biblioteca Nacional: Rare Works, at Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul
2000 - Porto Alegre RS - From Frans Post to Eliseu Visconti: Museu Nacional de Belas Artes - RJ Collection, at Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul
2000 - São Paulo SP - Investigations. Brazilian Printmaking, at Itaú Cultural
2001 - Brasília DF - Investigations. Brazilian Printmaking, at Itaugaleria
2001 - Penápolis SP - Investigations. Brazilian Printmaking, at Itaugaleria
2001 - São Paulo SP - Trajectory of Light in Brazilian Art, at Itaú Cultural
2002 - Brasília DF - Barão do Rio Branco: His Work and His Time, at Ministério das Relações Exteriores. Palácio do Itamaraty
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Art in the Fadel Collection: From the Restlessness of the Modern to the Autonomy of Language, at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil
2002 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Art in the Fadel Collection: From the Restlessness of the Modern to the Autonomy of Language, at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil
2002 - São Paulo SP - Image and Identity: A Look at History in the Museu de Belas Artes Collection, at Instituto Cultural Banco Santos
2003 - Brasília DF - Brazilian Art in the Fadel Collection: From the Restlessness of the Modern to the Autonomy of Language, at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil
2005 - Campos dos Goytacazes RJ - Besieged Image, at Sesc
2005 - Petrópolis RJ - Besieged Image, at Galeria Sesc Petrópolis
2005 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Besieged Image, at Galeria Sesc Copacabana
2010 - Porto Alegre RS - Guignard and the East: China, Japan and Minas, at Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul Ado Malagoli
2010 - São Paulo SP - Carlos Oswald 1882-1971: Rescuing a Master, at Caixa Cultural. Galeria da Paulista
2010 - São Paulo SP - Guignard and the East: China, Japan and Minas, at Instituto Tomie Ohtake
2010 - São Paulo SP - 6th SP-Arte, at Fundação Bienal
Source: Itaú Cultural
