Firmino Saldanha (Santana do Livramento RS 1906 - Rio de Janeiro RJ 1985)
Painter, architect.
Firmino Fernandes Saldanha studied architecture at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes - Enba [National School of Fine Arts] in 1931, in Rio de Janeiro. In the 1940s, he took up painting as a self-taught artist. In 1957, he was chosen, together with Cândido Portinari (1903 - 1962), to compete for the Guggenheim prizes and take part in the exhibition held in Paris. In addition, he was a member of the committee in charge of designing the Cidade Universitária [University City] in Rio de Janeiro, alongside Lúcio Costa (1902 - 1998), Oscar Niemeyer (1907 - 2012) and Affonso Eduardo Reidy (1909 - 1964); served as president of the Instituto dos Arquitetos do Brasil - IAB [Institute of Architects of Brazil]; and produced, among other works, the mural for the Banco Nacional - Palácio do Planalto in Brasília.
Critiques
"In Saldanha's canvases we feel forms, lines and colors moving, creating contrast, adjusting to or opposing one another, as if born of the same rhythm, obedient to the overall composition, with their elements strongly linked through a formal coherence from which the emotional message emerges with clarity and transparency (...)"
Flávio de Aquino
AYALA, Walmir (org.); CAVALCANTI, Carlos (org.). Dicionário brasileiro de artistas plásticos - Q - Z. Brasília: MEC: INL, 1973. v. 4, pt. 1 (Dicionário especializado, 5).
"Firmino Saldanha is a painter affiliated with Braque's visual principles. He felt his influence intensely, especially in formalism, schematization and the composition of the work. So it was for some time, and in this lies a strength and a constancy that make Saldanha work continuously until reaching the current phase, already free of that influence, but always showing a strong awareness as a painter".
Joaquim Tenreiro
AYALA, Walmir (org.); CAVALCANTI, Carlos (org.). Dicionário brasileiro de artistas plásticos - Q - Z. Brasília: MEC: INL, 1973. v. 4, pt. 1 (Dicionário especializado, 5).
Solo Exhibitions
1955 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Petite Galerie
1956 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria do Ibeu
1956 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at MAM/SP
1957 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galeria Haut Pavé
1959 - New York (United States) - Saldanha Paintings, at Ruth White Gallery
1978 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria B-75 Concorde
1979 - Rome (Italy) - Solo, at Embaixada do Brasil
1979 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Anna Maria Niemeyer
Group Exhibitions
1947 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 53º Salão Nacional de Belas Artes [53rd National Fine Arts Salon], at MNBA - silver medal
1951 - São Paulo SP - 1ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [1st São Paulo International Biennial], at Pavilhão Trianon
1952 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1º Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [1st National Salon of Modern Art], at MAM/RJ
1953 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 2º Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [2nd National Salon of Modern Art], at MNBA
1953 - São Paulo SP - 2ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [2nd São Paulo International Biennial], at Pavilhão dos Estados
1954 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão Preto e Branco [Black and White Salon], at Palácio da Cultura
1956 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 5º Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [5th National Salon of Modern Art] - foreign travel prize
1957 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Arte Moderna no Brasil [Modern Art in Brazil]
1957 - Lima (Peru) - Arte Moderna no Brasil [Modern Art in Brazil]
1957 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 6º Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [6th National Salon of Modern Art]
1957 - Rosario (Argentina) - Arte Moderna no Brasil [Modern Art in Brazil]
1957 - Santiago (Chile) - Arte Moderna no Brasil [Modern Art in Brazil]
1957 - São Paulo SP - 4ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [4th São Paulo International Biennial], at Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo Sobrinho
1958 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 7º Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [7th National Salon of Modern Art], at MAM/RJ
1959 - Leverkusen (Germany) - Primeira Exposição Coletiva de Artistas Brasileiros na Europa [First Group Exhibition of Brazilian Artists in Europe]
1959 - Munich (Germany) - Primeira Exposição Coletiva de Artistas Brasileiros na Europa [First Group Exhibition of Brazilian Artists in Europe], at Kunsthaus
1959 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 8º Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [8th National Salon of Modern Art], at MAM/RJ
1959 - São Paulo SP - 5ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [5th São Paulo International Biennial], at Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo Sobrinho
1959 - Vienna (Austria) - Primeira Exposição Coletiva de Artistas Brasileiros na Europa [First Group Exhibition of Brazilian Artists in Europe]
1960 - Hamburg (Germany) - Primeira Exposição Coletiva de Artistas Brasileiros na Europa [First Group Exhibition of Brazilian Artists in Europe]
1960 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Primeira Exposição Coletiva de Artistas Brasileiros na Europa [First Group Exhibition of Brazilian Artists in Europe]
1960 - Madrid (Spain) - Primeira Exposição Coletiva de Artistas Brasileiros na Europa [First Group Exhibition of Brazilian Artists in Europe]
1960 - Paris (France) - Primeira Exposição Coletiva de Artistas Brasileiros na Europa [First Group Exhibition of Brazilian Artists in Europe]
1960 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 9º Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [9th National Salon of Modern Art], at MAM/RJ
1960 - Utrecht (Netherlands) - Primeira Exposição Coletiva de Artistas Brasileiros na Europa [First Group Exhibition of Brazilian Artists in Europe]
1961 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 10º Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [10th National Salon of Modern Art]
1961 - São Paulo SP - 6ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [6th São Paulo International Biennial], at Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo Sobrinho
1962 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 11º Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [11th National Salon of Modern Art]
1963 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 12º Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [12th National Salon of Modern Art]
1963 - São Paulo SP - 7ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [7th São Paulo International Biennial], at Fundação Bienal
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 6º Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas [6th National Visual Arts Salon], at MAM/RJ
Posthumous Exhibitions
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - O Rio Jamais Visto [Rio Never Seen], at CCBB
2004 - Niterói RJ - Modernidade Transitiva [Transitive Modernity], at MAC-Niterói
Source: Itaú Cultural
