Gerda Brentani (Trieste, Italy 1908 - São Paulo SP 1999)
Gerda Brentani was a painter, caricaturist, draftswoman, printmaker and illustrator. She moved to São Paulo in 1939 with her husband and two children. In that period, she met Rossi Osir (1890 - 1959) and Ernesto de Fiori (1884 - 1945), who became her painting teacher. Between 1940 and 1941, she painted tiles for Osirarte, where she also made oil paintings and took part in the 1st Osirarte Exhibition in 1941. She was a co-founder of the Clube dos Artistas e Amigos da Arte de São Paulo [São Paulo Club of Artists and Friends of Art] – the Clubinho – in 1945, the same year she held her first solo exhibition, at the Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil (IAB) [Institute of Architects of Brazil]. In 1950, she presented the solo exhibition A Criação do Mundo [The Creation of the World] at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (Masp). She took part in the 7th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [São Paulo International Biennial] in 1963 and, the following year, joined the Restructuring Committee of the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM/SP).
She took up etching in 1968, under the guidance of Marcelo Grassmann (1925 - 2013). In 1977, MAM/SP devoted a retrospective exhibition to her, with drawings, prints and paintings. She was honored at the 15th Salão de Humor de Piracicaba [Piracicaba Humor Salon] in 1998. In 2004, the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (Pesp) presented 150 works by the artist in the exhibition Desenhos de Gerda Brentani, Mil e Uma Histórias [Drawings by Gerda Brentani, A Thousand and One Stories], curated by Vera d'Horta.
Critical Commentary
Choosing India ink drawing as her preferred technique, Gerda Brentani builds a very particular universe, populated by beings as human as they are unusual. Based on the observation of reality, the artist processes what she sees through the finesse of her humor and her line, and then moves into a fanciful dimension. Thus, in 1961, after visiting the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo (MZ/USP) [University of São Paulo Zoology Museum], Gerda produced a series of more than 100 drawings in which jaguars, snakes, little birds and insects always reveal, in a glance or a gesture, some trait of human character.
The delicacy of the line with which the artist creates the drawings and the succinct composition heighten the sharpness of her comments on human behaviors, habits and conventions. Often the line appears almost uninterrupted: the pen nib leaves the surface of the paper only when the figure is complete. This assurance in the handling of the drawing leaves the artist free, in many works, to play with the gray halftones that cover the surface of the figures - Saint George's cape, the dragon's scales, the ballerina's bodice.
In the 1960s, still using animals as a theme and with marked lyricism, Gerda chose the brush to apply the ink in some works (under the influence of sumi-e) and, in others, added to the black and white small colored details that gradually gained ground. Color was fully established in the 1980s, with the series São Paulo: Casas e Fachadas [São Paulo: Houses and Façades], in which she portrayed old São Paulo mansions.
Critiques
"(...) Her interests tend to be lasting, which explains the presence of some recurring themes in her work, forming true series. When a subject imposes itself - as is the case, for example, with animals - it is first treated in a calligraphic way, with spontaneous strokes that establish a certain general atmosphere. As the artist's attention lingers on the chosen subject, a loving handling emerges, more sophisticated technical possibilities unfold, pen-and-ink lacework and shadows with brush and diluted ink are introduced, and in the more recent works, mainly from the 1970s, color appears to stay. (...) Gerda is this peculiar amalgam of relentless mordancy and extreme tenderness toward things, animals, people, the world. She uncovers the ridiculous only to caress it afterwards. Critical as marginality allows her to be, she then places herself inside this world where we all are. She shows that life cannot fit the molds of socially and historically imposed concepts. Her rebelliousness takes her from the obligatory grace of a ballerina to the social respect that certain garments seek to impose, or the forced pomp with which authorities clothe themselves. From atop the wall where she has placed herself, she throws the healthy bomb of her iconoclastic humor at established concepts. And she enjoys watching the explosion. And it is from her corner, where intelligence and spirit reign in total freedom, that she comes to tell us that life is worth living".
Vera D'Horta
O RISCO arisco de Gerda Brentani. Apresentação de Vera d'Horta. São Paulo: Museu Lasar Segall, 1986. (IX Mostra do Ciclo Momentos da Pintura Paulista).
Solo Exhibitions
1945 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at IAB
1949 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Domus
1950 - São Paulo SP - A Criação do Mundo [The Creation of the World], at Masp
1957 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Clube dos Artistas
1958 - Madrid (Spain) - Solo, at Instituto de Cultura Hispânica
1958 - Rome (Italy) - Solo, at Galeria de Arte Il Torcoliere
1959 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Associação dos Amigos do MAM/SP
1962 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria São Luiz
1964 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria São Luiz
1966 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Astréia
1968 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Astréia
1972 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Astréia
1976 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Bonfiglioli
1977 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at MAM/SP
1979 - São Paulo SP - Desenhos de Gerda Brentani [Drawings by Gerda Brentani], at Grifo Galeria de Arte
1982 - São Paulo SP - Solo, organized by Fábio Magalhães, with the support of the Secretaria de Estado da Cultura, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1983 - São Simão SP - Solo, at Casa de Cultura Marcelo Grassmann
1988 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Paço das Artes
1991 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Gabinete 144
1997 - São Paulo SP - Desenhos: Gerda Brentani [Drawings: Gerda Brentani], at MAC/USP
Group Exhibitions
1941 - São Paulo SP - 1º Salão Osirarte [1st Osirarte Salon], at Rua Barão de Itapetininga, 124
1944 - São Paulo SP - 9º Salão do Sindicato dos Artistas Plásticos de São Paulo [9th São Paulo Visual Artists' Union Salon], at Galeria Prestes Maia
1954 - São Paulo SP - 3º Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna [3rd São Paulo Salon of Modern Art], at Galeria Prestes Maia
1954 - São Paulo SP - 5 Desenhistas [5 Draftsmen], at MAM/SP
1955 - São Paulo SP - 3ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [3rd São Paulo International Biennial], at Pavilhão das Nações
1958 - Bordighera (Italy) - Concorso Internazionale della Caricatura
1959 - São Paulo SP - Prêmio Leirner de Arte Contemporânea [Leirner Prize for Contemporary Art], at Galeria de Arte das Folhas
1959 - São Paulo SP - 5ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [5th São Paulo International Biennial], at Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo Sobrinho
1960 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão dos Humoristas [Humorists' Salon], at MNBA
1962 - São Paulo SP - Seleção de Obras de Arte Brasileira da Coleção Ernesto Wolf [Selection of Brazilian Artworks from the Ernesto Wolf Collection], at MAM/SP
1963 - São Paulo SP - 7ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [7th São Paulo International Biennial], at Fundação Bienal
1967 - São Paulo SP - 9ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [9th São Paulo International Biennial], at Fundação Bienal
1968 - São Paulo SP - Retrospectiva 1941-1968 [Retrospective 1941-1968], at Galeria de Arte Tema
1969 - Salvador BA - Bienal Nacional de Artes Plásticas [National Visual Arts Biennial]
1969 - São Paulo SP - 10ª Bienal Internacional de São Paulo [10th São Paulo International Biennial], at Fundação Bienal
1969 - São Paulo SP - 1º Panorama de Arte Atual Brasileira [1st Panorama of Current Brazilian Art], at MAM/SP
1969 - Tel Aviv (Israel) - Contemporary Brazilian Art, at The Modern Art Gallery Ltd.
1970 - São Paulo SP - Antonio Henrique Amaral, Odetto Guersoni, Tomie Ohtake, Pedro Tort, Gerda Brentani, at Galeria de Arte Alberto Bonfiglioli
1970 - São Paulo SP - Pré-Bienal de São Paulo [São Paulo Pre-Biennial], at Fundação Bienal
1971 - São Paulo SP - 3º Panorama de Arte Atual Brasileira [3rd Panorama of Current Brazilian Art], at MAM/SP
1974 - São Paulo SP - 6º Panorama de Arte Atual Brasileira [6th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art], at MAM/SP
1975 - Gabrovo (Bulgaria) - Group show The Second International Biennial of Cartoons and Small Satirical Sculptures
1976 - São Paulo SP - Homenagens aos Imigrantes [Tributes to the Immigrants], at Masp
1978 - Penápolis SP - 3º Salão de Artes Plásticas da Noroeste [3rd Noroeste Visual Arts Salon], at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis - Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras
1978 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 18ª Exposição Arte e Pensamento Ecológico [18th Art and Ecological Thought Exhibition], at Biblioteca Euclides da Cunha
1978 - São Paulo SP - 16º Arte e Pensamento Ecológico [16th Art and Ecological Thought], at Cetesb
1980 - Penápolis SP - 4º Salão de Artes Plásticas da Noroeste [4th Noroeste Visual Arts Salon], at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis - Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras
1980 - Santos SP - 5 Tendências [5 Tendencies], at Galeria de Arte Centro Cultural Brasil-Estados Unidos
1980 - São Paulo SP - 12º Panorama de Arte Atual Brasileira [12th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art], at MAM/SP
1981 - São Paulo SP - Exhibition in tribute to Ciccillo Matarazzo, at Secretaria de Estado da Cultura
1985 - Penápolis SP - 6º Salão de Artes Plásticas da Noroeste [6th Noroeste Visual Arts Salon], at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis - Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras
1985 - São Paulo SP - Osirarte: pinturas sobre azulejo de Volpi, Zanini, Hilde Weber e Gerda Brentani [Osirarte: Tile Paintings by Volpi, Zanini, Hilde Weber and Gerda Brentani], at Pinacoteca do Estado
1986 - São Paulo SP - Expo Brasil-Itália [Brazil-Italy Expo], at Anhembi
1986 - São Paulo SP - Tribute to the artist's birthday, at Museu Lasar Segall
1987 - São Paulo SP - 18º Panorama de Arte Atual Brasileira [18th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art], at MAM/SP
1988 - São Paulo SP - MAC 25 Anos: aquisições e doações recentes [MAC 25 Years: Recent Acquisitions and Donations], at MAC/USP
1990 - São Paulo SP - 21º Panorama de Arte Atual Brasileira [21st Panorama of Current Brazilian Art], at MAM/SP
1992 - São Paulo SP - Polaridades/Perspectivas [Polarities/Perspectives], at Paço das Artes
1994 - São Paulo SP - Bandeiras: 60 artistas homenageiam os 60 anos da USP [Flags: 60 Artists Honor USP's 60 Years], at MAC/USP
1996 - São Paulo SP - Bandeiras [Flags], at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
1998 - São Paulo SP - Os Colecionadores - Guita e José Mindlin: matrizes e gravuras [The Collectors - Guita and José Mindlin: Matrices and Prints], at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
Posthumous Exhibitions
2004 - São Paulo SP - Gabinete de Papel [Paper Cabinet], at CCSP
2004 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Pinacoteca do Estado
Source: Itaú Cultural
