Guita Charifker (Recife PE 1936)
Painter, draftsman, printmaker and sculptor.
In 1953, she studied drawing and sculpture at the Ateliê Coletivo [Collective Studio] of the Sociedade de Arte Moderna [Modern Art Society] in Recife, alongside the printmaker Gilvan Samico (1928 - 2013) and the painter José Cláudio (1932), among others, under the guidance of Abelardo da Hora (1924 - 2014). In 1964, she collaborated in founding the Atelier da Ribeira in Olinda, Pernambuco, which the painter João Câmara (1944) also joined. In 1966, she created and directed the gallery of the Teatro Popular do Nordeste [Northeast Popular Theater]. Since the 1970s, she has researched metal engraving at the Oficina do Ingá, Niterói, under the guidance of the printmaker Anna Letycia (1929 - 2018). In 1974, she received the travel prize to Mexico at the Salão Global de Pernambuco [Pernambuco Global Salon]. Later, she worked in João Câmara's studio and for some time attended the studio of the sculptor Frans Krajcberg (1921 - 2017). In 1985, she organized the Ateliê Coletivo in Olinda with the painter Gil Vicente (1958), José Cláudio and Gilvan Samico, among others. In 2001, the book Viva a Vida! Guita Charifker: Aquarelas, Desenhos, Pinturas [Long Live Life! Guita Charifker: Watercolors, Drawings, Paintings] was published by the Recife Department of Education and Culture, and in 2003 retrospective exhibitions were presented at the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes - MNBA [National Museum of Fine Arts], Rio de Janeiro, and at the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo - Pesp [São Paulo State Pinacotheca].
Critical Commentary
Since the late 1960s, Guita Charifker has produced drawings of surrealist inspiration, associating human forms with animals and plants, executed with precision of detail, in works of strong eroticism. She works in an almost monochrome way, with faint lines and pen-and-ink and wash stains, revealing a dreamlike universe of symbolic forms.
Having worked with techniques such as metal engraving, she found her main means of expression in watercolor. She paints still lifes with regional plants and fruits, exploring decorative patterns obtained from foliage and tree branches, or from objects in the scene, such as rugs or fabrics. In her work, she reveals an interest in the production of Matisse (1869 - 1954).
Landscapes are also frequent in her watercolors, often inspired by the lush vegetation of the backyard of her house in Olinda or by places on the Pernambuco coast. Still lifes in which the landscape is present, seen through a window or in a painting on the wall, are constant. The artist uses a surprising and luminous chromatic range.
As the critic Casimiro Xavier de Mendonça notes, after a trip to Mexico in the 1980s and a stay in Frans Krajcberg's (1921 - 2017) studio, Guita Charifker's production was transformed. The watercolors became enlargements of details of nature, with leaves and trunks serving as pretexts for areas of color. Among the oil paintings, the Northeastern landscapes also stand out, made with great formal simplification, broad brushstrokes and a palette that seeks the luminosity of watercolor, as in Rio Capibaribe [Capibaribe River] (1984) or Taíba, Ceará (1986).
Solo Exhibitions
1962 - Recife PE - Solo, at Galeria de Arte do Recife
1963 - Recife PE - Solo, at Galeria de Arte do Recife
1965 - Recife PE - Solo, at Ateliê de Arte Sacra
1970 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Goeldi
1977 - Recife PE - Exposição Permanente [Permanent Exhibition], at Galeria Nega Fulô
1981 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo
1991 - Recife PE - Solo, at Galeria Artespaço
1991 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Nara Roesler
1994 - Piedade SP - Solo, at Aria Espaço de Dança e Arte
1995 - Recife PE - Aquarelas [Watercolors], at Aria Espaço de Dança e Arte
2001 - Recife PE - Solo, at Mamam
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Viva a Vida! [Long Live Life!], at MNBA
2003 - São Paulo SP - Viva a Vida! [Long Live Life!], at Pinacoteca do Estado
Group Exhibitions
1954 - Recife PE - 12º Salão de Arte de Pernambuco [12th Pernambuco Art Salon] - sculpture prize
1963 - Salvador BA - Civilização do Nordeste [Civilization of the Northeast], at Museu de Arte Popular
1964 - Olinda PE - Exposição do Atelier da Ribeira [Atelier da Ribeira Exhibition], at Atelier da Ribeira
1965 - Recife PE - Artistas do Recife [Artists from Recife], at Ateliê de Arte Sacra da Igreja do Rosário
1965 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1º Salão Esso de Artistas Jovens [1st Esso Salon of Young Artists], at MAM/RJ
1966 - Salvador BA - 1ª Bienal Nacional de Artes Plásticas [1st National Visual Arts Biennial]
1968 - Salvador BA - 2ª Bienal Nacional de Artes Plásticas [2nd National Visual Arts Biennial] - acquisition prize
1968 - São Paulo SP - 2ª Jovem Arte Contemporânea [2nd Young Contemporary Art], at MAC/USP
1968 - Florianópolis SC - 2ª Exposição Jovem Arte Contemporânea [2nd Young Contemporary Art Exhibition], at MAM/SC
1969 - Porto Alegre RS - 2ª Exposição Jovem Arte Contemporânea [2nd Young Contemporary Art Exhibition], at Margs
1970 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 19º Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [19th National Salon of Modern Art], at MAM/RJ - acquisition prize
1971 - Belo Horizonte MG - 2º Salão Nacional de Arte Contemporânea [2nd National Contemporary Art Salon] - acquisition prize
1971 - Cali (Colombia) - 1ª Bienal Americana de Artes Gráficas [1st American Biennial of Graphic Arts]
1971 - Curitiba PR - 28º Salão Paranaense [28th Paraná Salon], at Biblioteca Pública do Paraná - acquisition prize
1971 - Recife PE - 7 Artistas do Recife [7 Artists from Recife]
1971 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 50 Anos de Arte Brasileira [50 Years of Brazilian Art], at MAM/RJ
1972 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 21º Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [21st National Salon of Modern Art] - acquisition prize
1972 - São Paulo SP - Arte Brasil Hoje: 50 Anos Depois [Art Brazil Today: 50 Years Later], at Galeria da Collectio
1973 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 22º Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [22nd National Salon of Modern Art]
1974 - Recife PE - 1º Salão Global de Pernambuco [1st Pernambuco Global Salon] - foreign travel prize
1975 - Olinda PE - 1º Salão Global de Pernambuco [1st Pernambuco Global Salon]
1976 - São Paulo SP - O Desenho em Pernambuco [Drawing in Pernambuco], at Galeria Nara Roesler
1977 - Madrid (Spain) - Arte Actual de Ibero-America [Current Art of Ibero-America]
1978 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1º Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas [1st National Visual Arts Salon], at MNBA
1979 - Curitiba PR - 2ª Mostra Anual de Gravura Cidade de Curitiba [2nd Curitiba City Annual Printmaking Exhibition], at Centro de Criatividade
1980 - Mexico - 2ª Bienal Ibero-Americana [2nd Ibero-American Biennial]
1984 - Paris (France) - Dez Artistas do Recife [Ten Artists from Recife], at Espace Latino-Américain
1986 - Brasília DF - Pernambucanos em Brasília [Pernambuco Artists in Brasília], at ECT Galeria de Arte
1988 - Salvador BA - 1º Salão Baiano de Artes Plásticas [1st Bahia Visual Arts Salon], at MAM/BA
1989 - Olinda PE - Viva Olinda Viva [Long Live Olinda], at Atelier Coletivo
1989 - Recife PE - Natureza da Pintura [The Nature of Painting], at Centro Cultural Adalgisa Falcão
1990 - Olinda PE - Permanência da Pintura [Permanence of Painting], at Atelier Coletivo
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Ateliê Coletivo [Collective Studio], at Centro Cultural Cândido Mendes
1993 - Hamburg (Germany) - Atelier Coletivo [Collective Studio], at Km Wolff
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Aquarela Brasileira [Brazilian Watercolor], at Centro Cultural Light
Source: Itaú Cultural
