Jenner Augusto (Aracaju SE 1924 - Salvador BA 2003)
Jenner Augusto was a painter, poster artist, illustrator, draftsman and printmaker. He lived in several towns in Sergipe and, in the town of Lagarto, made posters for the local cinema. In Laranjeiras, around 1940, he studied the painting of Horácio Hora. He returned to Aracaju in 1944, when he devoted himself to painting while working in commerce. In 1949, he painted, free of charge, modernist-style panels to decorate the Bar Cacique.
That same year, he moved to Salvador, where he worked as an assistant in Mario Cravo Júnior's studio. At that time, he took part, with Lygia Sampaio and Rubem Valentim, in the controversial exhibition Novos Artistas Baianos [New Bahian Artists], at the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico da Bahia. In the city he produced commissioned works, notably the fresco Evolução do Homem [Evolution of Man], made between 1953 and 1954 for the Centro Educacional Carneiro Ribeiro.
On a trip to Rio de Janeiro for a solo exhibition, he met Candido Portinari and José Pancetti, who recommended him to critics and collectors. He also met James and Jorge Amado. In the 1960s, he devoted himself to painting the Alagados neighborhood and landscapes of Salvador. In 1966, he was invited to open the exhibition Baianos na Filadélfia [Bahians in Philadelphia]. The following year, he traveled through France, Italy, the Netherlands, England and Belgium, where he met Paul Delvaux. On these trips, he made notes, studies and drawings, which were gathered in an album published in 1970.
He illustrated the book Tenda dos Milagres [Tent of Miracles], by Jorge Amado. His work is the subject of at least three publications: Jenner: A Arte Moderna na Bahia [Jenner: Modern Art in Bahia], by Roberto Pontual, published by Civilização Brasileira; Os Alagados de Jenner [Jenner's Alagados], an album with five screen prints and a text by Adonias Filho, published by Ranulpho Editora de Arte; and Jenner, a book-album with color and black-and-white reproductions from his earliest works onward, published by the Imprensa Oficial da Bahia.
Critiques
"So when he suddenly breaks with the still waters of academicism (...) and paints the Cacique panels, Jenner begins to transpose into his work, aggressively and committedly, his direct experience of the poverty of the sertão. It is from there that his passage toward modernism takes place, in its first moments (...), through the revival of the socially engaged spirit that had been building among us all that time, from the contributions of a Segall, a Tarsila, a Lívio Abramo and, with special seductive power, a Portinari. (...) He is immediately drawn to the master's painting of voluminous bodies, as if indicating a continuity from earth to flesh, alongside a conflict between the ideal world and the possible world: the figures are weighed down by their problems and impose themselves as anatomically coarse because they want to solve them. He is also drawn to themes centered on particular facts of the most immediate history, of the closest people, of the traditions most intimately consumed. Finally, he is drawn even to the almost abstract geometrization of the background space of the painter from Brodósqui, fusing influences from Expressionism and Cubism".
Roberto Pontual
PONTUAL, Roberto. Jenner: a arte moderna na Bahia. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1974. (Arte: Multicosmo, 2).
"Others will say the right and proper words, analyzing the painting of the young man from Sergipe, the artist of Bahia. I will say only that few have done so much, so seriously, and mastered the craft so completely, and dignified the art of painting. I will say that Jenner Augusto is a stimulating presence in the city and that even those who deny him in the gossip of provincial amateurism come from him, for in each of us there is something of the light, the emotion, the beauty he created. In the fire of the Água dos Meninos market, in the dusk over Alagados, in the rows of houses, in the blue landscape, in the plateau of the town of Lagarto, where as a boy he played football, in each of his paintings Jenner Augusto is the brother of man; he brings salt and bread".
Jorge Amado
AMADO, Jorge. In: GALERIA DE ARTE ANDRÉ. Jenner Augusto: catálogo. São Paulo, 1987.
Solo Exhibitions
1945 - Aracaju SE - Solo
1948 - Aracaju SE - Solo
1952 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Galeria Oxumaré
1955 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Exclusividades
1956 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Belvedere da Sé
1958 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Belvedere da Sé
1959 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo
1960 - Salvador BA - Solo, at MAM/BA
1963 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Galeria Quirino
1964 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Bonino
1965 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Astréia
1967 - Brussels (Belgium) - Solo, at Museu de Bruxelas
1967 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galeria Debret
1968 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Astréia
1969 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Astréia
1970 - Recife PE - Solo, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1971 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at A Galeria
1971 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Astréia
1972 - Belo Horizonte MG - Solo, at Galeria da Associação Mineira de Imprensa
1972 - Fortaleza CE - Solo, at Galeria Ignez Fiuza
1974 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Jenner Augusto: Retrospective, at MAM/RJ
1974 - Salvador BA - Jenner Augusto: Retrospective, at MAM/BA
1974 - São Paulo SP - Jenner Augusto: Retrospective, at MAM/SP
1975 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria da Praça
1976 - Recife PE - Solo, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1976 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria da Praça
1977 - Porto Alegre RS - Solo, at Oficina de Arte
1977 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at A Galeria
1978 - Belo Horizonte MG - Solo, at Galeria de Arte Ami
1979 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Kattya Galeria de Arte
1979 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1980 - Recife PE - Solo, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1980 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Bahiart Galeria
1981 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at A Galeria
1982 - Recife PE - Solo, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1982 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Escala Galeria
1982 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Época Galeria de Arte
1983 - Porto Alegre RS - Solo, at Masson Galeria de Arte
1984 - Aracaju SE - Solo, at J. Inácio Galeria de Arte
1984 - Belo Horizonte MG - Solo, at Galeria Guignard
1984 - Curitiba PR - Solo, at Galeria Ida e Anita
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Vila Bernini Galeria
1984 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Época Galeria de Arte
1984 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1985 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria de Arte André
1986 - Porto Alegre RS - Solo, at Galeria Alencastro Guimarães
1986 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Época Galeria de Arte
1987 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria de Arte André
1988 - Salvador BA - Jenner Augusto: Recent Paintings, at Paulo Darzé Galeria de Arte
1991 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Galeria Atrium
1998 - Feira de Santana BA - Solo, at Galeria de Arte Carlo Barbosa
Group Exhibitions
1949 - Salvador BA - 1st Bahia Fine Arts Salon, at Hotel Bahia
1950 - Salvador BA - New Bahian Artists, at Museu do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico
1951 - São Paulo SP - 1st Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Pavilhão do Trianon
1952 - Feira de Santana BA - 1st Feira de Santana Modern Art Exhibition, at Banco Econômico
1953 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 2nd National Salon of Modern Art, at MNBA
1955 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 4th National Salon of Modern Art
1955 - Salvador BA - 5th Bahia Fine Arts Salon, at Belvedere da Sé - Universidade Federal da Bahia travel prize
1956 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 5th National Salon of Modern Art
1956 - Salvador BA - 6th Bahia Fine Arts Salon, at Galeria Oxumaré - gold medal
1957 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 6th National Salon of Modern Art
1957 - São Paulo SP - Artists from Bahia, at MAM/SP
1959 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 8th National Salon of Modern Art, at MAM/RJ - domestic travel prize
1960 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 9th National Salon of Modern Art, at MAM/RJ
1961 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 10th National Salon of Modern Art
1962 - Porto Alegre RS - 3rd Rio Grande do Sul Visual Arts Salon, at UFRGS. IA - grand prize in painting
1962 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 11th National Salon of Modern Art
1963 - Dallas (United States) - Arte Nova [New Art], at Dallas Museum of Art
1963 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Landscape as Theme, at Galeria Ibeu Copacabana
1966 - Germany - Bahians in Germany
1966 - Philadelphia (United States) - Bahians in Philadelphia
1966 - Barcelona (Spain) - Artists from Bahia, at Instituto de Cultura Hispânica
1966 - Madrid (Spain) - Artists from Bahia, at Instituto de Cultura Hispânica
1966 - Salvador BA - 1st National Visual Arts Biennial
1967 - São Paulo SP - Artists from Bahia, at A Galeria
1970 - São Paulo SP - Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo 1970
1972 - Milan (Italy) - Bahians in Milan, at Gallerie Schettini
1972 - São Paulo SP - Art/Brazil/Today: 50 Years Later, at Galeria da Collectio
1975 - Salvador BA - Bahia Fair
1977 - São Paulo SP - Art Exhibition, at Grupo Financeiro BBI
1980 - Penápolis SP - 4th Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1982 - Penápolis SP - 5th Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 6th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Self-Portraits, at Galeria de Arte Banerj
1984 - Aracaju SE - Bahian Artists, at J. Inácio Galeria de Arte
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradition and Rupture: A Synthesis of Brazilian Art and Culture, at Fundação Bienal
1985 - São Paulo SP - 100 Itaú Works, at Masp
1985 - São Paulo SP - Mothers and the Flower as Seen by 33 Painters, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1986 - Brasília DF - Bahians in Brasília, at Casa da Manchete
1986 - São Paulo SP - Collection Exhibition, at Sudameris Galleria
1987 - São Paulo SP - 20th Contemporary Art Exhibition, at Chapel Art Show
1988 - Salvador BA - The Illustrators of Jorge Amado, at Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado
1988 - São Paulo SP - 15 Years of the Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, at Fundação Mokiti Okada M.O.A.
1990 - Brasília DF - Figurativism/Abstractionism. Red in Brazilian Painting, at Itaugaleria
1990 - São Paulo SP - Figurativism/Abstractionism. Red in Brazilian Painting, at Itaugaleria
1991 - Belo Horizonte MG - Figurativism/Abstractionism. Red in Brazilian Painting, at Itaugaleria
1991 - Santos SP - 3rd Santos National Biennial, at Centro Cultural Patrícia Galvão
1993 - Campinas SP - Figurativism/Abstractionism: Red in Brazilian Painting
1998 - Porto Alegre RS - Collection: Instituto de Artes 90 Years, at UFRGS. IA
1999 - Curitiba PR - Arte-Arte Salvador 450 Years, at Fundação Cultural de Curitiba. Solar do Barão
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Arte-Arte Salvador 450 Years, at Museu Histórico da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro
1999 - Salinas da Margarida BA - Arte-Arte Salvador 450 Years, at MAM/BA
1999 - Salvador BA - 100 Visual Artists from Bahia, at Museu de Arte Sacra
1999 - Salvador BA - Arte-Arte Salvador 450 Years, at MAM/BA
2002 - São Paulo SP - Landscapes of the Imaginary, at Nova André Galeria
Source: Itaú Cultural
