José Antônio da Silva (Sales de Oliveira SP 1909 - São Paulo SP 1996)
José Antônio da Silva was a Brazilian artist who worked as a painter, draftsman, writer, sculptor and repentista (improvising folk singer). Of humble origins and with little formal schooling, he developed his work as a self-taught artist and became one of the leading names in Brazilian popular art.
Born in the countryside, he moved in 1931 to São José do Rio Preto, in the state of São Paulo, where he began his artistic career. In 1946, he took part in the opening exhibition of the city's Casa de Cultura, where his works caught the attention of critics such as Lourival Gomes Machado and Paulo Mendes de Almeida, and of the philosopher João Cruz Costa.
Two years later, he held his first solo exhibition at Galeria Domus, in São Paulo. In this period, Pietro Maria Bardi, then director of the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, acquired works by the artist and added them to the museum's collection. In 1949, the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo published his first book, Romance de Minha Vida [Romance of My Life].
In 1951, at the 1st São Paulo International Biennial, José Antônio da Silva received the acquisition prize of the Museum of Modern Art, consolidating his international recognition.
Throughout his career, he expanded his activity beyond the visual arts. In 1966, he founded the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art of São José do Rio Preto and recorded two LPs entitled Registro do Folclore Mais Autêntico do Brasil [Record of the Most Authentic Folklore of Brazil], with his own compositions. That same year, he was given a Special Room at the Venice Biennale.
He also published several books, among them Maria Clara (1970), with a preface by Antônio Candido, Alice (1972), Sou Pintor, Sou Poeta [I Am a Painter, I Am a Poet] (1982) and Fazenda da Boa Esperança (1987).
In 1973, he moved to the city of São Paulo. In 1980, the José Antônio da Silva Museum of Primitivist Art was founded in São José do Rio Preto, bringing together works by the artist and consolidating his legacy in Brazilian art.
Critical Commentary
Autodidact by training, José Antônio da Silva worked in various jobs, including rural labor, until his work as an artist was discovered in 1946 during an exhibition at the Casa de Cultura in São José do Rio Preto, sparking the interest of art critics attending the event. His early paintings feature cool, dark colors. From 1948 onward, he created more lyrical landscapes, employing a more vivid and varied chromatic range. He exhibited in the first three editions of the São Paulo International Biennial, and during this period, his work revealed the influence of Vincent van Gogh's (1853-1890) vibrant brushstrokes. In 1955, he began producing paintings based on pointillism, in which dots or strokes of color give prominence to the paint matter, as in "Scarecrows in Front of the Landscape" (1956).
His paintings feature broad, open spaces and themes linked to country life, such as cotton fields, coffee plantations, and cattle in the pasture, which ultimately became his best-known work. As critic P.M. Bardi notes, the artist reveals great spontaneity in the abstraction of details in his canvases, where, for example, rows of white dots indicate the cotton field. His work is notable for its expressive drawing, sense of color, and fantasy. Silva explores a wide variety of themes: still life, sacred painting, seascapes, historical painting, and genre painting. Some paintings have an ironic tone. In paintings from the 1970s onward, the artist creates a greater distinction between the figure and the background, also employing large planes of color.
Critiques
"In its first phase, José Antônio da Silva's painting is characterized by somber colors and a gray atmosphere, charged with a certain anguish. In 1948 and 1949, he held solo exhibitions at the Domus Gallery (São Paulo). This is the second phase of his painting, in which pinkish and bluish tones appear, while in the landscapes, reddish hues emerge, along with a lyrical element. Around 1955, the third phase of his painting, considered pointillist, begins. It is a period marked by dramatic events, such as the rejection of his works at one of the São Paulo Biennials. Unlike European pointillism, Silva's is a constructive element that makes the material vibrate, not the light or the atmosphere. The fourth and final phase of his painting, with simplified and concentrated forms, is also marked by raw and violent colors. However, the combination of the four phases of José Antônio da Silva's painting shows, in all of them, a common characteristic: movement. His canvases open up into wide spaces, with the scene appearing in the foreground—theater, dance, animals, coffee plantations, and the endless cotton fields (...) The artist's spontaneity in abstracting details is striking: rows of white dots resemble flowering cotton fields, and black lines scattered across an earth-colored background are authentic felled tree trunks."
Pietro Maria Bardi
MUSEU de Arte de São Paulo. Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional de Artes Plásticas, 1981.
Testimonials
"They're traveling all over Europe
For all to appreciate
Showing the green peroba trees
And the beautiful beaches of the sea
The logs on top of the cart
The happy cart driver working
The pasture wet with dew
The sad cart singing.
I showed the sugarcane field
I showed the sugarcane mill
I showed the coffee plantation
I showed the cool brunettes.
There went the cateretê
The happy country boy tap dancing
For all the world to see
The greatest primitive painting.
I paint the fields
I also paint the pastures
I paint the maid and the mistress
I paint Joana and Maria.
I paint carts and wagons
I paint cars and wagons
I paint the bricklayer with the pickaxe
I paint the farmer with the hoe.
(...)
I am primitive
I was born a painter
The longer I live
The more I paint with love."
José Antônio da Silva
SILVA, José Antônio da. I am a painter, I am a poet. São Paulo: Kosmos, 1982. p. 111.
"Read very carefully this lesson by Silva, who is myself. I was born wrong and I am right. To be a good artist or painter, you have to be born knowing. I don't sleep with anyone's eyes on me. I have a horror of old age. I trust no one. I get up early and go to bed early. Tomorrow is always another day. I was born illiterate and I am an intellectual. Life is not just life, there is something more. I practice gymnastics and in the morning I run faster than a horse. I love the sea and I swim a lot. I sunbathe every day. I don't drink or smoke. I am my own doctor. I want to live and reach 100 years old. I have a lot of willpower. I've always acted alone, without anyone's help. My god is nature, and the rest is just a package. We are enchanted, and the world is enchanted. Every woman is a flower of thorns, affection and love. He who doesn't love, doesn't live. As I love, I am living. I paint from morning until 11 a.m. I rest three hours a day. I go to the pool and I love a skirt. Women are medicine for men. He who doesn't love isn't living, but rather wandering. He who has never loved in his life hasn't died, he is nothing. I have no concept of inferiority. I am myself. I grew up in the ox's tail among the vultures. That's why all my paintings have vultures. I only speak the truth and what I feel. I'm not always convinced. I live and act my way. What I have written is pure Philosophy of life and the world. We are in the midst of greatness and we continue with our eyes blindfolded." (sic)
José Antônio da Silva, August 4, 1976
SANT'ANNA, Romildo. Silva: paintings and books, a country artist. São Paulo: Unesp, 1993.
Solo Exhibitions
1948 - São Paulo SP - First Solo Exhibition, at the Domus Gallery
1949 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the Domus Gallery
1951 - São José do Rio Preto SP - Solo, at the São José do Rio Preto Automobile Club
1953 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the Ambiente Gallery
1955 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the Cosme Velho Gallery
1956 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the IAB/SP
1958 - São José do Rio Preto SP - Solo, at the Brazil-United States Cultural Center
1958 - Araraquara SP - Solo, at the Araraquara School of Arts
1958 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the Folha Gallery
1959 - São José do Rio Preto SP - Solo, at the Lions Club
1960 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the Folha Gallery
1963 - Araraquara SP - Solo, at the Araraquara School of Arts
1966 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the São Luiz Art Gallery
1966 - São José do Rio Preto SP - Solo, at the Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters, FAFI
1967 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the Astréia Gallery
1969 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at A Galeria
1970 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at MAM/SP
1972 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the Primitiva Art Gallery
1972 - Santos SP - Solo, at the Brazil-United States Cultural Center
1973 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the A Ponte Gallery
1975 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the A Galeria Ponte
1975 - Santos SP - Solo, at the Brazil-United States Cultural Center
1976 - São José do Rio Preto SP - Solo, at the Casa Grande Art Gallery
1976 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the R & R Camargo Art Gallery
1977 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the Espade Art Gallery
1978 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the Cosme Velho Gallery
1978 - Santos SP - Solo, at the Brazil-United States Cultural Center
1979 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the Atelier Gallery
1979 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the Renot Gallery
1981 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the Uirapuru Gallery
1982 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the Marques Gallery
1983 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the Associação Paulista do Ministério Público
1984 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Tema Gallery
1986 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Renot Art Dealer
1987 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Yataka Sanematsu Art Office
1988 - São Paulo SP - José Antônio da Silva. Forty Years of Painting, at Renot Art Dealer
1989 - São Paulo SP - Retrospective. José Antônio da Silva: Painter of Brazil, at MAC/USP
1989 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the Mário de Andrade Library
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ and São Paulo SP - Retrospective, at the MNBA and at Paço das Artes
1994 - São José do Rio Preto SP - José Antônio da Silva. Eighty-five years of life and art, at Ibilce-Unesp
1994 - São Paulo SP - The Passion and Death of Our Lord according to Silva, at the Museum of Sacred Art
Group Exhibitions
1946 - São José do Rio Preto SP - Inaugural Group Exhibition at Casa de Cultura de São José do Rio Preto - award recipient
1947 - São José do Rio Preto SP - Group Exhibition at Clube Comercial de São José do Rio Preto
1949 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Group Exhibition at Sul América Seguros
1949 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Pintura Paulista at the Ministry of Education and Health
1949 - São Paulo SP - 12th Salon of the São Paulo Union of Visual Artists
1951 - São Paulo SP - 1st São Paulo International Biennial at the Trianon Pavilion - acquisition award by MoMA
1952 - Santiago (Chile) - Brazilian Painting, Drawing and Printmaking Exhibition
1952 - São José do Rio Preto SP - Contemporary Art Exhibition for the Centennial of São José do Rio Preto
1952 - Venice (Italy) - 26th Venice Biennale
1953 - Salvador BA - 3rd Bahia Fine Arts Salon
1953 - São Paulo SP - 2nd São Paulo International Biennial at the States Pavilion
1953 - São Paulo SP - Extraordinary Congress of the International Association of Art Critics at MASP
1954 - Goiânia GO - Exhibition of the National Congress of Intellectuals
1954 - Havana (Cuba) - 2nd Hispano-American Biennale - acquisition award
1955 - Caracas (Venezuela) - International Painting Exhibition at Ateneo de Valencia
1955 - Milan (Italy) - International Exhibition Lissone
1955 - Neuchâtel (Switzerland) - International Art Exhibition
1955 - Pittsburgh (United States) - International Exhibition at Carnegie Institute
1955 - Salvador BA - 5th Bahia Fine Arts Salon
1955 - São Paulo SP - 3rd São Paulo International Biennial at the Nations Pavilion
1955 - São Paulo SP - 4th São Paulo Modern Art Salon at Galeria Prestes Maia - small silver medal
1956 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Railway Salon
1956 - Salvador BA - 6th Bahia Fine Arts Salon
1956 - São Paulo SP - 5th São Paulo Modern Art Salon at Galeria Prestes Maia - large silver medal
1956 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Landscape from 1900 to the Present at Palácio dos Estados
1957 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Modern Art of Brazil
1957 - Rosario (Argentina) - Modern Art of Brazil
1957 - Santiago (Chile) - Modern Art of Brazil
1957 - Lima (Peru) - Modern Art of Brazil
1957 - São Paulo SP - 12 São Paulo Artists at Galeria de Arte das Folhas
1957 - São Paulo SP - 6th São Paulo Modern Art Salon at Galeria Prestes Maia - acquisition award
1958 - São Paulo SP - 7th São Paulo Modern Art Salon at Galeria Prestes Maia - acquisition award
1958 - São Paulo SP - Leirner Contemporary Art Prize at Galeria de Arte das Folhas
1959 - São Paulo SP - 8th São Paulo Modern Art Salon at Galeria Prestes Maia - acquisition award
1959 - São Paulo SP - Group Exhibition at MASP
1960 - São Paulo SP - Leirner Collection at Galeria de Arte das Folhas
1961 - São Paulo SP - 6th São Paulo International Biennial at Ciccillo Matarazzo Sobrinho Pavilion - jury exemption
1962 - São Paulo SP - Selection of Brazilian Artworks from the Ernesto Wolf Collection at MAM
1963 - Campinas SP - Contemporary Painting and Sculpture at Centro de Ciências, Letras e Artes
1963 - Campinas SP - Contemporary Painting and Sculpture at Museu Carlos Gomes
1963 - São Paulo SP - 7th São Paulo International Biennial at Fundação Bienal
1965 - São Paulo SP - 8th São Paulo International Biennial at Fundação Bienal
1966 - Moscow (Soviet Union) - Group Exhibition
1966 - Paris (France) - Group Exhibition
1966 - Salvador BA - 1st National Biennial of Visual Arts
1966 - Venice (Italy) - 33rd Venice Biennale - special room
1967 - São Paulo SP - 9th São Paulo International Biennial at Fundação Bienal
1969 - São Paulo SP - 1st Panorama of Contemporary Brazilian Art at MAM/SP
1970 - São Paulo SP - Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo 1970 at Pinacoteca do Estado
1972 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Group Exhibition of the Museu de Arte Sacra de São Paulo at Museo Municipal de Arte Hispano-Americano Issac Fernandez Blanco
1972 - São Paulo SP - Arte/Brasil/Hoje: 50 Years Later at Galeria da Collectio
1972 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Themes at Paço das Artes
1973 - Penápolis SP - Group Exhibition at Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1973 - São Paulo SP - 5th Panorama of Contemporary Brazilian Art at MAM/SP - invited artist
1973 - Piracicaba SP - 6th Official Salon of Contemporary Art
1974 - São José do Rio Preto SP - Group Exhibition at Casa Grande Galeria de Arte
1974 - São Paulo SP - Festival of Colors at MASP
1975 - Penápolis SP - 1st Northwest Salon of Visual Arts at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1975 - São Paulo SP - Festival of Colors at MASP
1976 - Penápolis SP - 2nd Northwest Salon of Visual Arts at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1976 - São Paulo SP - 8th Panorama of Contemporary Brazilian Art at MAM/SP
1976 - São Paulo SP - Carvers and Imaginaries at Paço das Artes
1976 - Washington D.C. (United States) - Popular Painters and Sculptors of Brazil
1977 - São Paulo SP - Brazil-Art 1922/77 at Galeria de Arte Portal
1978 - Penápolis SP - 3rd Northwest Salon of Visual Arts at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1978 - São Paulo SP - Constructivists and Figuratives from Theon Spanudis Collection at Centro de Arte Porto Seguro
1979 - São Paulo SP - 11th Panorama of Contemporary Brazilian Art at MAM/SP
1979 - São Paulo SP - Theon Spanudis Collection at MAC/USP
1980 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Ochenta Años de Arte Brasileño at Banco Itaú
1980 - Santiago (Chile) - 20 Brazilian Painters at Academia Chilena de Bellas Artes
1980 - São Paulo SP - Transcendent Art at MAM/SP
1980 - São Paulo SP - People of the Land at Paço das Artes
1980 - São Paulo SP - Pinacoteca do Estado at Sesc, Galeria Sesc/Carmo
1981 - São Paulo SP - Transcendent Art at MAM/SP
1982 - Bauru SP - 80 Years of Brazilian Art
1982 - Marília SP - 80 Years of Brazilian Art
1982 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Universe of Football at MAM/RJ
1982 - São Paulo SP - 80 Years of Brazilian Art at MAB
1982 - São Paulo SP - 80 Years of Brazilian Art at MAM/SP
1982 - São Paulo SP - From Modernism to the Biennial at MAM/SP
1983 - Belo Horizonte MG - 80 Years of Brazilian Art at Fundação Clóvis Salgado, Palácio das Artes
1983 - Campinas SP - 80 Years of Brazilian Art at MACC
1983 - Curitiba PR - 80 Years of Brazilian Art at MAC/PR
1983 - Ribeirão Preto SP - 80 Years of Brazilian Art
1983 - Santo André SP - 80 Years of Brazilian Art at Prefeitura Municipal de Santo André
1984 - Mexico City (Mexico) - Mexico Biennale - invited artist
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradition and Rupture: Synthesis of Brazilian Art and Culture at Fundação Bienal
1984 - Tokyo (Japan) - Japan Biennale - invited artist
1985 - Penápolis SP - 6th Northwest Salon of Visual Arts at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Festival of Colors at Rio Design Center
1986 - São Paulo SP - Landscape in the MAM Collection at MAM/SP
1987 - São Paulo SP - 19th São Paulo International Biennial at Fundação Bienal
1987 - São Paulo SP - 20th Contemporary Art Exhibition at Chapel Art Show
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Fascinating World of Naïfs at Paço Imperial
1988 - São Paulo SP - MAC 25 Years: Highlights from the Initial Collection at MAC/USP
1989 - São Paulo SP - 20th São Paulo International Biennial at Fundação Bienal
1989 - São Paulo SP - As Mesas at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1990 - Atami (Japan) - 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition
1990 - Brasília DF - 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition
1990 - Brasília DF - Brasília Visual Arts Award at MAB/DF
1990 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition
1990 - São Paulo SP - 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition at Fundação Brasil-Japão
1990 - Sapporo (Japan) - 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition
1990 - Tokyo (Japan) - 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition
1992 - Poços de Caldas MG - Brazilian Modern Art: Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo at Casa da Cultura de Poços de Caldas
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Nature: Four Centuries of Art in Brazil at CCBB
1992 - São Paulo SP - Group Exhibition at Galeria Jacques Ardies
1993 - São Paulo SP - Major Exhibition of Brazilian Naïve Art at Galeria Jacques Ardies
1994 - Poços de Caldas MG - Unibanco Collection: Commemorative Exhibition for Unibanco’s 70th Anniversary at Casa da Cultura de Poços de Caldas
1994 - São Paulo SP - Major Exhibition of Brazilian Naïve Art at Galeria Jacques Ardies
1995 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Unibanco Collection: Commemorative Exhibition for Unibanco’s 70th Anniversary at MAM/RJ
1995 - São Paulo SP - Major Exhibition of Naïve Art at Galeria Jacques Ardies
1995 - São Paulo SP - Primavera at Rosa Gallery
1996 - Osasco SP - Expo FIEO: Luiz Ernesto Kawall Donation at Centro Universitário FIEO
1996 - São Paulo SP - Figure and Landscape in the MAM Collection: Tribute to Volpi at MAM/SP
Posthumous Exhibitions
1997 - São José do Rio Preto SP - Feliz Aniversilva, at the Museum of Primitive Art and Rio Preto Shopping
1997 - São Paulo SP - Anthropophagic Appropriations, at Itaú Cultural
1997 - São Paulo SP - Naïf Art Exhibition, at Galeria Jacques Ardies
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Art in the MAM/SP Collection – Recent Donations, at CCBB
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Art in the Collection of the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art: Recent Donations 1996–1998, at CCBB
1998 - São Paulo SP - The Art of Exhibiting Art, at MAM/SP
1998 - São Paulo SP - The Collector, at MAM/SP
1999 - Brasília DF - Naïve Geniuses 70/80, at Galeria Itaú Cultural
2000 - São Paulo SP - Naïf Art, at Galeria Jacques Ardies
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brazil + 500: Rediscovery Exhibition. Popular Art, at Fundação Bienal
2000 - São Paulo SP - Naïf Art Exhibition, at Galeria Jacques Ardies
2001 - Brasília DF - Form and Color as Light in Naïfs, at Itaugaleria
2001 - Penápolis SP - Form and Color as Light in Naïfs, at Galeria Itaú Cultural
2001 - São Paulo SP - Naïf Art, at Galeria Jacques Ardies
2001 - São Paulo SP - José Antonio da Silva, at Ricardo Camargo Galeria
2002 - Piracicaba SP - 6th Naïfs of Brazil Biennial, at Sesc Piracicaba
2002 - São Paulo SP - Naïf Art, at Galeria Jacques Ardies
2002 - São Paulo SP - Wild Mirror: Modern Art in Brazil in the First Half of the 20th Century, Nemirovsky Collection, at MAM/SP
2002 - São Paulo SP - Modernism: From the Week of 22 to Sérgio Milliet’s Art Section, at CCSP
2002 - São Paulo SP - Pop Brazil: Popular Art and the Popular in Art, at CCBB
2002 - São Paulo SP - Holy Ingenuity, at Unifieo
2003 - São Paulo SP - José Antônio da Silva, at Galeria Jacques Ardies
2004 - São Paulo SP - Naïf Art, at Galeria Jacques Ardies
2008 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Brazil, at CCBB
2009 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Brazil, at CCBB
2009 - São Paulo SP - Born Wrong and I’m Right, at Galeria Estação
2009 - São Paulo SP - José Antônio da Silva – Tribute to the Centenary of His Birth, at Pinacoteca of the Associação Paulista de Medicina
Source: Itaú Cultural
