José Maria de Medeiros (Ilha do Faial, Açores 1849 - Rio de Janeiro RJ 1925)
Painter, draftsman and teacher.
He arrives in Brazil around 1865 and enrolls at the Liceu de Artes e Ofícios do Rio de Janeiro. In 1868, he enters the Academia Imperial de Belas Artes (Aiba), where he studies with Victor Meirelles (1832-1903) and Antônio de Souza Lobo (1840-1909), among others. His fellow students include Almeida Júnior (1850-1899), Firmino Monteiro (1855-1888), Estevão Silva (c. 1844-1891), Henrique Bernardelli (1858-1936), Pedro Peres (1850-1923) and Augusto Rodrigues Duarte (1848-1888). He wins the silver medal at the 1871 Exposição Geral de Belas Artes and the large gold medal at the 1876 exhibition with the painting Retrato de Senhora [Portrait of a Lady]. In 1878, he becomes professor of figure drawing at Aiba through a competitive examination. From 1882, when he becomes a naturalized Brazilian, he holds a full professorship. At the 1884 exhibition, he shows the paintings Morte de Sócrates [Death of Socrates] and Iracema, for which he is made an Officer of the Order of the Rose. His students include Eliseu Visconti (1866-1944), Baptista da Costa (1865-1926), Belmiro de Almeida (1858-1935) and Oscar Pereira da Silva (1867-1939), among others. In 1891, he leaves Aiba and begins teaching in public secondary education and, in 1897, at the Instituto Profissional João Alfredo. He holds two solo exhibitions, in 1897 and 1899, at the Galeria Rezende, in Rio de Janeiro. In 1948, his work is included in the Retrospectiva da Pintura no Brasil [Retrospective of Painting in Brazil] at the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes (MNBA), in Rio de Janeiro.
Critical Commentary
José Maria de Medeiros is an Azorean trained in Brazil, at the Academia Imperial de Belas Artes (Aiba). After moving to Rio de Janeiro, he never leaves the country again: he does not make the famous trip to Europe, unlike most painters of the time, including his teacher Victor Meirelles (1832-1903). For this reason, he is representative of the results of academic training in Brazil and of how Neoclassicism took on Romantic contours here.
Two paintings shown at the 1884 Exhibition, both now in the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes (MNBA), are emblematic of this path from Neoclassicism to Romanticism. A Morte de Sócrates [The Death of Socrates] depicts a quintessentially Neoclassical theme, praising the virtues of antiquity. In the composition, the painter follows academic precepts in representing the passions: a figure on the left turns away and hides his face so as not to see the philosopher's death; on the right, another bends over and hides his face in his hands, another crosses his arms, showing a mixture of worry and sadness. In the center, illuminated, the sage speaks with measured gestures, displaying serenity.
Iracema, by contrast, is explicitly Romantic, starting with its subject. The heroine of José de Alencar's novel stands on the left of the composition, beside an arrow stuck in the sand that pierces a land crab and a passion-fruit branch and divides the canvas in two. On the left, a nearby beach edged with forest. On the right, a distant beach, the sea and the horizon line. The drawing and composition are more accomplished here. The colors are lighter and more exuberant, in keeping with Brazilian nature and the Romantic passions the subject demands. The painting earned the artist a distinction but was criticized by some contemporary commentators, such as Gonzaga-Duque.
José Maria de Medeiros cultivates history painting, portraiture and genre painting. However, even those who admire him, such as Laudelino Freire and Quirino Campofiorito (1902-1993), consider him not a great painter but an artist who was "modest, timid, honest and of merit."
Notes
1 CAMPOFIORITO, Quirino. História da pintura brasileira no século XIX: a proteção do Imperador e os pintores no Segundo Reinado 1850 - 1890, vol. 4. Rio de Janeiro: Pinakotheke, 1983, p. 25;
2 ZANINI, Walter (Coord.). História Geral da Arte no Brasil. V - I. São Paulo: Instituto Moreira Salles: Fundação Djalma Guimarães, 1983, p. 420 e seg.
3 ZANINI, Op. cit., p. 403, sobre as aulas de anatomia e fisiologia das paixões.
4 GONZAGA-DUQUE, A arte brasileira. Introdução e notas Tadeu Chiarelli. Campinas: Mercado de Letras, 1995, p. 205.
5 CAMPOFIORITO, Quirino, Op. cit., p. 24-25.
6 FREIRE, Laudelino. Um século de pintura: 1816 - 1916. Rio de Janeiro: Fontana, 1983, p. 151.
Critiques
"He cultivated above all genre painting, portraiture and history painting, and was regarded by the critics of his time as a modest, timid, honest artist of merit. Among his qualities, he stands out as a colorist endowed with great delicacy, alongside the firmness of his drawing."
Laudelino Freire
FREIRE, Laudelino. Um século de pintura: apontamentos para a história da pintura no Brasil: de 1816-1916. Rio de Janeiro: Fontana, 1983.
Collections
Museu da Escola de Belas Artes Dom João VI - Rio de Janeiro RJ
Museu Nacional de Belas Artes - MNBA - Rio de Janeiro RJ
Solo Exhibitions
1897 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Rezende
1899 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Rezende
Group Exhibitions
1871 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Exhibition, at Aiba - silver medal
1875 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 23rd General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Aiba
1876 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 24th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Aiba - 1st gold medal
1878 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Exhibition, at Liceu de Artes e Ofícios
1879 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 25th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Aiba
1884 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 26th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Aiba
1890 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1924 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 31st General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
Posthumous Exhibitions
1925 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 32nd General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba
1948 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Mostra Retrospectiva da Pintura no Brasil [Retrospective Show of Painting in Brazil], organized by MNBA
1981 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Universo do Carnaval: imagens e reflexões [The Universe of Carnival: Images and Reflections], at Acervo Galeria de Arte
1986 - São Paulo SP - Dezenovevinte: uma virada no século [Dezenovevinte: A Turn of the Century], at Pinacoteca do Estado
1994 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Iconografia da Paisagem [Iconography of the Landscape]
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - O Brasil Redescoberto [Brazil Rediscovered], at Paço Imperial
2002 - São Paulo SP - Imagem e Identidade: um olhar sobre a história na coleção do Museu de Belas Artes [Image and Identity: A Look at History in the Collection of the Museu de Belas Artes], at Instituto Cultural Banco Santos
Source: Itaú Cultural
