Leopoldo Gotuzzo (Pelotas RS 1887 - Rio de Janeiro RJ 1983)
Painter and draftsman.
He began his artistic training in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, around 1900, with the Italian painter Frederico Trebbi (18-- - 1928?). He lived in Rome from 1909 to 1915, where he studied painting with Joseph Noël and visited the main Italian museums. He moved to Madrid in 1915, the year in which he first sent his works to the Salão Nacional de Belas Artes - SNBA [National Fine Arts Salon] in Rio de Janeiro. He returned to Brazil in 1919 and began exhibiting in Pelotas, Porto Alegre and Rio de Janeiro, where he settled the following year. As a participant in the SNBA, he was awarded a bronze medal in 1916, silver medals in 1917 and 1919, and a gold medal in 1922. Between 1927 and 1930, he traveled to Europe again, showing his works in Lisbon, Porto and Paris. He took part in several editions of the Salão Paulista de Belas Artes [São Paulo Fine Arts Salon], where he was awarded in 1938 and 1939. In 1949, Gotuzzo became patron of the Escola de Belas Artes de Pelotas and, in 1955, the institution created an art salon bearing his name. After his death in 1983, the Universidade Federal de Pelotas - UFPel received his collection of paintings and drawings, bequeathed in his will. In 1986, the Museu de Arte Leopoldo Gotuzzo - Malg was opened at the university.
Critical Commentary
After a stay in Europe, studying in Italy, Spain and France between 1909 and 1918, the painter Leopoldo Gotuzzo returned to Brazil in 1918 and exhibited portraits and genre paintings, such as Moça Vestida de Preto [Girl Dressed in Black] (n.d.). Critics highlight in his works the refined drawing and the subtle use of color and light, as in Retrato de Dora Gotuzzo [Portrait of Dora Gotuzzo] (n.d.), the artist's sister. Repouso [Rest] (1916), in turn, presents the female nude treated realistically, notable for the controlled use of the chromatic range, as can also be seen in Almofada Amarela [Yellow Cushion] (1923), a work in which the figure reveals great sensuality.
In paintings such as Paisagem do Centro do Rio de Janeiro, Vista de Santa Teresa [Landscape of Downtown Rio de Janeiro, View from Santa Teresa] (1936), the artist explores the contrast between the large buildings, then fewer in the city center, and the old houses. He shows great formal simplification, which can also be seen in Ponte de Marília, Ouro Preto [Marília Bridge, Ouro Preto] (1942). In Entrada do meu Jardim [Entrance to My Garden] (1954), one can observe the careful drawing that structures the composition and the use of broad, impasto brushstrokes.
Gotuzzo's drawings, mostly portraits, show quick and precise strokes, revealing moments of greater or lesser finish of the figures. Throughout his career, the artist remained apart from the innovations of art in Brazil, both modernism and tendencies linked to abstraction, remaining faithful to a more traditional conception of painting.
Critiques
"He is a painter whose work extends across all genres with homogeneity, balance and solidity, so that it is impossible to determine which is his specialty. (...) In addition to being a skillful painter, Leopoldo Gotuzzo is also an excellent draftsman, having achieved with his crayon portraits of young people and children a prominent place among the practitioners of this genre."
Lígia Martins Costa
CAVALCANTI, Carlos; AYALA, Walmir, org. Dicionário brasileiro de artistas plásticos. Apresentação de Maria Alice Barroso. Brasília: MEC/INL, 1973-1980. (Dicionários especializados, 5). pt. 2, p. 278.
Solo Exhibitions
1919 - Pelotas RS - Solo, at Salão da Biblioteca Pública
1935 - Pelotas RS - Solo, at Salão da Biblioteca Pública
Group Exhibitions
1911 - Turin (Italy) - Exposição Internacional de Turim [Turin International Exhibition]
1915 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 22ª Exposição Geral de Belas Artes [22nd General Fine Arts Exhibition], at Enba - honorable mention
1916 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 23ª Exposição Geral de Belas Artes [23rd General Fine Arts Exhibition], at Enba - bronze medal
1917 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 24ª Exposição Geral de Belas Artes [24th General Fine Arts Exhibition], at Enba - small silver medal
1919 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 26ª Exposição Geral de Belas Artes [26th General Fine Arts Exhibition], at Enba - large silver medal
1919 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Exposição Carioca de Gravura e Água-Forte [Rio de Janeiro Engraving and Etching Exhibition]
1922 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 29ª Exposição Geral de Belas Artes [29th General Fine Arts Exhibition], at Enba - large gold medal
1923 - Pelotas RS - Exhibition, at Biblioteca Pública
1923 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 30ª Exposição Geral de Belas Artes [30th General Fine Arts Exhibition], at Enba
1925 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 32ª Exposição Geral de Belas Artes [32nd General Fine Arts Exhibition], at Enba
1927/1930 - Porto, Lisbon (Portugal) and Paris (France) - Exhibition
1928 - Seville (Spain) - Exposição Ibero-Americana de Sevilha [Seville Ibero-American Exposition]
1931 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão Revolucionário [Revolutionary Salon], at Enba
1935 - Porto Alegre RS - Centenário Farroupilha [Farroupilha Centenary]
1936 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão Carioca da Feira de Amostras [Rio de Janeiro Trade Fair Salon] - landscape prize
1937 - São Paulo SP - 5º Salão Paulista de Belas Artes [5th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon]
1938 - São Paulo SP - Salão Paulista de Belas Artes [São Paulo Fine Arts Salon] - small silver medal
1939 - Porto Alegre RS - 1º Salão de Belas Artes [1st Fine Arts Salon] - State prize
1939 - São Paulo SP - 6º Salão Paulista de Belas Artes [6th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon] - large silver medal
1940 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão Nacional de Belas Artes [National Fine Arts Salon]
1940 - São Paulo SP - 7º Salão Paulista de Belas Artes [7th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon], at Salão de Arte Almeida Júnior da Prefeitura Municipal de São Paulo
1942 - São Paulo SP - 8º Salão Paulista de Belas Artes [8th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon], at Galeria Prestes Maia
1943 - Petrópolis RJ - 1º Salão de Petrópolis [1st Petrópolis Salon] - silver medal
1943 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão Fluminense de Belas Artes [Rio de Janeiro State Fine Arts Salon] - Antônio Parreiras Prize
1943 - São Paulo SP - 9º Salão Paulista de Belas Artes [9th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon], at Galeria Prestes Maia
1944 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1ª Exposição de Autorretratos [1st Self-Portrait Exhibition], at MNBA
1945 - São Paulo SP - 11º Salão Paulista de Belas Artes [11th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon], at Galeria Prestes Maia - small gold medal
1947 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão do Ministério da Educação [Ministry of Education Salon]
1948 - São Paulo SP - 14º Salão Paulista de Belas Artes [14th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon], at Galeria Prestes Maia
1949 - São Paulo SP - 3º Salão de Verão [3rd Summer Salon]
1950 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Um Século da Pintura Brasileira: 1850-1950 [A Century of Brazilian Painting: 1850-1950], at MNBA
1952 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão Municipal do Rio de Janeiro [Rio de Janeiro Municipal Salon] - Federal District Mayor's Prize
1952 - São Paulo SP - 17º Salão Paulista de Belas Artes [17th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon], at Salões do Trianon (Av. Paulista)
1954 - São Paulo SP - 19º Salão Paulista de Belas Artes [19th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon], at Galeria Prestes Maia - Legislative Assembly Prize
1961 - Porto Alegre RS - Arte Rio-Grandense do Passado ao Presente [Rio Grande do Sul Art from Past to Present], at Instituto de Belas Artes de Porto Alegre
1967 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão de Maio [May Salon], at Sociedade Brasileira de Artes - gold medal
1973 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão da Sociedade de Belas Artes [Fine Arts Society Salon] - Youth for Understanding medal
1973 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão de Maio [May Salon], at Sociedade Brasileira de Artes - large gold medal
1977 - Porto Alegre RS - Exhibition, at Galeria de Arte do Centro Comercial
1980 - São Paulo SP - A Paisagem Brasileira: 1650-1976 [The Brazilian Landscape: 1650-1976], at Paço das Artes
1983 - Porto Alegre RS - Do Passado ao Presente: as artes plásticas no Rio Grande do Sul [From Past to Present: The Visual Arts in Rio Grande do Sul], at Cambona Centro de Artes
Posthumous Exhibitions
1983 - Pelotas RS - Primeira retrospectiva do acervo de Gotuzzo [First Retrospective of the Gotuzzo Collection], at Universidade de Pelotas
1987 - Porto Alegre RS - Exposição Comemorativa do Centenário de nascimento do artista [Exhibition Commemorating the Centenary of the Artist's Birth], at Margs
1987 - Pelotas RS - Exposição Comemorativa do Centenário de nascimento do artista [Exhibition Commemorating the Centenary of the Artist's Birth], at Museu de Arte Leopoldo Gotuzzo
1997 - Porto Alegre RS - Exposição Paralela [Parallel Exhibition], at Galeria da Vera
1998 - Porto Alegre RS - Acervo: Instituto de Artes 90 Anos [Collection: Instituto de Artes 90 Years], at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Instituto de Artes
2001 - Porto Alegre RS - Solo, at Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul Ado Malagoli
Source: Itaú Cultural
