Lothar Charoux (Viena, Austria 1912 - São Paulo SP 1987)
Lothar Charoux was a painter, draftsman and teacher. He began his artistic studies with his uncle, the Austrian sculptor Siegfried Charoux. He arrived in Brazil in 1928 and took up residence in São Paulo. In the 1930s, he enrolled in the Liceu de Artes e Ofícios de São Paulo (LAOSP), where he met Waldemar da Costa (1904–1982), with whom he began to study painting from 1940 onwards. He painted landscapes and portraits. Subsequently, he began to teach drawing at the Lyceum of Arts and Crafts and at Senai. In 1947, he held his first solo exhibition at Galeria Itapetininga. From 1948 onwards, constructive questions were turned. In 1952, he participated in the founding of Grupo Rupina, alongside Waldemar Cordeiro (1925–1973), Geraldo de Barros (1923–1998), Anatol Wladyslaw (1913–2004) and Others.
In 1963, he founded, with Hermelindo Fiaminghi (1920–2004) and Luiz Sacilotto (1924–2003), the Association of Visual Arts NT – New Trends. He was honored with a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo (MAM/SP) and at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro (MAM/RJ), in 1974. In 2005, the book Lothar Charoux: A Poética da Linha was published. Art historian Maria Alice Milliet.
Critical Comment
The work of Lothar Charoux, in the 1940s, is quite diverse. The artist performs landscapes, in which he presents formal proximity with the painting by Waldemar da Costa (1904 - 1982) and the Santa Helena group, and portraits of an expressionist character.
From 1948, Charoux turns to constructive issues. For art historian Ana Maria Belluzzo, the artist often works with a previous plot, which organizes the visual field of the paintings. In the 1950s, he carried out the series of black drawings, in which he explores the graphic opposition of the white line in relation to a black surface, promoting its luminous value. In other works, it seeks to provide a tension between figure and background, through hollow geometric shapes, which cut the plane in different directions. by the concrete movement in those years. In his work, the artist with creativity and skill explores the issues of line, movement and balance, as well as optical vibrations and the most varied combinatorial games. of the group 'Visual research', however, does not imitate the organic and inorganic generalities of nature, however, it does not intend to synthesize in its lines and textures plant, animal or mineral schemes. palimpses and canonical or dynastic codices. There are no biblical or historical episodes in its collection. Another geometer lost in the availability of continuous and harmonious proportions would be said. be, they do not aim at the industrial design solutions of, for example, Mavignier. Fall in the inapplicable metamorphoses of a kaleidoscope whose eventual and always changeable figures fascinate exactly by the constant of trigonometric truth in all that is a desperate tendency to escape to pre-establishment. It is thus attached to that art by Luca Pacioli, Jacopo de Barbari and Vignola, an art that had something of the magic and rhythms of the golden number as a preview of rites and liturgies".
José Geraldo Vieira
Charoux, Lothar. Lothar Charoux: Retrospective São Paulo: MAM, 1974. p.20 [Text originally published in the newspaper Folha de S, Paulo, 28 Feb. 1965].
"Lothar Charoux has remained absolutely faithful to the formal issues launched in its concrete period, in the 1950s. Since that time it has been creating virtual spaces, in which the form is completed, gestally, in the eye of the spectator. It uses lines that are organized symmetrically, and on vertical supports organizes the visual rhythm created by the relationship between the different linear densities and the unique color that serves as a background. Then, the purely optical and musical character gives way to a more architectural organization of space, the line gives way to color".
Frederico Morais
DaCollection: The Paths of Brazilian Art. São Paulo: Júlio Bogoricin, 1986.
"The Charoux drawing is a fiery research of precision and objectivity. Its geometry is almost scholastic, little deviating from the problems that are found in the manuals of the discipline. We do not mean by this that it is about elementary problems of juniorhood geometry. No science is more modern, more necessary to the spirit of contemporary man than it. Without his study, what is fundamental in our time on the plastic plane, would either go unnoticed or misunderstood: how to understand the mechanism and more than the mechanism, the internal secret of this vast field of new forms that the sciences, modern technique have brought and bring every day, to everyday use, that is, to the knowledge of our senses and of our imagination? Charoux is a modest and conscientious intermediary between this vast field of new, unprecedented or unusual ways, as if explained and coded by geometry, and we, the laymen, the careless passersby, their distracted or unconscious consumers. All these gestalts, or new ideas, or at least characteristic of our time, are indispensable to their living, therefore, to their sensory organization, and in the end to their sensitivity. Its black-and-white design, of delicate modulation, awarded in São Paulo, is based on a new figure in geometry, although old in engineering, the turbine, or according to the definition of the books, an infinite number of uncertain elements with continuity. The elements are associated in the sense of giving a certain direction. In the turbine, the element points are distributed in a perfect circle, with the inclination of the traces or fillets varying along the circumference, but in order to always keep the same angle. The alvinegra modulation that enchanted us in the drawing of Charoux was given by this successive inclination, within the same angle and space".
Mário Pedrosa
Pedrosa, Mário. Academics and Moderns: Chosen Texts III. São Paulo: EDUSP, 1998. pp.257-259.
Individual exhibitions
1947 - São Paulo SP - first solo, at the gallery Itapetininga
1950 - Salvador BA - Individual, at Galeria Anjo Azul
1957 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at Petite Galerie
1958 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the Portuguese Gymnasium
1962 - Campinas SP - Individual, at the Aremar Gallery
1965 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria NT New Trends
1970 - Belo Horizonte MG - Individual, at AMI Galeria de Arte
1971 - Campinas SP - Individual, at the Girassol Gallery
1971 - Santos SP - Individual, at CCBEU
1971 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Alberto Bonfiglioli Gallery
1972 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Galeria Astreia
1973 - Assunção (Paraguay) - Individual, at the Brazilian Cultural Mission Gallery  
1973 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the Grupo B
Galeria 1974 - São Paulo SP - Retrospective, at MAM/SP
1976 - Brasília DF - Individual, at the Cultural Foundation of the Federal District
1976 - Goiânia (Goiás) - Individual, at Galeria P. D. Araújo
1976 - Milan (Italy) - Individual, in the Italian-Brazilian Center
1978 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Global Art Gallery
1978 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at MAM 
1979 - Montevideo (Uruguay) - Individual, at Galería Karlen Gugelmeier
1979 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Alberto Bonfiglioli
Collective exhibitions
1942 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 48th National Salon of Fine Arts - Modern Division, at MNBA
1942 - São Paulo SP - 7th Salon of the Plastic Artists Union, at the Prestes Maia Gallery
1944 - São Paulo SP - 9th Hall of the Plastic Artists Union, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1946 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 6 brand new, at IAB/RJ
1946 - Santiago (Chile) - Exposicion of contemporary painting Brasileña, at Universidad de Santiago de Chile
1946 - Valparaíso (Chile) - Contemporary painting exhibition Brasileña
1947 - São Paulo SP - 19 Painters, at the Prestes Maia Gallery
1947 - São Paulo SP - Bonadei, Di Cavalcanti, Noêmia Mourão, Lothar Charoux, Oswald de Andrade Filho, Lúcia Suané, Cesar Lacanna, Mario Zanini and Raphael Galvez, at the Itapetininga Gallery
1949 - Salvador BA - 1st Baiano Salão de Belas Artes, at the Bahia Hotel - First Prize and Gold Medal
1950 - Salvador BA - 2nd Salão Baiano de Fine Arts, at Galeria Belvedere da Sé
1951 - Salvador BA - 3rd Baiano Salão de Belas Artes, at Galeria Belvedere da Sé
1951 - São Paulo SP - 1st International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Pavilion do Trianon
1952 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1952 - São Paulo SP - Grupo Rupla, at MAM/SP
1953 - São Paulo SP - 2nd São Paulo International Biennial, at the Pavilion of States
1954 - São Paulo SP - 3rd São Paulo Salão de Arte Moderna, at the Prestes Maia Gallery
1955 - São Paulo SP - 3rd International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Pavilion of Nations
1955 - São Paulo SP - 4th Salão Paulista de Arte Moderno, at the Prestes Maia Gallery - Acquisition Award
1956 - São Paulo SP - 1st National Exhibition of Concrete Art, at MAM/SP
1957 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st National Exhibition of Concrete Art, at MAM/RJ
1957 - São Paulo SP - 4th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Ciccilo Matarazzo Sobrinho Pavilion
1957 - São Paulo SP - 6th Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna, at the Prestes Maia Gallery - Small Silver Medal
1957 - Tokyo (Japan) - 4th Tokyo Biennial
1958 - São Paulo SP - 7th Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna, at the Prestes Maia Gallery
1958 - São Paulo SP - Clark, Weissmann and Charoux, at the Folha Art Gallery
1958 - São Paulo SP - Exhibition of Contemporary Art, at MAM/SP - 1st Prize/Drawing
1959 - Leverkusen (Germany) - First collective exhibition by Brazilian artists in Europe
1959 - Munich (Germany) - first Collective exhibition of Brazilian artists in Europe
1959 - São Paulo SP - 5th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Ciccilo Matarazzo Sobrinho Pavilion
1959 - Vienna (Austria) Brazilian artists in Europe
1960 - Hamburg (Germany) - first collective exhibition by Brazilian artists in Europe  
1960 - Lisbon (Portugal) - first collective exhibition by Brazilian artists in Europe
1960 - Madrid (Spain) - First collective exhibition of Brazilian artists in Europe
1960 - Paris (France) - First collective exhibition of Brazilian artists in Europe
1960 - São Paulo SP - 9th Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna, at Galeria Prestes Maia - Acquisition Award
1960 - Utrecht (Holland) - First collective exhibition of Brazilian artists in Europe
1961 - São Paulo SP - 10th São Paulo Art Salon Moderna, at the Prestes Maia Gallery - Acquisition Award
1961 - São Paulo SP - 6th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Ciccilo Matarazzo Sobrinho Pavilion
1962 - São Paulo SP - 11th São Paulo Art Salon Moderna, at the Prestes Maia Gallery - Big Silver Medal
1963 - Campinas SP - Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, at the Carlos Gomes Museum
1963 - São Paulo SP - 7th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Bienal Foundation
1963 - São Paulo SP - Gallery New Trends: Inaugural Collective, at the Visual Arts Association New Trends
1964 - São Paulo SP - 13th Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna - Gold Medal
1965 - Campinas SP - 1st Art Salon Contemporary - 1st Prize/Drawing
1965 - São Paulo SP - 8th International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Bienal Foundation
1966 - Campinas SP - Six researchers of visual art, at MacC
1966 - Salvador BA - 1st National Biennial of Fine Arts
1966 - São Paulo SP - 15th São Paulo Salão de Arte Moderna, at the Prestes Maia Gallery
1966 - São Paulo SP - Six researchers of visual art, at MAC/USP
1966 - São Paulo SP - Three premises, at MAB/FAAP
1967 - Brasília DF - 4th Salon of Modern Art of the Federal District, at the Cláudio Santoro National Theater  
1967 - São Paulo SP - 9th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1968 - Assunção (Paraguay) - Tres Aspects del Dibujo Contemporáneo Brasileño
1968 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - three aspects of the contemporáneo Brasileño
1968 - La Paz (Bolivia) - three aspects of contemporary Brasileño
1968 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 17th National Salon of Modern Art, at MAM/RJ - Jury Exemption
1968 - Santiago (Chile) - Three Aspects of Dibujo Contemporáneo Brasileño
1968 - Santos SP - 1st Salon of Modern Art of Santos - Acquisition Award for Best Working Set
1968 - São José dos Campos SP - Five Visual Art Researchers
1968 - São José dos Campos SP - Five Art Researchers visual
1968 - São José dos Campos SP - Six researchers of visual art
1968 - São Paulo SP - 17th Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna - Acquisition Award
1968 - São Paulo SP - 19 painters, NA Theme Gallery of Art
1969 - Belo Horizonte MG - 1st National Salon of Contemporary Art of Belo Horizonte, at the Pampulha Museum - Acquisition Award
1969 - Curitiba PR - 26th Salão Paranaense, at the Federation of Industries of Paraná - First Prize/Drawing
1969 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão da Bússola, at MAM/RJ
1969 - Santo André SP - 2nd Salão de Arte Contemporânea de Santo André, at the City Hall - Acquisition Award
1969 - São José dos Campos SP - 1st Contemporary Art Salon - First Prize
1969 - São Paulo SP - 1st Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1969 - São Paulo SP - 1st São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon, in the MASP
1970 - Campinas SP - 6th Contemporary Art Salon of Campinas, at MacC
1970 - Mogi das Cruzes SP - Mogi-Arte - 1st Prize
1970 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 19th National Salon of Modern Art, at MAM/RJ
1970 - Santo André SP - 3rd Salão de Arte Contemporânea de Santo André, at the Municipal Palace
1970 - São Bernardo do Campo SP - 13th Art Salon of São Bernardo do Campo
1970 - São Caetano do Sul SP - Contemporary Art Salon of São Caetano do Sul
1970 - São José dos Campos SP - 2nd Contemporary Arts Exhibition
1970 - São Paulo SP - 1st Salon of Contemporary Art
1970 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1970 - São Paulo SP - Art Fair 70
1971 - Piracicaba SP - 3rd Salon of Contemporary Art of Piracicaba
1971 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Eletrobrás Art Salon at MAM/RJ - Acquisition Award
1971 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 20th National Salon of Modern Art
1971 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 50 Years of Brazilian Modern Art, at MAM/RJ
1971 - Santos SP - 1st Biennial of Visual Arts - 1st Prize
1971 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Contemporary Art Salon
1971 - São Paulo SP - 3rd Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP - Award/Design
1971 - São Paulo SP - 3rd São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon, at the Prestes Gallery Maia
1972 - Florianópolis SC - 1st Salon of Plastic Arts of Santa Catarina Island
1972 - Jundiaí SP - 3rd Jundiaiense Art Meeting, at the Historical and Cultural Museum - Gold Medal
1972 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 21st National Salon of Modern Art, at MEC
1972 - São Paulo SP - 2nd International Engraving Exhibition, at MAM/SP
1972 - São Paulo SP - Art/Brazil/Today: 50 years later, Collectio Gallery
1972 - São Paulo SP - Sesquicentennial Art Exhibition of Independence and Plastic Brazil - 72, at the Biennial Foundation
1972 - São Paulo SP - Multiples Brazilians, at the Multiple Art Gallery
1972 - São Paulo SP - Retrospective Waldemar da Costa: Homage to the MAM/SP
1972 - São Paulo SP - Retrospective Waldemar da Costa: Homage to the Master, in the MAM/SP
1973 - Porto Alegre RS - 2nd Visual Arts Salon, at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Institute of Arts - Acquisition Award
1973 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 22nd National Salon of Modern Art
1973 - São Paulo SP - 12th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1974 - Campinas SP - 9th Campinas Contemporary Art Salon, at MACC
1974 - Santo André SP - 7th Art Salon Contemporary of Santo André, in the Civic Center, at Paço Imperial - Acquisition Award
1974 - São Paulo SP - 6th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1975 - Penápolis SP - 1st Salon of Visual Arts of the Northwest, at the Educational Foundation of Penápolis. Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Penápolis
1975 - São Paulo SP - 13th International Biennial of São Paulo, at Fundação Bienal
1976 - Penápolis SP - 2nd Salon of Plastic Arts of the Northwest, in the Penapolis Educational Foundation. Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Penápolis
1976 - São Paulo SP - The Young Drawing of the 40s, at the Pinacoteca do Estado
1977 - Maldonado (Uruguay) - 2nd International Biennial of Drawing
1977 - São Paulo SP - 9th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1977 - São Paulo SP - The groups: The 40's, at the Lasar Segall Museum
1977 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Constructive Project in Art: 1950-1962, at the Pinacoteca do Estado, at MAM/RJ
1978 - Penápolis SP - 3rd Salon of Plastic Arts of the Northwest, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis. Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Penápolis
1978 - São Paulo SP - 19 painters at MAM/SP Segall
1979 - São Paulo SP - 11th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1980 - Penápolis SP - 4th Salon of Plastic Arts of the Northwest, at the Educational Foundation of Penápolis. Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Penápolis
1980 - São Paulo SP - 12th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1981 - São Paulo SP - Contemporary Brazilian artists, at the São Paulo Art Office
1982 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Brazil 60 years of modern art: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, at the José de Azeredo Perdigão Modern Art Center
1982 - London (England) - Brazil 60 Years of Modern Art: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, at the Barbican Art Gallery  
1982 - Penápolis SP - 5th Northwest Plastic Arts Salon, at the Penápolis Educational Foundation. Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Penápolis
1982 - São Paulo SP - From Modernism to Bienal, at MAM/SP
1984 - São Paulo SP - The color and drawing of Brazil, at MAM/SP
1984 - São Paulo SP - Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection: Portrait and Self-Portrait of Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1984 - São Paulo SP - Collective, in the Arts Movement
1985 - Penápolis SP - 6th Northwest Plastic Arts Salon, at the Penápolis Arts Foundation
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Geometric Abstraction: Concretism and Neoconcretism, at the National Art Foundation. Arts Center
1987 - São Paulo SP - The plot of taste: another look at everyday life, at Fundação Bienal
Posthumous exhibitions
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st abstraction Geometric: Concretism and Neoconcretism, at Funarte
1987 - São Paulo SP  - 1st Geometric Abstraction: Concretism and Neoconcretism, at MAB/FAAP
1988 - São Paulo SP - 15 years of the Brazil-Japan Fine Arts Exhibition, at the Mokiti Okada Foundation
1991 - Santos SP - 3rd Santos National Biennial, at the Patrícia Galvão Culture Center
1991 - São Paulo SP - Constructivism: Art Poster 40/50/60, at MAC/USP
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1º On the way to Niterói: João Sattamini Collection, at the Imperial Palace
1992 - São Paulo SP - Sérgio's gaze on Brazilian art: drawings and paintings, at the Mário de Andrade Library
1992 - Zurich (Switzerland) - Brasilien: Entdeckung und Selbstendeckung, at Kunsthaus
1994 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Brasil Século 20th Century, at the Bienal Foundation
1996 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Constructive Trends in the MAC/USP Collection: Construction, Measurement and Proportion, at CCBB
1996 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian art: 50 years of history in the MAC/USP collection: 1920-1970, at MAC/USP
1996 - São Paulo SP - Desexp(l)os(ign)ição, at Casa das Rosas
1998 - Niterói RJ - Mirror of the Bienal, at MAC/Niterói
1998 - São Paulo SP - Constructive Art in Brazil: Adolpho Leirner Collection, at MAM/SP
1998 - São Paulo SP - The modern and the contemporary in Brazilian art: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection - MAM/RJ, at MASP
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The constructive art in Brazil: Adolpho Leirner collection, at MAM/RJ
1999 - São Paulo SP - 50's and its involvements, at Jo Slaviero Art Gallery
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brazil + 500 Rediscovery Exhibition. Modern Art, at Fundação Bienal
2000 - São Paulo SP - The role of art, in the SESI Art Gallery
2000 - Valencia (Spain) - from La Anthropophagia to Brasilía: Brazil 1920-1950, in Ivam. Centre Julio Gonzáles
2002 - Niterói RJ - Dialogue, antagonism and replication in the Sattamini Collection, at the Museum of Contemporary Art - MAC/Niterói
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Art In the Fadel collection: from the restlessness of the modern to the autonomy of language, at the CCBB
2002 - São Paulo SP - From Anthropophagia to Brasília: Brazil 1920-1950, at the Brazilian Art Museum - MAB/FAAP
2002 - São Paulo SP - Grupo Rupina: Revisiting the inaugural exhibition, at Centro Universitário Maria Antonia
2002 - São Paulo SP - Map of the Now: Recent Brazilian Art in the João Sattamini Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Niterói, at Instituto Tomie Ohtake
2003 - Brasília DF - Brazilian art in the Fadel collection: from the restlessness of the modern to the autonomy of language, in the CCBB
2003 - Mexico City (Mexico) - Cuasi Corpus: Art Concreto Y Neoconcreto of Brazil: Una Selection del Acervo del Museo de Arte Moderna de São Paulo and La Colección Adolpho Leirner, at the Museo Rufino Tamayo
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Order x Liberdade, At the Museum of Modern Art - MAM/RJ
2003 - São Paulo SP - Art and Society: a controversial relationship, at Itaú Cultural
2003 - São Paulo SP - MAC USP 40 years: Contemporary interfaces, at MAC/USP
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Transitive modernity, at Mac/Niterói
2004 - São Paulo SP - Constructive and Kinetic, at the Berenice Arvani Gallery
Source: Itaú Cultural
