Luiz Ventura (São Paulo SP 1930)
Painter, printmaker, draftsman, muralist, set designer, illustrator, decorator, art director and fiction writer.
In the 1940s, Luiz Enjolras Ventura made his first woodcuts; from then on, he held several solo exhibitions and took part in group shows in Brazil and abroad. He worked as a set design assistant to Bassano Vaccarini (1914 - 2002) at the Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia (TBC). Between 1949 and 1951, he traveled around Europe and lived for two years in Paris, where he attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. He was an assistant to Clóvis Graciano (1907 - 1988), Di Cavalcanti (1897 - 1976) and Cândido Portinari (1903 - 1962) in the execution of panels and murals. He was one of the founders of the Clube de Gravura de São Paulo [São Paulo Printmaking Club] in 1953. For part of the 1960s and 1970s, he lived in Europe and China, where he worked as a Portuguese teacher at the Institute of Foreign Languages in Beijing and studied the Eastern woodcut technique. A few years later, he taught this same technique at the Catholic University of Santiago, Chile. He wrote the Manual de Grabado en Madera - Técnicas Occidental y Oriental [Woodcut Manual - Western and Eastern Techniques], published in Honduras. In 1980, he founded the Centro de Arte de Barra de Guaratiba [Barra de Guaratiba Art Center] in Rio de Janeiro.
Collections
Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo Collection (SP)
Critiques
"Salons and Biennials never meant much to Ventura, devoted, as one can see, to the craft of painting. A painting of high quality, from which a certain flavor of nostalgia is not absent. He himself, absorbed by the theme of the simple environment of the interior, as well as of the Rio coast, is aware that we need to recognize our pictorial sources. Hence, perhaps, the admiration that seems to emerge, crystallized, in many of these works, for the painting of a Segall, for the Di of the 1920s, a certain Tarsila atmosphere, at times Ismael Nery or even Cícero Dias of that decade".
Aracy Amaral
AMARAL, Aracy. In: VENTURA, Luiz. Luiz Ventura: o pintor da gente. São Paulo: Tema Arte Contemporânea, 1987, s. il. [Texto escrito originalmente em 1982].
"(...) Luiz's preference is for the familiar forms of people and their surroundings. Let us admit that this artist's production has an explicit content of social criticism. To channel his visual/political discourse, he makes a painting with the tones and ranges absorbed from the used, popularized, anonymous, mass chromatism of society. He does not appreciate cult or cool painting. There are areas in which the colors of his pictures are sweet, like the coloring of cotton candy and the colored sweets sold at stalls on the outskirts. It became widespread among the 'artistic elite' that painting should be minimal, dealing with minimal subjects and minimal colors. Luiz, however, observes the life around him and transplants it to the picture. The languid, warm colors and the figures of all kinds of people gallantly occupy his compositions".
Radha Abramo
ABRAMO, Radha. In: VENTURA, Luiz. A Ventura em ser Brasil. São Paulo: Paço das Artes, 1993. folha dobrada, 3 il. color.
Solo Exhibitions
1952 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the headquarters of the Associação Brasileira de Escritores - ABDE
1953 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at the headquarters of the Revista Fundamentos
1964 - Beijing (China) - Solo, at Hotel da Amizade
1975 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Ventura: 20 anos depois [Ventura: 20 Years Later], at Galeria Graffite
1975 - São Paulo SP - Ventura: 20 anos depois [Ventura: 20 Years Later], at Gabinete de Artes Gráficas
1978 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, organized by Márcio Osório and Mônica Silveira
1982 - São Paulo SP - Pinturas de Luiz Ventura [Paintings by Luiz Ventura], at Marques Galeria
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Quadros de uma exposição [Pictures at an Exhibition], at Galeria Toulouse
1985 - São Paulo SP - Ventura, at Galeria Seta
1986 - Campinas SP - Pinturas de Ventura [Paintings by Ventura], at Galeria Croquis
1987 - São Paulo SP - Gente Brasileira [Brazilian People], at Galeria Tema Arte Contemporânea
1991 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - As duas faces de uma mesma moeda [Two Sides of the Same Coin], at Sindicato dos Arquitetos do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
1991 - São Paulo SP - As duas faces de uma mesma moeda [Two Sides of the Same Coin], at Saguão do Conjunto Nacional celebrating the Centenary of Avenida Paulista
1993 - São Paulo SP - A Ventura em Ser Brasil [The Fortune of Being Brazil], at Paço das Artes
1998 - Paris (France) - 500 Anos do Brasil 2000 [500 Years of Brazil 2000], at Unesco - Salle Miró
2000 - Campinas SP - A Carta [The Letter], at Centro de Convivência Cultural da Cidade
2001 - Jundiaí SP - Viva o Povo Brasileiro [Long Live the Brazilian People], at Complexo Cultural e Educacional Argos
2001 - Ribeirão Preto SP - O Recado [The Message], at Museu de Arte de Ribeirão Preto
2002 - São Roque SP - O realismo caboclo de Luiz Ventura [The Caboclo Realism of Luiz Ventura], at Centro Cultural Brasital
Group Exhibitions
1946 - São Paulo SP - Mostra dos alunos do Colégio São Paulo [Colégio São Paulo Students' Exhibition] - first prize
1946 - São Paulo SP - Salão de Artes Plásticas do Colégio São Paulo [Colégio São Paulo Visual Arts Salon]
1949 - Santos SP - Exposição de Artistas Modernos [Exhibition of Modern Artists], at the rooms of the Associação de Cultura Franco-Brasileira
1949 - São Paulo SP - Group shows and debates at the Clube dos Artistas e Amigos da Arte, Galeria Itapetininga and Instituto dos Arquitetos de São Paulo
1953 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão Nacional de Arte Moderna [National Salon of Modern Art] - acquisition prize
1954 - Goiânia GO - Exposição do Congresso Nacional de Intelectuais [Exhibition of the National Congress of Intellectuals]
1954 - Ribeirão Preto SP - Primeira Mostra de Arte Moderna [First Modern Art Exhibition]
1954 - São Paulo SP - 1º Salão Paulista de Jovens Artistas Plásticos [1st São Paulo Salon of Young Visual Artists] - first prize
1954 - São Paulo SP - 3º Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna [3rd São Paulo Salon of Modern Art], at Galeria Prestes Maia - acquisition prize
1969 - Santiago (Chile) - Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas do Chile [Chile National Visual Arts Salon]
1980 - Cologne (Germany) - Mostra, Coleção de Arte Brasileira [Exhibition, Brazilian Art Collection]
1980 - Hannover (Germany) - Mostra, Coleção de Arte Brasileira [Exhibition, Brazilian Art Collection]
1980 - Düsseldorf (Germany) - Mostra, Coleção de Arte Brasileira [Exhibition, Brazilian Art Collection]
1986 - Asunción (Paraguay) - O futebol visto por 22 Pintores Contemporâneos Brasileiros [Football as Seen by 22 Contemporary Brazilian Painters], organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1986 - Bogotá (Colombia) - O futebol visto por 22 Pintores Contemporâneos Brasileiros [Football as Seen by 22 Contemporary Brazilian Painters], organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1986 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - O futebol visto por 22 Pintores Contemporâneos Brasileiros [Football as Seen by 22 Contemporary Brazilian Painters], organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1986 - Caracas (Venezuela) - O futebol visto por 22 Pintores Contemporâneos Brasileiros [Football as Seen by 22 Contemporary Brazilian Painters], organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1986 - Mexico City (Mexico) - O futebol visto por 22 Pintores Contemporâneos Brasileiros [Football as Seen by 22 Contemporary Brazilian Painters], organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1986 - Lima (Peru) - O futebol visto por 22 Pintores Contemporâneos Brasileiros [Football as Seen by 22 Contemporary Brazilian Painters], organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1986 - Montevideo (Uruguay) - O futebol visto por 22 Pintores Contemporâneos Brasileiros [Football as Seen by 22 Contemporary Brazilian Painters], organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1986 - Quito (Ecuador) - O futebol visto por 22 Pintores Contemporâneos Brasileiros [Football as Seen by 22 Contemporary Brazilian Painters], organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1986 - Santiago (Chile) - O futebol visto por 22 Pintores Contemporâneos Brasileiros [Football as Seen by 22 Contemporary Brazilian Painters], organized by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1986 - São Paulo SP - 3 gravadores Paulistas [3 São Paulo Printmakers], at CCSP
1993 - São Paulo SP - A Aventura em Ser Brasil [The Adventure of Being Brazil], at Paço das Artes
1996 - São Paulo SP - Mostra do Acervo [Collection Exhibition], at Sudameris Galleria
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Mail Art: Brasil 500 anos [Mail Art: Brazil 500 Years], at Centro Cultural Laurinda Santos Lobo
1999 - São Paulo SP - Modernistas e Contemporâneos: obras do acervo dos Palácios do Governo do Estado de São Paulo [Modernists and Contemporaries: Works from the Collection of the São Paulo State Government Palaces], at Museu Brasileiro da Escultura Marilisa Rathsam
1999 - São Paulo SP - Primeira Exposição Virtual - Arte em Painéis Eletrônicos [First Virtual Exhibition - Art on Electronic Panels]
2000 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Mail Art: Brasil 500 anos [Mail Art: Brazil 500 Years], at MNBA
2003 - São Paulo SP - Israel e Palestina: dois estados para dois povos [Israel and Palestine: Two States for Two Peoples], at Sesc Pompeia
Source: Itaú Cultural
