Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre (Rio Pardo RS 1806 - Lisbon, Portugal 1879)
Painter, caricaturist, architect, art critic and historian, teacher, writer.
In 1816, he moved to Porto Alegre, where he began studying painting and drawing with the French painter François Thér and the set designers Manoel José Gentil and João de Deus. In 1827, in Rio de Janeiro, he enrolled at the Academia Imperial de Belas Artes - Aiba [Imperial Academy of Fine Arts] and took classes with Debret (1768 - 1848) and Grandjean de Montigny (1776 - 1850). In 1831, he accompanied Debret on his return to Europe. In Paris, he attended the studio of Baron Antoine-Jean Gros (1771 - 1835) and the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. He traveled to Italy and in Rome studied with the archaeologist Antonio Nibby (1792 - 1839). In 1835, he traveled to England and Belgium with the poet Gonçalves de Magalhães (1811 - 1882), with whom he founded the magazine Niterói in 1836, one of the founding landmarks of the Romantic movement in Brazilian literature. In 1837, he made the first caricatures produced in the country and took the chair of history painting at Aiba, which he held until 1848. That year he requested a transfer to the Escola Militar [Military School], working as a drawing teacher. In 1840, he was appointed painter to the Imperial Chamber, being responsible for the decorations for the coronation of Emperor Dom Pedro II (1825 - 1891) and for his marriage to Teresa Cristina (1822 - 1889). He also carried out several architectural projects in Rio de Janeiro, notably the works at the Paço Imperial and the architectural plans for the former headquarters of the Banco do Brasil, the Medical School and the Customs building. He founded and directed the periodicals Minerva Brasiliense (1843), Lanterna Mágica (1844), the first illustrated magazine with caricatures, and Guanabara (1849). Considered the founder of Brazilian art history and criticism, he wrote several articles, such as Memória sobre a Antiga Escola Fluminense [Memoir on the Old Rio de Janeiro School], published in 1841. His literary works include the poetry books As Brasilianas [The Brazilians] (1863) and Colombo [Columbus] (1866). As director of Aiba, between 1854 and 1857, he promoted the expansion of the institution's built area, annexing the Music Conservatory and the Pinacotheca, and established a series of reforms in the academy's curriculum and teaching methods. In 1860, he began a diplomatic career abroad and, in 1874, Emperor Dom Pedro II granted him the title of Baron of Santo Ângelo.
Critical Commentary
Porto Alegre was one of the first pupils of the teachers of the French Artistic Mission. His painting output is small and had no great impact on the history of Brazilian art. Nevertheless, he played a fundamental role as a teacher and intellectual in mobilizing the visual arts of the 19th century. He was born Manuel José de Araújo in the small town of Rio Pardo, in the former province of Rio Grande do Sul. From a family of modest means, he was raised by his stepfather and moved to Porto Alegre as a child. At 16, he worked as a watchmaker's apprentice. In the workshop, he met his first drawing teacher: Francisco Ther. His employer, noticing Porto Alegre's talent for art, encouraged him to study painting. At the same time, he met the portraitist Manoel Gentil and the decorator João de Deus. Through contact with them, he learned to handle paints and brushes. Through João de Deus, he came to know the print Desembarque da Arquiduquesa Leopoldina [Landing of Archduchess Leopoldina], by Debret (1768 - 1848). Impressed by the work, he decided to leave for Rio de Janeiro to take classes with the French artist. In that same period, enthused by Brazil's independence, he adopted the surname Pitangueira, of nativist spirit. Later he changed his name again to Manuel de Araújo Porto Alegre.
In 1827, he managed to move to the court and enrolled at the Academia Imperial de Belas Artes - Aiba. He took painting classes with Debret, architecture with Grandjean de Montigny (1776 - 1850) and sculpture with João Joaquim Alão. Outside the Academy, he studied at the Military College, took courses in anatomy and physiology at the Medical School and attended the philosophy classes of Friar José Policarpo de Santa Gertrudes. He took part in the Academy's first two exhibitions, in 1829 and 1830. At that time, he won Debret's trust, becoming his favorite pupil and personal friend. The following year, Porto Alegre accompanied his master on his return to France.
In Paris, he lived in a room in the house of the architect François Debret (1777 - 1850), his teacher's brother, and attended the classes of the studio of Baron Antoine-Jean Gros (1771 - 1835). In the house where he lived, he met a good part of the Parisian Romantic generation: the composers Gioachino Rossini (1792 - 1868), Daniel-François Auber (1782 - 1871), Adrien Boieldieu (1775 - 1834), Luigi Cherubini (1760 - 1842) and Ferdinando Paer (1771 - 1839). He came into contact with the group's discussions and works. In 1832, he enrolled at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts. That same year, the director of the Institut Historique de Paris, Monsieur Michaud, invited Porto Alegre to give a lecture on Brazilian colonial art. The speech was published in the Journal de l'Institut Historique under the title État des Beaux-Arts au Brésil [State of the Fine Arts in Brazil]. Although information about the event is quite vague, this is the historiographical record that inaugurates theoretical reflection on art in the country. Two years later, he left for Rome with his friend, the poet Gonçalves de Magalhães (1811 - 1882). In Italy, he studied with the archaeologist Antonio Nibby (1792 - 1839). He then traveled on to Switzerland, Belgium and England. In 1836, he founded in Paris, with Gonçalves de Magalhães and Francisco de Salles Torres Homem (1812 - 1876), the magazine Nitheroy - Revista Brasiliense - Sciencia, Lettras e Artes. According to the literary critic Antonio Candido (1918 - 2017), the magazine is the starting point of literary Romanticism in Brazil.1 However, the publication was short-lived, with only two issues released.
In 1837, he returned to Brazil. He was appointed professor of history painting at Aiba and began working as an architect. In Rio de Janeiro, he designed the Banco do Brasil building on Rua da Candelária,2 and carried out renovations at the Paço da Cidade, the Palácio de São Cristóvão and the Customs building. That same year, he made one of the first caricatures in Brazil, satirizing the conservative journalist Justiniano José da Rocha. In 1838, he also began teaching at the Colégio Pedro II. A year later, he began a series of important decorative works, including the set and drop curtain of the Teatro São Pedro. In 1840, he was chosen as painter to the Royal Chamber and carried out important works. He created the decorations for the coronation and wedding ceremonies of Emperor Dom Pedro II (1825 - 1891). His article Memória sobre a Antiga Escola de Pintura Fluminense [Memoir on the Old Rio de Janeiro School of Painting] was published in 1841 in the Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro. According to the historian Letícia Coelho Squeff, "it is the first essay on the history of the Brazilian fine arts".3 Porto Alegre outlines the biographies of important colonial artists such as Leandro Joaquim (ca. 1738 - ca. 1798), Frei Ricardo do Pilar (ca. 1635 - 1700) and José Leandro de Carvalho (17-- - 1834).
In 1843, he founded, together with Torres-Homem, the magazine Minerva Brasiliense, where he published some verses of the poem Brasiliana, which would only be published in full in 1863. In 1844, he finished the canvas Coroação de Dom Pedro II [Coronation of Dom Pedro II]. That same year, Porto Alegre launched into another pioneering activity: together with Torres-Homem he created the magazine Lanterna Mágica: Periódico Plástico-Filosófico [Magic Lantern: A Plastic-Philosophical Periodical], the first periodical in the country illustrated with caricatures. Four years later, he fell out with the group of artists linked to Félix Taunay (1795 - 1881), such as Cabral Teive (1816 - 1863), Correia de Lima (1814 - 1857) and Louis Auguste Moreaux (1818 - 1877), and left the Academy. From then on, he taught drawing at the Military School. In 1849, he founded the magazine Guanabara with the writers Joaquim Manuel de Macedo (1820 - 1882) and Gonçalves Dias (1823 - 1864). In the 1850s, he entered politics. In 1852, he became an alternate member of the Rio de Janeiro City Council, remaining in office until 1854. That year, at the emperor's request, he presented a project to reform teaching at Aiba. Dom Pedro II approved the ideas and Porto Alegre became the institution's new director. During his administration, the curriculum was expanded and new chairs were created, such as industrial design. He also tried to transform the teaching of landscape painting by introducing the watercolor technique. He extended from three to six years the stay of students awarded the foreign travel prize granted at the General Exhibition of Fine Arts, expanded the Academy building and organized the library. However, he once again faced resistance from Taunay's group, and the disagreements led to his definitive departure from the institution in 1857.
Although he did not stop painting, Porto Alegre grew disillusioned with the art scene in Rio de Janeiro. In 1860, he entered the diplomatic service and was appointed Brazilian consul in Berlin. He stayed in the city for two years and was then transferred to Dresden, where he remained until 1866. During his stay in Germany, he made allegorical paintings, landscapes and canvases depicting the interiors of caves. His painting has few color contrasts and depicts a monumental nature. In 1866, he published the epic poem Colombo, with more than 20,000 verses. He went to Portugal in 1867 and took up the post of consul general in Lisbon. In 1869, his daughter married the painter Pedro Américo (1843 - 1905), his former pupil. Five years later, Porto Alegre received from the emperor the title of Baron of Santo Ângelo, but did not return to Brazil. He remained in Portugal, where he lived until his death in 1879.
Notes
1 CANDIDO, Antonio. Formação da Literatura Brasileira: momentos decisivos (1750 - 1836). 8. ed. Belo Horizonte: Itatiaia, 1993. v. 1, p. 281.
2 Demolished in 1937.
3 SQUEFF, Letícia Coelho. Quando a história reinventa a arte: A escola de pintura fluminense. In: Rotunda, nº 1. Campinas: Centro de Pesquisas em História das Artes no Brasil (CEPAB), Instituto de Artes, Unicamp, 2003, p. 20.
Critiques
"In A Voz da Natureza, in the Brasilianas, in Colombo, in all his poems, what one sees is a succession of paintings or painter's sketches. If Romanticism is understood, as it later came to be, as the manifestation of states of the soul, of purely subjective feelings, Porto Alegre was not a Romantic at all. But if it is understood, as it was at first, in the sense of a school that sought inspiration in tradition, landscape and national customs, then he was a Romantic, because he sought inspiration in American nature, in its customs, histories and legends.
As a painter, the pictures he left us are touched by a very light Romanticism, but as a teacher and writer he spent his life advising pupils and readers to devote themselves to the study of the things of the homeland and to stop thinking like Europeans. As a poet, he was, more than anyone, the painter of Romanticism".
De Paranhos Antunes
ANTUNES, De Paranhos. Ouro sobre azul. In: ANTUNES, de Paranhos. O pintor do romantismo: vida e obra de Manuel de Araujo Porto-Alegre. Rio de Janeiro: Zelio Valverde, 1943. p. 71.
"(...) Araújo Porto Alegre, endowed with the happiest qualities, overcame all the difficulties of drawing during three years of study in my class. (...) The most remarkable thing in the painting section is that, among the students, it is Araújo Porto Alegre who equally presents original work of his own, his works serving as models for his classmates. This is almost a consecration of the young painter; in fact, only masters, those who have attained perfection in art and full command of the brush, can provide works worthy of being copied and studied by others. Araújo Porto Alegre therefore ceases to copy in order to create. Instead of tracing, enlarging or simply copying, he already reproduces the live model, conceives figures, portrays groups, captures nature".
Jean Baptiste Debret
DEBRET, Jean Baptiste. Academia - Modelo vivo. In: ANTUNES, de Paranhos. O pintor do romantismo: vida e obra de Manuel de Araujo Porto-Alegre. Rio de Janeiro: Zelio Valverde, 1943. p. 31, 41.
"On the one hand, Porto Alegre is a Neoclassicist. He assimilated the principles of that school with his master Debret. On the other hand, Porto Alegre was a pupil of Gros, whom Germain Bazin considers the 'true initiator of Romanticism in France'. The artist seems to have achieved a kind of syncretism, combining the basic Neoclassicism of his first master with the Romantic influences of the second, bearing in mind also that it was the Romantic aesthetic that shaped his literary style, from an encounter the artist had with Garrett in Paris. Perhaps it is more correct to say that Gros wrapped Porto Alegre's Neoclassical skeleton in 'the diaphanous veil of fantasy' of Romanticism. Such a framework seems to have sustained his pictorial work from the beginning. Indeed, Neoclassicism is also, in some way, a Romantic movement. Both Neoclassicism and Romanticism deny the metaphysical value of nature (as a divine model), replacing it with ideological or political factors. For both, nature is merely the place where individual and social existence unfolds. In the first, as Argan shrewdly observes, a rational attitude predominates; in the second, a passionate attitude. Let us then distinguish two modes of 'Romanticism': the picturesque, in which nature appears as a welcoming environment; and the sublime, in which it shows a hostile face. In our view, Porto Alegre fits the second scheme. The artist values above all the legacy of those who made History. In light of this, it is here that the Neoclassicism of David's disciple, via Debret and Gros, emerges".
Armindo Trevisan
TREVISAN, Armindo. Manoel de Araújo Porto Alegre. In: PORTO ALEGRE, Manuel de Araújo Porto Alegre. Porto Alegre: Museu Julio de Castilhos, 1996/1997. p. 8.
"In caricature, however, his stature should be reassessed and grow as his work becomes better known and more widely disseminated. Hitherto remembered for the chance of being the author of the first political cartoon printed and distributed among us, Porto Alegre deserves above all to be appreciated for the undeniable merits of a pioneering caricaturist, a continuator among us of a satirical vein in the tradition of European Romanticism, served by drawing of surprising assurance".
Pedro Corrêa do Lago
LAGO, Pedro Aranha Corrêa do. Araújo Porto-Alegre. In: _______. Caricaturistas brasileiros: 1836-1999. Rio de Janeiro: Sextante Artes, 1999. p. 18-20.
"In Paris, the decisive meeting took place between Manuel de Araújo Porto Alegre, Gonçalves Magalhães and Torres Homem, who made up the first wave of Brazilian Romantics, initiating the search for national cultural values. The three young men joined the Institut Historique de Paris, where, in 1834, Araújo delivered his important speech on the state of the Fine Arts in Brazil. This text marks the emergence of Brazilian art criticism and, alongside literature, definitively places the figurative arts at the center of the process of building a national identity, giving them the role advocated by the French master, but a role that would still take a long time to be recognized by the Brazilian milieu. Equally important was the contact, in the French capital, with the Portuguese poet Garrett, who brought Porto Alegre and his companions closer to the political ideas and positions of the Portuguese liberals. (...)
In 1837, after the ephemeral experience of the magazine Niterói ended, Araújo Porto Alegre returned to Brazil, where, with the death of Simplício de Sá, he almost immediately became professor of history painting at the Academy. His work as a set designer at the Teatro São Pedro de Alcântara, the scenography designed for the coronation of D. Pedro II in 1841 and, two years later, for the sovereign's marriage to Teresa Cristina de Bourbon, allowed him to form an outstanding group of pupils and enter the circle of the Court. (...)
In 1854, Porto Alegre had been appointed director of the Academy, with the task of reforming it. He tried, in some way, to build a bridge between the Academy and society, creating a close link between the former and the emperor and transforming it into a school devoted to producing designs for the applied arts. (...)
Alongside the vision of progress, Porto Alegre faced a country with no art market, where public commissions were insufficient and the foundations for the emergence of an artistic industry were lacking. Despite his intentions, his reform lacked the clarity needed to distinguish the training of architects and history painters from that of craftsmen, for whom he overlooked the need to create workshops, so that the Academy could leave behind its condition as a court school and acquire a more modern character.
Porto Alegre lamented the fact that the Brazilian State was not very interested in public sculpture or in the monumental decoration of cities in general. Once appointed director, he immediately set about the project of providing an example of public sculpture of national character".
Luciano Migliaccio
MIGLIACCIO, Luciano. Século XIX. In: MOSTRA DO REDESCOBRIMENTO, 2000, SÃO PAULO. Arte do século XIX. São Paulo: Fundação Bienal de São Paulo: Associação Brasil 500 anos Artes Visuais, 2000. p. 69, 74, 100-101.
Group Exhibitions
1829 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1ª Exposição da Classe de Pintura Histórica da Imperial Academia das Bellas Artes [1st Exhibition of the History Painting Class of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts], at Aiba - painting and architecture prizes
1830 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 2ª Exposição da Classe de Pintura Histórica da Imperial Academia das Bellas Artes [2nd Exhibition of the History Painting Class of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts], at Aiba - painting, sculpture and architecture prizes
1843 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 4ª Exposição Geral de Belas Artes [4th General Exhibition of Fine Arts], at Aiba
1879 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 25ª Exposição Geral de Belas Artes [25th General Exhibition of Fine Arts], at Aiba
Posthumous Exhibitions
1884 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 26ª Exposição Geral de Belas Artes [26th General Fine Arts Exhibition], at Aiba
1901 - Porto Alegre RS - Exposição Comercial e Industrial de Porto Alegre [Porto Alegre Commercial and Industrial Exhibition], at Escola de Engenharia
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradição e Ruptura: síntese de arte e cultura brasileiras [Tradition and Rupture: A Synthesis of Brazilian Art and Culture], at Fundação Bienal
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Manuel de Araújo Porto Alegre: uma coleção de desenhos [Manuel de Araújo Porto Alegre: A Collection of Drawings], at MNBA
1989 - Stockholm (Sweden) - Art in Latin America: the modern era 1820-1980, at Moderna Museet
1989 - London (United Kingdom) - Art in Latin America: the modern era 1820-1980, at Hayward Gallery
1990 - Madrid (Spain) - Art in Latin America: the modern era 1820-1980, at Palacio de Velázquez
1990 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Missão Artística Francesa e os Pintores Viajantes: França-Brasil no século XIX [The French Artistic Mission and the Traveling Painters: France-Brazil in the 19th Century], at Fundação Casa França-Brasil
1996 - Porto Alegre RS - A Aventura Artística de um Barão: Manoel de Araújo Porto Alegre [The Artistic Adventure of a Baron: Manoel de Araújo Porto Alegre], at Museu Júlio de Castilhos
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - O Brasil Redescoberto [Brazil Rediscovered], at Paço Imperial
2000 - Porto Alegre RS - De Frans Post a Eliseu Visconti: acervo Museu Nacional de Belas Artes [From Frans Post to Eliseu Visconti: National Museum of Fine Arts Collection], at Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul Ado Malagoli
2000 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Visões do Rio na Coleção Geyer [Views of Rio in the Geyer Collection], at CCBB
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brasil + 500 Mostra do Redescobrimento - Arte do Século XIX [Brazil + 500 Rediscovery Exhibition - 19th-Century Art], at Fundação Bienal
2001 - São Paulo SP - 30 Mestres da Pintura no Brasil [30 Masters of Painting in Brazil], at Masp
2001 - São Paulo SP - Caricaturistas Brasileiros [Brazilian Caricaturists], at Instituto Cine Cultural
2001 - São Paulo SP - Trajetória da Luz na Arte Brasileira [Trajectory of Light in Brazilian Art], at Itaú Cultural
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 Museu de Belas Artes Collection], at Instituto Cultural Banco Santos
2003 - São Paulo SP - A Comédia Urbana: de Daumier a Porto-Alegre [The Urban Comedy: From Daumier to Porto-Alegre], at FAAP
2003 - São Paulo SP - Vistas do Brasil: Coleção Brasiliana [Views of Brazil: Brasiliana Collection], at Pinacoteca do Estado
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Missão Artística Francesa e as origens da coleção do Museu Nacional de Belas Artes [The French Artistic Mission and the Origins of the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes Collection], at MNBA
Source: Itaú Cultural
