Mario Cravo Júnior (Salvador BA 1923 - Salvador BA 2018)
Mario Cravo Júnior was a sculptor, engraver, draftsman and teacher. The son of a prosperous farmer and merchant, he executed his first sculptures between 1938 and 1943, during which time he traveled through the interior of Bahia. In 1945, he worked with the santeiro Pedro Ferreira, in Salvador, and moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he worked in the studio of the sculptor Humberto Cozzo. He held his first solo exhibition in 1947, in Salvador. That same year, he was accepted as a special student of the sculptor Yugoslavian Ivan Mestrovic at Syracuse University, New York State, United States, and, upon completion of the course, moved to New York City. Back in Salvador, in 1949, he installed his studio in Largo da Barra, which soon became a meeting point for artists such as Carlos Bastos, Genaro and Carybé. In 1954, he began teaching at the School of Fine Arts of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). Between 1964 and 1965, he lived in Berlin, sponsored by the Ford Foundation. He returned to Brazil in 1966, the year in which he obtained the title of Doctor of Fine Arts from UFBA and took over as director of the Museum of Modern Art of Bahia (MAM/BA), a position he held until 1967. In 1981, he coordinated the implementation of Specialization Course in Engraving and Sculpture of the School of Fine Arts at UFBA. In 1994, he donated several works to the State of Bahia, which became part of the collection of Espaço Cravo, located in the Metropolitan Park of Pituaçu, in Salvador. The most diverse artistic traditions, which include ceramics, popular imaginary, ex-votos and regional cultural manifestations with which he comes into contact with the numerous trips he makes, still very young, through the interior of the Northeast.
In the 1940s, the artist, in addition to drawing and painting, It is dedicated to sculpture, having as main materials wood, stones and metals, and turns to the use of natural forms. The use of iron and the theme inspired by Afro-Brazilian myths intensify during the 1960s, generating the winged series.
His work incorporates archaic bases linked to the popular Bahian universe, also presenting a technological refinement. The formal simplification of these pieces, in which the artist seeks pure forms, stripped and related to the organic and natural world, makes his works present affinities with works by Barbara Hepworth (1903 - 1975) and Henry Moore (1898 - 1986).
Criticism
"The trips he made, still very young, through the interior of Bahia and the Northeast, studying the Afro-Bahian cultural manifestations and coming into contact with the rock inscriptions in the municipality of miracles; the work in the workshop of the Bahian santeiro Pedro Ferreira, in Salvador, introducing himself to the traditional techniques of wood carving; the learning of clay modeling already under stricter discipline, with Humberto Cozzo, in Rio; and the improvement in stone sculpture Marble, with Ivan Mestrovic, USA - Here are the four essential aspects of a polarity of vision and expression of the world, which defines the sculptural activity of Mário Cravo Jr. In fact, his work has successive or simultaneously incorporated into the popular archaic base and the Civilizing refining, magic and rationality, natural materials and the raw materials of technology, the rudeness and stripping of geometrical discipline, the organic and the inorganic, the national and the universal. After long years of working with iron ('unusual and fragile material, at the same time tender and barbaric', as he says), stone and marble, basically interested in the figuration of a magical and mythical substrate or in the registration of processes Naturally, it focused, from the most recent phase, on the use of the specific matherial possibilities of the polyester, including its internal structure under luminous foci. Although the formal, almost sensually geometrical simplification of these new pieces seems to have transferred it to the scope of pure abstract research, it still remains here, as in parallel with Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, a dialogue of analogies with the organic or natural world. He himself indicates it: 'My purest, most stripped forms are related to the organic world. They are nuclei, germinating forms, eggs or ovulation, growth, etc. , all of them essentially figurative terms, although not presented by human or animal form. I am concerned with structurally, economically, the Bahian universe, in principle, in principle."
Roberto Pontual
PONTUAL, Roberto Art/Brasil/Today: 50 years later. São Paulo: Collectio Artes, 1973. P. 291.
"(...) The work of Mário Cravo Jr. is the result of a real correspondence with the environment itself. Based on the exuberance of Bahian popular traditions and continuously activated by an experimental impulse, it acquired too versatile configurations in the material, technical and aesthetic aspects. However, this multiple resourcefulness is characterized, as Wilson Rocha states, by his nature of 'eminently plastic research', leading the artist to a dramatic feeling of existence. Mário Cravo sculpted in stone, wood, various metals, pigmented polyester resins, obeying the intrinsic nature of each element, seeking to introduce, into the ecological vision he seeks, the stimuli of the spirit of synthesis that marks the development of modern sculpture". Walter Zanini
ZANINI, Walter (org). General History of Art in Brazil. São Paulo: Instituto Walther Moreira Salles: Fundação Djalma Guimarães, 1983. v. 2, p. 723.
"Wilson Rocha, when he wrote that the sculpture of Mário Cravo rests on a unit generated by elements of race and culture, preceded by a strong religious tradition and supported by a powerful popular force', was referring to To Seu Antônio Conselheiro, from 1955, carved in wood over 4 meters high. However, Mário Cravo became, above all, an experimenter of new materials and new sculptural techniques. What's more, believing that the sculpture acquires its specific grandeur when it breathes freely in the open spaces, it started to dedicate its works to squares and public buildings, which it considers 'the only worthy places for contemporary sculpture'.
His best-known work is the source of the Market ramp, built with fiberglass, 16 meters high, which is in front of the new Modelo Mercado, in Cidade Baixa, in Salvador. This work, of great popular appeal, synthesizes the various characteristics of Mário Cravo, such as monumentalism, sensuality and boldness, combined with the search for new techniques and materials. And, more importantly, it reveals a concern with the urban environment, because, as the artist recalled when defining the scale of the work, he took into account 'the triangle of the most important architectural masses in the area, delimited by the building of the old customs, the elevator Lacerda and the Church of Conceição da Praia´".
Frederico Morais
MORAIS, Frederico. Public art: from the square to telematics. Brazil, 1992. P. 74-76.
Corves
Fundação Raimundo Castro Maia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Institute of Fine Arts - Porto Alegre RS
Museum Carlos Costa Pinto - Salvador BA
Pampulha Art Museum - Belo Horizonte MG
São Paulo Museum of Art of São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand - SP
Museum of Modern Art of Bahia - MAM/BA - Salvador BA
Berlin Museum of Modern Art (Germany)
Rio de Janeiro Museum of Modern Art - MAM/RJ
Bahia Popular Art Museum
Bahia State Museum
Useu Hermitage - Leningrad (Russia)
Museum of Modern Art - Jerusalem (Israel)
Museum of Modern Art - MoMA - New York (United States)
Pinacoteca of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo
Walker Art Center - Minneapolis (United States)
Individual exhibitions
1947 - Salvador BA - Individual, in the Oceania Building
1947 - Salvador BA - Sculptures and Drawings, at the Cultural Association Brazil - United States
1949 - Salvador BA - Individual, in the Sulacap
1949 - New York (United States) - Individual, at the Norlist Gallery
1950 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the São Paulo Museum of Art Assis Chateaubriand
1950 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the Ministry of Education and Health
1951 - Salvador BA - Individual, at Galeria Oxumaré
1954 - Salvador BA - Sculptures and Drawings, at Rua Chile
1955 - Montevideo (Uruguay) - Amigos del Arte
1955 - Porto Alegre RS - Individual, at the Brasil-Estados Cultural Association
1955 - Salvador BA - Belvedere da Sé - Outdoors
1956 - Porto Alegre RS - individual, at Casa Diano
1958 - Salvador BA - Individual, at Belvedere da Sé - Outdoors
1959 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at MAM/RJ
1959 - Salvador BA - Colóquio Luso-Brazilian, at the UFBA Theater School
1959 - Belo Horizonte MG - Individual, at the Pampulha Museum of Modern Art
1959 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Praça da República - Outdoors
1959 - São Paulo SP - Individual, in the lobby of the Guinle Building
1960 - Salvador BA - Individual, at the Academic Directory of the School of Fine Arts
1960 - Salvador BA - Individual, at the Museum of Modern Art of Bahia
1961 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at Petite Galerie
1962 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Petite Galerie
1963 - Berlin (Germany) - Individual, at Rathus Spandau
1964 - Washington (United States) - Individual, at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
1964 - Wasghington (United States) - Clove
1964 - Washington (United States) - Individual, at the Brazilian American Cultural Institute
1965 - Salvador BA - 3 Iron States, at Galeria Convivium
1965 - Washington (United States) - Individual, in the garden of the Brazilian Embassy
1966 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 3 states of Ferro, at the Bonino Gallery
1966 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Astreia Gallery
1966 - Brasília DF - Individual, in the hall of the Hotel Nacional
1968 - São Paulo SP - Cravo, at the gallery
1971 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Paço das Artes
1971 - Fortaleza CE - Cravo, at Galeria Recanto de Ouro Preto
1971 - Salvador BA - Mario Cravo Junior, at Galeria Círculo
1972 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - CRAVO, at the Bonino Gallery
1972 - São Paulo SP - Cravo, at the Documenta Gallery
1972 - São Paulo SP - Exhibition, at the gallery
1976 - Belo Horizonte MG - Mario Cravo, at the gallery AMI
1977 - São Paulo SP - Exhibition, at Galeria Scultura
1979 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Scultura
1980 - Salvador BA - Cravo 80, at Farol da Barra
1983/1984 - Salvador BA - Exhibition at the launch of the book Cravo
1983/1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Exhibition at the launch of the book Cravo
1983/1984 - São Paulo SP - Exhibition at the book launch harpsichord
1984 - Salvador BA - harpsichord, line, shape and volume, at the Center for the Arts of the Downtown
1984 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Multiple Gallery
1986 - Zurich (Switzerland) - Sculptures and drawings, in the Ammann & gallery; Misteli
1987 - Salvador BA - Sculptural and drawings, at Galeria Época
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Sculptures and Drawings, at the Anna Maria Niemeyer Gallery
1990 - Salvador BA - Individual, at ADA Gallery
1993 - Salvador BA - Individual, at Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado
1993 - Salvador BA - Individual, at Sebrae
1998 - Salvador BA - Cravo Formas e Mitos, at the Museum of Modern Art in Bahia
2002 - Salvador BA - Evocations, at Paulo Darzé Art Gallery
Collective exhibitions
1943 - Salvador BA - 7th ALA Hall
1944 - Salvador BA - 1st Salon of American Art, at the Cultural Association Brazil United States
1946 - Salvador BA - 10th Decennial Wing Salon
1947 - Salvador BA - Sculptures and Drawings, at the Brasil-Estados Cultural Association
1947 - Salvador BA - Mario Cravo Júnior and Carlos Bastos, in the Gallery of the Cultural Association Brazil-United States
1949 - Salvador BA - 1st Bahia Fine Arts Hall, at the Hotel Bahia
1949 - Salvador BA - 1st Bahian Salon of Fine Arts, at the Hotel Bahia
1949 - Salvador BA - 8th Exhibition in honor of the IV Centenary of Bahia
1949 - Salvador BA - Collective, at the Brasil-Estados Cultural Association
1950 - Salvador BA - 2nd Bahian Fine Arts Hall, at the Belvedere da Sé gallery
1950 - Salvador BA - New Bahian artists, at the Geographic and Historical Institute Museum
1950 - São Paulo SP - From Nature to Art, at the Museum of Modern Art in São Paulo
1951 - Salvador Ba - 3rd Baiano Salão de Belas Artes, at the Belvedere da Sé Gallery - 2nd Prize
1951 - São Paulo SP - 1st São Paulo International Biennial, at the Trianon Pavilion
1952 - Paris (France) - Salão de Maio
1952 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Salon of Modern Art
1952 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Exhibition of Brazilian artists, at the Museum of Modern Art
1952 - Santiago (Chile) - Artists Brazilians
1952 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1952 - Venice (Italy) - 26th Venice Biennale
1953 - Recife PE - Mario Cravo Júnior and Carybé, at Teatro de Santa Isabel
1953 - São Paulo SP - 2nd São Paulo International Biennial, at the Pavilion of the States
1954 - Bern (Switzerland) - Brazilian tape recorders, at the Rath Museum Bern
1955 - São Paulo SP - 3rd São Paulo International Biennial, at the Pavilion of Nations
1955 - São Paulo SP - 3rd São Paulo Salon of Modern Art - 1st Prize
1955/1956 - Neuchatel (Switzerland) - Brazilian primitive and modern artists Neuchatel
1956 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Exhibition of Sacred Art of the Pontifical Catholic University of Brazil - 2nd Prize
1956 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Exhibition of Sacred Art of the Pontifical Catholic University
1956 - Salvador BA - 6th Baiano Salão de Belas Artes, at Galeria Oxumaré
1956 - Salvador BA - Modern Artists from Bahia, at Galeria Oxumaré
1957 - Montevideo (Uruguay) - Grabados Brasileños
1957 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Hall for All, at the Ministry of Education and Culture
1957 - Santos SP - 1st Salon of Fine Arts of Santos
1957 - São Paulo SP - 4th International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Ciccilo Matarazzo Sobrinho Pavilion
1957 - São Paulo SP - Artists from Bahia, at the Museu de Arte Moderna
1957 - Tokyo (Japan) - 1st Tokyo International Engraving Biennale at the National Museum of Modern Art
1958 - Belo Horizonte MG - The Brazilian Engraving, at the Museum of Art Pampulha
1958 - Mexico City (Mexico) - 1st International Biennial and Grabados
1958 - Salvador BA - Exhibition of Plastic Art Forte de Mont Serrat
1958 - Santos SP - 5th Salon de Fine Arts de Santos
1959 - Leverkusen (Germany) - First collective exhibition of Brazilian artists in Europe
1959 - Munich (Germany) - First collective exhibition of Brazilian artists in Europe, at Kunsthaus
1959 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 30 years of Brazilian art, at the Macunaíma gallery
1959 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 30 years of Brazilian art, at the Macunaíma gallery
1959 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 7th Salon of Fine Arts
1959 - Salvador BA - Modern Artists
1959 - São Paulo SP - 5th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Ciccilo Matarazzo Sobrinho Pavilion
1959 - Vienna (Austria) - First collective exhibition of Brazilian artists in Europe
1960 - Hamburg (Germany) - First collective exhibition of Brazilian artists in Europe
1960 - Lisbon (Portugal) - first collective exhibition by Brazilian artists Europe
1960 - Madrid (Spain) - First collective exhibition of Brazilian artists in Europe
1960 - Paris (France) - First collective exhibition by Brazilian artists in Europe
1960 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Collective, at the gallery Macunaíma
1960 - Utrecht (Netherlands) - First collective exhibition of Brazilian artists in Europe
1960 - Venice (Italy) - Brazil at the 30th Venice Biennale
1961 - Rio de January RJ - 8th National Salon of Fine Arts
1961 - Salvador BA - Collective, at the School of Fine Arts of the Federal University of Bahia
1961 - São Paulo SP - 6th International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Ciccilo Pavilion Matarazzo Sobrinho
1962 - Colorado (United States) - New Art of Brazil, at the Fine Art Center Colorado Springs
1962 - Minneapolis (United States) - New Art of Brazil, at Walter Art Center
1962 - San Francisco (United States) - New Art of Brazil, at the San Francisco Museum of Art
1962 - São Paulo SP - Selection of Brazilian works of art from the Ernesto Wolf collection, at the Museum of Modern Art
1962 - St. Louis (United States) - New Art of Brazil, at the City Art Museum of St. Louis
1963 - São Paulo SP - 7th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Bienal Foundation
1963 - Washington (United States) - Brazilian Sculpture at DuPont Square
1963 - Washington (United States) - New Art of Brazil, at the Pan American Union
1964 - Berlin (Germany) - 13Ten Ausstellung des Deutshen KunstlerBundes
1964 - Berlin (Germany) - Ausländische Gäste
1964 - Berlin (Germany) - Deutsche Oper Berlin
1964 - Berlin (Germany) - Mario Cravo Jr., Skulpture in Den Vitrinen
1964 - Berlin (Germany) - Stadien un impulse
1964 - Washington (United States) - Sculpture and Drawings, at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and the Brazilian American Cultural Institute
1965 - Belo Horizonte MG - Brazilian designers in Minas Gerais collections - at the rectory of UMG
1966 - Madrid (Spain) - Artists from Bahia, at the Hispanic Culture Institute
1966 - Porto Alegre RS - Show de Arte Baiana, at the Riograndense Press Office/Galeria Cândido Portinari
1966 - Salvador BA - 1st National Biennial of Fine Arts
1967 - Bonn (Germany) - Beethovenhalle Bonn
1967 - London (United Kingdom) - In Our View, at Graves Art Gallery College of Hans and Elsbeth Juda
1967 - São Paulo SP - Artists from Bahia, at A Galeria
1968 - New York (United States) - Art of Bahia
1968 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Brazilian engraving, at the National Historical Museum
1968 - São Paulo SP - 1st International Engraving Exhibition, at Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado
1969 - São Paulo SP - Carybé, Carlos Bastos and Mario Cravo Jr., at the Portal Art Gallery
1970 - Berlin (Germany) - Daad, at Goethe Institut
1971 - Paris (France) - 4th Exposition Internationale de Sculpture Contemporaine, at the Rodin Museum
1972 - São Paulo SP - Arte/Brazil/Today: 50 years later, at the Galeria da Collectio
1973 - Belo Horizonte MG - Illustrated exhibition by Jorge Amado
1975 - São Paulo SP - 13th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Bienal Foundation
1975 - São Paulo SP - 7th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1977 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, at SESC
1977 - Salvador BA - Inauguration press conference, at the gallery Grossman
1978 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian sculpture in the urban space: 50 years, at Praça Nossa Senhora da Paz
1979 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Collective, in the Catacumba Park
1979 - São Paulo SP - 15th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Bienal Foundation
1979 - São Paulo SP - Praça da Sé
1980 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Six artists from Bahia
1981 - Guarujá SP Outdoors, at the Hotel Jequitimar
1981 - Recife PE - Exhibition Recife - Latin Americana
1981 - Recife PE - Exhibition, at the Augusto Rodrigues Gallery
1984 - Ribeirão Preto SP - Brazilian engravers 50/60, at the Campus Gallery
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradition and Rupture: Synthesis of Brazilian Art and Culture, at Fundação Bienal
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Five Brazilian artists, at Galeria Aktuel
1985 - São Paulo SP - 16th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at the Museum of Modern Art
1985 - São Paulo SP - 18th International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Biennial Foundation
1986 - Brasília DF - Baianos in Brasília, at Casa da Manchete
1987 - Salvador BA - twelve Brazilian artists, at Anarte Galeria
1987 - São Paulo SP - The biennials in the MAC collection: 1951 to 1985, at the Museum of Contemporary Art from the University of São Paulo
1988 - New York (United States) - The Latin American Spirit: Art and Artists in the United States, 1920-1970, at The Bronx Museum of the Arts
1988 - Salvador BA - Bahia Art Office Paintings and Sculptures
1988 - Salvador BA - The illustrators of Jorge Amado, at Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado
1988 - São Paulo SP - MAC 25 years: Highlights from the initial collection, At the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo
1989 - El Paso (United States) - The Latin American Spirit: Art and Artists in the United States, 1920-1970, at the El Paso Museum of Art
1989 - San Diego (United States) - The Latin American Spirit: Art and Artists in the United States, 1920-1970, at the San Diego Museum of Art
1989 - San Juan (Puerto Rico) - The Latin American Spirit: Art and Artists in the United States, 1920-1970, at the Puertorriqueña Institute of Culture
1990 - Miami (United States) - The Latin American Spirit: Art and Artists in the United States, 1920-1970, at the Center for the Fine Arts Miami Art Museum of Date
1991 - Curitiba PR - Municipal Museum of Art: Collection, at the Municipal Museum of Art
1993 - Salvador BA - Exhibition commemorating the 70th anniversary of Mário Cravo, at Sebrae
1995 - Fortaleza CE - Art Office
1996 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian art: 50 years of history in the collection MAC/USP: 1920-1970, at the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo
1996 - São Paulo SP - Norfest'96: Visual Arts, at D&d Shopping
1997 - São Paulo SP - 3rd United Artists: Luz, at Casa das Rosas
1998 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Art Electromidia
1998 - São Paulo SP - Pau Para Toda, no Sesc
1999 - Curitiba PR - Arte-Arte Salvador 450 years, at the Cultural Foundation of Curitiba. Solar do Barão
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Arte-Arte Salvador 450 years old, at the Historical Museum of the City of Rio de Janeiro
1999 - Salvador BA - 100 plastic artists from Bahia, at the Museum of Sacred Art
1999 - Salvador BA - Arte-Arte Salvador 450 years old, at the Museum of Modern Art
1999 - São Paulo SP - The resacralization of art, at Sesc Pompéia
2000 - Salvador BA - Exhibition ACBEU Magalhães Netto, at the Acbeu Gallery
2002 - Salvador BA - Arte Bahia 2002, at the Museum of Modern Art in Salvador
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Treasures of the box: Brazilian modern art in the Caixa collection, at Caixa Cultural
2003 - São Paulo SP - Tomie Ohtake in the spiritual plot of Brazilian art, at the Tomie Ohtake Institute
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Tomie Ohtake in the spiritual plot of Brazilian art, at the Museu Nacional de Belas Arts
2006 - São Paulo SP - The image of the sound of Dorival Caymmi, at the Afro-Brazil Museum
2006 - São Paulo SP - Brasiliana Masp: Modern Contemporary, at the Museum of Art of São Paulo
2007 - São Paulo SP - Arte-Anthropology, at Mac Cidade Universitária
Source: Itaú Cultural
