Mario Cravo Júnior (Salvador BA 1923 - Salvador BA 2018)
Mario Cravo Júnior was a sculptor, printmaker, draftsman and teacher. The son of a prosperous farmer and merchant, he made his first sculptures between 1938 and 1943, a period in which he traveled through the interior of Bahia. In 1945, he worked with the santeiro (religious image carver) Pedro Ferreira, in Salvador, and moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he trained 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 Yugoslav sculptor Ivan Mestrovic at Syracuse University, in New York State, United States, and, after completing the course, moved to New York City. Back in Salvador in 1949, he set up 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 Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA). Between 1964 and 1965, he lived in Berlin, sponsored by the Ford Foundation. He returned to Brazil in 1966, the year he obtained a doctorate in fine arts from UFBA and became director of the Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia (MAM/BA), a post he held until 1967. In 1981, he coordinated the establishment of the specialization course in printmaking and sculpture at the UFBA School of Fine Arts. In 1994, he donated several works to the State of Bahia, which became the collection of the Espaço Cravo, located in the Parque Metropolitano de Pituaçu, in Salvador.
Critical Commentary
Mario Cravo Júnior's work moves among the most diverse artistic traditions, including ceramics, popular religious imagery, ex-votos and the regional cultural manifestations he comes into contact with on the countless trips he makes, while still very young, through the interior of the Northeast.
In the 1940s, besides drawing and painting, the artist devotes himself to sculpture, using wood, stone and metal as his main materials, and turns to the use of natural forms. The use of iron and themes inspired by Afro-Brazilian myths intensify during the 1960s, giving rise to the series Alados (Winged Ones).
His work incorporates archaic foundations linked to the popular universe of Bahia, while also presenting technological refinement. The formal simplification of these pieces, in which the artist seeks pure, stripped-down forms related to the organic and natural world, gives his works affinities with those of Barbara Hepworth (1903 - 1975) and Henry Moore (1898 - 1986).
Critiques
"The trips he made while still very young through the interior of Bahia and the Northeast, studying Afro-Bahian cultural manifestations and coming into contact with the rock inscriptions in the municipality of Milagres; the work in the workshop of the Bahian santeiro Pedro Ferreira, in Salvador, where he was introduced to the traditional techniques of wood carving; the learning of clay modeling, already under stricter discipline, with Humberto Cozzo, in Rio; and the improvement of his stone and marble sculpture with Ivan Mestrovic, in the USA - these are the four essential aspects of a polarity of vision and expression of the world that defines Mário Cravo Jr.'s sculptural activity. In fact, his work has successively or simultaneously incorporated the archaic popular base and civilizing refinement, magic and rationality, natural materials and the raw materials of technology, roughness and the bareness of geometric discipline, the organic and the inorganic, the national and the universal. After long years of working with iron ('an unusual and fragile material, at once tender and barbaric', as he says), stone and marble, basically interested in the figuration of a magical and mythical substratum or in the recording of natural processes, he has concentrated, in a more recent phase, on exploring the specific material possibilities of polyester, including its internal structure under spotlights. Although the formal, almost sensually geometric simplification of these new pieces seems to have taken him into the realm of pure abstract research, here too there remains, as in a parallel with Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, a dialogue of analogies with the organic or natural world. He himself points it out: 'My purest, most stripped-down forms are related to the organic world. They are nuclei, germinating forms, ova or ovulation, growth, etc., all essentially figurative terms, although not presented in human or animal form. I am concerned with synthesizing, structurally, economically, the Bahian universe, to begin with'".
Roberto Pontual
PONTUAL, Roberto. Arte/Brasil/hoje: 50 anos depois. São Paulo: Collectio Artes, 1973. p. 291.
"(...) the work of Mário Cravo Jr. is the result of a real correspondence with his own milieu. Grounded in the exuberance of Bahian popular traditions and continuously driven by an experimental impulse, it has taken on highly versatile configurations in its material, technical and aesthetic aspects. However, this multiple ease is characterized, as Wilson Rocha states, by its nature of 'eminently plastic research', leading the artist to a dramatic sense of existence. Mário Cravo sculpted in stone, wood, various metals and pigmented polyester resins, obeying the intrinsic nature of each element and seeking to introduce, into the ecological vision he pursues, the stimuli of the spirit of synthesis that marks the development of modern sculpture".
Walter Zanini
ZANINI, Walter (org). História geral da arte no Brasil. São Paulo: Instituto Walther Moreira Salles: Fundação Djalma Guimarães, 1983. v. 2, p. 723.
"When Wilson Rocha wrote that Mário Cravo's sculpture 'rests on a unity generated by elements of race and culture, preceded by a strong religious tradition and supported by a powerful popular force', he was referring to his Antônio Conselheiro, of 1955, carved in wood and more than 4 meters tall. However, Mário Cravo became above all an experimenter with new materials and new sculptural techniques. Moreover, believing that sculpture acquires its specific grandeur when it breathes freely in open spaces, he began to intend his works for squares and public buildings, which he considers 'the only worthy places for contemporary sculpture'.
His best-known work is the Fonte da Rampa do Mercado, built in fiberglass and 16 meters tall, which stands in front of the new Mercado Modelo, in the Cidade Baixa, in Salvador. This work, of great popular appeal, sums up Mário Cravo's various characteristics, such as monumentality, sensuality and boldness, combined with the search for new techniques and materials. And, more importantly, it reveals a concern with the urban surroundings, since, 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, bounded by the old customs house building, the Elevador Lacerda and the Igreja da Conceição da Praia'".
Frederico Morais
MORAIS, Frederico. Arte pública: da praça à telemática. In: A METRÓPOLE e a arte. São Paulo: Prêmio: Banco Sudameris Brasil, 1992. p. 74-76.
Collections
Fundação Raimundo Castro Maia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Instituto de Belas Artes - Porto Alegre RS
Museu Carlos Costa Pinto - Salvador BA
Museu de Arte da Pampulha - Belo Horizonte MG
Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand - SP
Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia - MAM/BA - Salvador BA
Museum of Modern Art of Berlin (Germany)
Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro - MAM/RJ
Museu de Arte Popular da Bahia
Museu do Estado da Bahia
Hermitage Museum - Leningrad (Russia)
Museum of Modern Art - Jerusalem (Israel)
Museum of Modern Art - MoMA - New York (United States)
Pinacoteca do Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo
Walker Art Center - Minneapolis (United States)
Solo Exhibitions
1947 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Edifício Oceania
1947 - Salvador BA - Sculptures and Drawings, at Associação Cultural Brasil - Estados Unidos
1949 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Edifício Sulacap
1949 - New York (United States) - Solo, at Norlist Gallery
1950 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand
1950 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Ministério de Educação e Saúde
1951 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Galeria Oxumaré
1954 - Salvador BA - Sculptures and Drawings, at Rua Chile
1955 - Montevideo (Uruguay) - Amigos del Arte
1955 - Porto Alegre RS - Solo, at Associação Cultural Brasil-Estados Unidos
1955 - Salvador BA - Belvedere da Sé - outdoors
1956 - Porto Alegre RS - Solo, at Casa Dariano
1958 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Belvedere da Sé - outdoors
1959 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at MAM/RJ
1959 - Salvador BA - Portuguese-Brazilian Colloquium, at Escola de Teatro da UFBA
1959 - Belo Horizonte MG - Solo, at Museu de Arte Moderna de Pampulha
1959 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Praça da República - outdoors
1959 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Saguão do Edifício Guinle
1960 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Diretório Acadêmico da Escola de Belas Artes
1960 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia
1961 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Petite Galerie
1962 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Petite Galerie
1963 - Berlin (Germany) - Solo, at Rathus Spandau
1964 - Washington (United States) - Solo, at Institute of Contemporary Arts
1964 - Washington (United States) - Cravo
1964 - Washington (United States) - Solo, at Brazilian American Cultural Institute
1965 - Salvador BA - 3 States of Iron, at Galeria Convivium
1965 - Washington (United States) - Solo, at Jardim da Embaixada Brasileira
1966 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 3 States of Iron, at Galeria Bonino
1966 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Astréia
1966 - Brasília DF - Solo, at Hall do Hotel Nacional
1968 - São Paulo SP - Cravo, at A Galeria
1971 - São Paulo SP - Solo, 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 Galeria Bonino
1972 - São Paulo SP - Cravo, at Galeria Documenta
1972 - São Paulo SP - Exhibition, at A Galeria
1976 - Belo Horizonte MG - Mario Cravo, at Galeria Ami
1977 - São Paulo SP - Exhibition, at Galeria Scultura
1979 - São Paulo SP - Solo, 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 launch of the book Cravo
1984 - Salvador BA - CRAVO, Line, Form and Volume, at Núcleo de Artes do Desenbanco
1984 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Múltipla
1986 - Zurich (Switzerland) - Sculptures and Drawings, at Galeria Ammann & Misteli
1987 - Salvador BA - Sculptures and Drawings, at Galeria ÉPOCA
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Sculptures and Drawings, at Galeria Anna Maria Niemeyer
1990 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Ada Galeria
1993 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado
1993 - Salvador BA - Solo, at Sebrae
1998 - Salvador BA - Cravo Forms and Myths, at Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia
2002 - Salvador BA - Evocations, at Paulo Darzé Galeria de Arte
Group Exhibitions
1943 - Salvador BA - 7th ALA Salon
1944 - Salvador BA - 1st American Art Salon, at Associação Cultural Brasil Estados Unidos
1946 - Salvador BA - 10th ALA Decennial Salon
1947 - Salvador BA - Sculptures and Drawings, at Associação Cultural Brasil-Estados Unidos
1947 - Salvador BA - Mario Cravo Júnior and Carlos Bastos, at Galeria da Associação Cultural Brasil-Estados Unidos
1949 - Salvador BA - 1st Bahia Salon of Fine Arts, at Hotel Bahia
1949 - Salvador BA - 8th Exhibition in Honor of the 4th Centenary of Bahia
1949 - Salvador BA - Group Show, at Associação Cultural Brasil-Estados Unidos
1950 - Salvador BA - 2nd Bahia Salon of Fine Arts, at Galeria Belvedere da Sé
1950 - Salvador BA - New Bahian Artists, at Museu do Instituto Geográfico e Histórico
1950 - São Paulo SP - From Nature to Art, at Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo
1951 - Salvador BA - 3rd Bahia Salon of Fine Arts, at Galeria Belvedere da Sé - 2nd prize
1951 - São Paulo SP - 1st Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Pavilhão do Trianon
1952 - Paris (France) - Salon de Mai
1952 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Salon of Modern Art
1952 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Exhibition of Brazilian Artists, at Museu de Arte Moderna
1952 - Santiago (Chile) - Brazilian Artists
1952 - São Paulo SP - 2nd São Paulo Salon of Modern Art, 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 Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Pavilhão dos Estados
1954 - Berna (Switzerland) - Brazilian Printmakers, at Museu Rath Berna
1955 - São Paulo SP - 3rd Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Pavilhão das Nações
1955 - São Paulo SP - 3rd São Paulo Salon of Modern Art - 1st prize
1955/1956 - Neuchâtel (Switzerland) - Brazilian Primitive and Modern Artists Neuchâtel
1956 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Sacred Art Exhibition of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Brasil - 2nd prize
1956 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Sacred Art Exhibition of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica
1956 - Salvador BA - 6th Bahia Salon of Fine Arts, at Galeria Oxumaré
1956 - Salvador BA - Modern Artists of Bahia, at Galeria Oxumaré
1957 - Montevideo (Uruguay) - Grabados Brasileños
1957 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salon for All, at Ministério da Educação e Cultura
1957 - Santos SP - 1st Santos Fine Arts Salon
1957 - São Paulo SP - 4th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Pavilhão Ciccilo Matarazzo Sobrinho
1957 - São Paulo SP - Artists of Bahia, at Museu de Arte Moderna
1957 - Tokyo (Japan) - 1st Tokyo International Print Biennial, at Museu Nacional de Arte Moderna
1958 - Belo Horizonte MG - Brazilian Printmaking, at Museu de Arte Pampulha
1958 - Mexico City (Mexico) - 1st Bienal Internacional y Grabados
1958 - Salvador BA - Visual Art Exhibition, Forte de Mont Serrat
1958 - Santos SP - 5th Santos Fine Arts Salon
1959 - Leverkusen (Germany) - First Group Exhibition of Brazilian Artists in Europe
1959 - Munich (Germany) - First Group Exhibition of Brazilian Artists in Europe, at Kunsthaus
1959 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 30 Years of Brazilian Art, at Galeria Macunaíma
1959 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 7th Fine Arts Salon
1959 - Salvador BA - Modern Artists
1959 - São Paulo SP - 5th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Pavilhão Ciccilo Matarazzo Sobrinho
1959 - Vienna (Austria) - First Group Exhibition of Brazilian Artists in Europe
1960 - Hamburg (Germany) - First Group Exhibition of Brazilian Artists in Europe
1960 - Lisbon (Portugal) - First Group Exhibition of Brazilian Artists in Europe
1960 - Madrid (Spain) - First Group Exhibition of Brazilian Artists in Europe
1960 - Paris (France) - First Group Exhibition of Brazilian Artists in Europe
1960 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Group Show, at Galeria Macunaíma
1960 - Utrecht (Netherlands) - First Group Exhibition of Brazilian Artists in Europe
1960 - Venice (Italy) - Brazil at the 30th Venice Biennale
1961 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 8th National Salon of Fine Arts
1961 - Salvador BA - Group Show, at Escola de Belas Artes da Universidade Federal da Bahia
1961 - São Paulo SP - 6th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Pavilhão Ciccilo Matarazzo Sobrinho
1962 - Colorado (United States) - New Art of Brazil, at Fine Art Center Colorado Springs
1962 - Minneapolis (United States) - New Art of Brazil, at Walker Art Center
1962 - San Francisco (United States) - New Art of Brazil, at San Francisco Museum of Art
1962 - São Paulo SP - Selection of Brazilian Artworks from the Ernesto Wolf Collection, at Museu de Arte Moderna
1962 - St. Louis (United States) - New Art of Brazil, at City Art Museum of St. Louis
1963 - São Paulo SP - 7th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Fundação Bienal
1963 - Washington (United States) - Brazilian Sculpture at Dupont Square
1963 - Washington (United States) - New Art of Brazil, at Pan American Union
1964 - Berlin (Germany) - 13ten Ausstellung des Deutschen Künstlerbundes
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) - Cravo, Sculpture and Drawings, at Institute of Contemporary Arts and at Brazilian American Cultural Institute
1965 - Belo Horizonte MG - Brazilian Draftsmen in Minas Gerais Collections - at the UMG Rectorate
1966 - Madrid (Spain) - Artistas de Bahia, at Instituto de Cultura Hispânica
1966 - Porto Alegre RS - Bahian Art Show, at Assessoria Riograndense de Imprensa/Galeria Cândido Portinari
1966 - Salvador BA - 1st National Biennial of Visual 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 of Bahia, at A Galeria
1968 - New York (United States) - Art of Bahia
1968 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Printmaking, at Museu Histórico Nacional
1968 - São Paulo SP - 1st International Printmaking Exhibition, at Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado
1969 - São Paulo SP - Carybé, Carlos Bastos and Mario Cravo Jr., at Galeria de Arte Portal
1970 - Berlin (Germany) - DAAD, at Goethe Institut
1971 - Paris (France) - 4th Exposition Internationale de Sculpture Contemporaine, at Museu Rodin
1972 - São Paulo SP - Art/Brazil/Today: 50 Years Later, at Galeria da Collectio
1973 - Belo Horizonte MG - Illustrated Exhibition of Jorge Amado
1975 - São Paulo SP - 13th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Fundação Bienal
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 - Opening Group Show, at Galeria Grossman
1978 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Sculpture in Urban Space: 50 Years, at Praça Nossa Senhora da Paz
1979 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Group Show, at Parque da Catacumba
1979 - São Paulo SP - 15th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Fundação Bienal
1979 - São Paulo SP - Praça da Sé
1980 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Six Artists from Bahia
1981 - Guarujá SP - Outdoor Sculpture, at Hotel Jequitimar
1981 - Recife PE - Recife - Latin American Exhibition
1981 - Recife PE - Exhibition, at Galeria Augusto Rodrigues
1984 - Ribeirão Preto SP - Brazilian Printmakers of the 1950s/60s, at Galeria Campus
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradition and Rupture: A 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 Museu de Arte Moderna
1985 - São Paulo SP - 18th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Fundação Bienal
1986 - Brasília DF - Bahians 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 Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de 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 - Escritório de Arte da Bahia 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 of the Initial Collection, at Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo
1989 - El Paso (United States) - The Latin American Spirit: art and artists in the United States, 1920-1970, at El Paso Museum of Art
1989 - San Diego (United States) - The Latin American Spirit: art and artists in the United States, 1920-1970, at San Diego Museum of Art
1989 - San Juan (Puerto Rico) - The Latin American Spirit: art and artists in the United States, 1920-1970, at Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña
1990 - Miami (United States) - The Latin American Spirit: art and artists in the United States, 1920-1970, at Center for the Fine Arts Miami Art Museum of Dade
1991 - Curitiba PR - Museu Municipal de Arte: Collection, at Museu Municipal de Arte
1993 - Salvador BA - Exhibition Celebrating Mário Cravo's 70th Birthday, at Sebrae
1995 - Fortaleza CE - Escritório de Arte
1996 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Art: 50 Years of History in the MAC/USP Collection: 1920-1970, at Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo
1996 - São Paulo SP - Norfest´96: Visual Arts, at D&D Shopping
1997 - São Paulo SP - 3rd United Artists: Light, at Casa das Rosas
1998 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Eletromidia de Arte
1998 - São Paulo SP - Pau Para Toda Obra (Jack of All Trades), at Sesc
1999 - Curitiba PR - Arte-Arte Salvador 450 Years, at Fundação Cultural de Curitiba. Solar do Barão
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Arte-Arte Salvador 450 Years, at Museu Histórico da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro
1999 - Salvador BA - 100 Visual Artists from Bahia, at Museu de Arte Sacra
1999 - Salvador BA - Arte-Arte Salvador 450 Years, at Museu de Arte Moderna
1999 - São Paulo SP - The Resacralization of Art, at Sesc Pompéia
2000 - Salvador BA - ACBEU Magalhães Netto Exhibition, at Galeria ACBEU
2002 - Salvador BA - Arte Bahia 2002, at Museu de Arte Moderna de Salvador
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Caixa Treasures: Brazilian Modern Art in the Caixa Collection, at Caixa Cultural
2003 - São Paulo SP - Tomie Ohtake in the Spiritual Weave of Brazilian Art, at Instituto Tomie Ohtake
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Tomie Ohtake in the Spiritual Weave of Brazilian Art, at Museu Nacional de Belas Artes
2006 - São Paulo SP - The Image of the Sound of Dorival Caymmi, at Museu Afro-Brasil
2006 - São Paulo SP - Brasiliana Masp: Modern Contemporary, at Museu de Arte de São Paulo
2007 - São Paulo SP - Art-Anthropology, at MAC Cidade Universitária
Source: Itaú Cultural
