Norberto Nicola (São Paulo SP 1931 - idem 2007)
Norberto Nicola was a tapestry artist, painter, draftsman, sculptor and printmaker. He began his training in 1954, in the drawing-teacher course at the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (FAAP) and at Samson Flexor's (1907-1971) Atelier-Abstração in São Paulo. There he met Jacques Douchez (1921), with whom he founded, in 1957, the Ateliê Douchez-Nicola tapestry studio, active until 1980. He began producing tapestries, at first flat and later three-dimensional. He trained at the Aubusson manufactory in France, among other European institutions.
In 1961, he held a solo exhibition at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM/RJ). He took part in the 7th Bienal de São Paulo, in 1963, as well as the 8th, 9th, 11th and 13th editions of the event. He showed his work at venues such as the O.A.S. Gallery in Washington, in 1973, and the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico. That same year, he received the tapestry award of the Associação Paulista de Críticos de Arte (APCA). He created the Tapestry Triennial, which had three editions in São Paulo, the first held in 1976.
Around 1970, he became a collector and scholar of Brazilian featherwork. He organized important exhibitions, such as Arte Plumária no Brasil [Featherwork in Brazil], in 1980, at the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM/SP). In the late 1990s, he began making prints on the computer, some of which were shown at the Club Athletico Paulistano in São Paulo in 2000.
Critical Commentary
Nicola's tapestries make use of roots, leaves, earth, feathers, trees and vines in warm, enveloping tones, in interweavings that place us right in the middle of a jungle, as if they were fragments of it. The traditional materials of tapestry are varied: wool, linen, burlap, sisal, wicker, hemp and others. They may be braided and woven, but also left loose, as if they were plumage, fur or grass. The result is strongly tactile, sensual and alive.
Beyond this sensory aspect, he manages to give his pieces a ritual dimension. As the critic Jacob Klintowitz states in the introductory text to an exhibition, the Brazilian artist generally believes he is more in touch with nature than others and that his mission is to recover the country's mystical, cultural and formal heritage. Here, that mission seems to have been fulfilled.1
Crisálida [Chrysalis], from 1980, for example, is a kind of shamanic mantle in strong colors, such as reds, yellows and blues, in the shape of large open wings, from whose edges hang vine-like strands and loose threads. It refers us directly to Brazilian featherwork.
From the 1970s onward, Nicola seeks legitimacy for this art, organizing exhibitions and studies. In the introduction to one of the exhibition catalogs, he says he wants to make this art known, but also to safeguard and preserve it, arousing public interest and documenting it.2 This public awareness of art is equally evident in his work on committees, for example at the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM/SP), and in coordinating events such as the Tapestry Triennial.
Notes
1 OS RITMOS E AS FORMAS: arte brasileira contemporânea. Apresentação Abram Szajman. Texto Jacob Klintowitz. São Paulo: Serviço Social do Comércio - SESC/SP, 1988. 77 p., il. color.
2 DORTA, Sonia Ferraro e NICOLA, Norberto. Aroméri: arte plumária indígena. São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo: Mercedes-Benz do Brasil S.A., 1986.
Solo Exhibitions
1959 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria de Arte Folhas
1959 - Campinas SP - Solo, at Galeria Aremar
1961 - São Paulo SP - Solo tapestry exhibition, at Galeria Sistina
1983 - São Paulo SP - Tapestry, at Galeria São Paulo
1985 - São Paulo SP - Tapestry and Sculpture, at Espaço de Artes Saldiva
1987 - São Paulo SP - Tapestry, at Galeria Augusto Augusta
Group Exhibitions
1956 - São Paulo SP - 5th São Paulo Salon of Modern Art, at Galeria Prestes Maia - acquisition prize
1957 - São Paulo SP - 6th São Paulo Salon of Modern Art, at Galeria Prestes Maia - honorable mention
1958 - New York (United States) - Ateliê Abstração of São Paulo, at Roland de Aenlle Gallery
1958 - São Paulo SP - 7th São Paulo Salon of Modern Art, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1958 - São Paulo SP - 4th Grupo Guanabara Group Show
1959 - São Paulo SP - 5th Grupo Guanabara Group Show
1960 - São Paulo SP - 9th São Paulo Salon of Modern Art, at Galeria Prestes Maia - large gold medal
1961 - s.l. MG - Douchez Nicola Exhibition, at MAM/MG
1962 - São Paulo SP - 11th São Paulo Salon of Modern Art, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1962 - São Paulo SP - Douchez - Nicola, tapestry, at Galeria Astréia
1962 - São Paulo SP - São Paulo Official Salon - gold medal
1963 - Montevideo (Uruguay) - Group show, at Centro de Artes e Letras de Montevideo
1963 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Group show, at MAM/RJ
1963 - São Paulo SP - 7th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Fundação Bienal
1964 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 2nd The Face and the Work, at Galeria Ibeu Copacabana
1964 - São Paulo SP - 14 Tapestries from the Atelier Douchez Nicola, tapestry, at Galeria Astréia
1965 - Lima (Peru) - Group show, at MAM de Lima
1965 - São Paulo SP - 8th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Fundação Bienal
1966 - Mexico City (Mexico) - Group show, at Museu de Belas Artes do México
1966 - São Paulo SP - 15th São Paulo Salon of Modern Art, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1966 - São Paulo SP - Mosaics, at Galeria de Arte 4 Planetas
1967 - São Paulo SP - 9th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Fundação Bienal
1969 - São Paulo SP - Woven Forms by Nicola and Douchez, tapestry, at Documenta Galeria de Arte
1970 - São Paulo SP - Nicola and Douchez, tapestry, at Galeria Bonino
1971 - São Paulo SP - 11th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Fundação Bienal
1972 - São Paulo SP - Art/Brazil/Today: 50 Years Later, at Galeria da Collectio
1973 - Brasília DF - Norberto Nicola and Jacques Douchez, tapestries, at Fundação Cultural do Distrito Federal
1974 - São Paulo SP - 1st Brazilian Tapestry Show, at MAB/Faap - 1st prize
1975 - Brasília DF - Woven Forms, tapestry, at Sala de Exposições do Setor de Difusão Cultural
1975 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Group show, at Fundação Gulbenkian
1975 - São Paulo SP - 13th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Fundação Bienal
1975 - São Paulo SP - Nicola and Douchez Woven Forms, tapestry, at Documenta Galeria de Arte
1977 - Belo Horizonte MG - 5th Global Winter Salon, at Fundação Palácio das Artes
1977 - Brasília DF - 5th Global Winter Salon
1977 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 5th Global Winter Salon, at MNBA
1977 - São Paulo SP - 5th Global Winter Salon, at Masp
1977 - Washington (United States) - The Original and its Reproduction: a Melhoramentos project, at Brazilian-American Cultural Institute
1978 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Nicola and Douchez, tapestry, at Galeria Práxis
1978 - São Paulo SP - 1st Show of Furniture and Unusual Objects, at Paço das Artes
1979 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Tapestry Triennial, at MAM/SP - Hors Concours
1980 - Bonn (Germany) - Four Brazilian Artists/Vier Brasilianische Künstler, at Kultur Forum BonnCenter
1980 - Frankfurt (Germany) - Four Brazilian Artists/Vier Brasilianische Künstler, at Jahrhunderthalle Hoechst
1980 - Leverkusen (Germany) - Four Brazilian Artists/Vier Brasilianische Künstler, at Erholungshaus
1980 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Four Brazilian Artists, at Museu Gulbenkian da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
1980 - Porto (Portugal) - Four Brazilian Artists, at Junta Comercial
1980 - Porto (Portugal) - Four Brazilian Artists/Vier Brasilianische Künstler, at Associação Comercial do Porto
1980 - s.l. (Chile) - Tapestry, at MNBA do Chile
1980 - São Paulo SP - 1st Threads/Fabrics Show, tapestry, at the 25th Fenit, Parque Anhembi
1980 - Stuttgart (Germany) - Four Brazilian Artists/Vier Brasilianische Künstler, at Rathaus
1981 - Osaka (Japan) - Arte Latino-americana y Japón, at Museu Nacional de Osaka
1982 - Mexico City (Mexico) - Feather Art of Brazil, at Museu de Antropologia
1982 - Penápolis SP - 5th Northwest Visual Arts Salon, at Funep. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis - guest artist
1982 - Washington (United States) - Feather Art of Brazil, at Smithsonian Institution
1983 - São Paulo SP - Group show, at Galeria São Paulo
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradition and Rupture: A Synthesis of Brazilian Art and Culture, at Fundação Bienal
1986 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Seven Decades of Italian Presence in Brazilian Art, at Paço Imperial
1987 - São Paulo SP - Textile Art, tapestry, at Masp
1988 - São Paulo SP - Rhythms and Forms: Contemporary Brazilian Art, at Sesc Pompéia
1989 - Copenhagen (Denmark) - Rhythms and Forms: Contemporary Brazilian Art, at Museu Charlottenborg
1990 - São Paulo SP - The Multiple as Seen by Baravelli, Marcello Nitsche, Maria Bonomi, Norberto Nicola, Peticov and Vlavianos, at Múltipla de Arte
1990 - São Paulo SP - Fruits, Flowers and Colors, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1992 - São Paulo SP - Yesterday/Today Group Show, at Galeria Múltipla
1994 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Brasil Século XX, at Fundação Bienal
1998 - São Paulo SP - Constructive Art in Brazil: Adolpho Leirner Collection, at MAM/SP
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Constructive Art in Brazil: Adolpho Leirner Collection, at MAM/RJ
1999 - São Paulo SP - The 1950s and Their Involvements, at Jô Slaviero Galeria de Arte
Source: Itaú Cultural
