Octávio Araújo (Terra Roxa SP 1926 - SP 2015)
Octávio Araújo was a printmaker, painter, draftsman, illustrator and graphic artist. He studied painting at the Escola Profissional Masculina do Brás, in São Paulo, between 1939 and 1943, under Edmundo Migliaccio and José Barchitta. In 1947, he joined the Grupo dos 19. Two years later, he traveled to Paris, where he studied printmaking at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and frequented the Cabinet des Estampes of the Musée du Louvre. He returned to Brazil in 1951 and, the following year, moved to Rio de Janeiro. Recommended by Clóvis Graciano (1907-1988), he began working as an assistant to Candido Portinari (1903-1962). With the printmaking prize from the Salão Para Todos, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1959, he traveled to China. In 1960, he received a scholarship from the Repin Institute in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union (now Russia).
In 1961, he attended the Moscow Polygraphic Institute. Staying in the city for eight years, he worked as an illustrator of Latin American books, a translator and a documentary voice-over artist. In 1972, the exhibition Octávio Araújo: 20 Anos Depois [Octávio Araújo: 20 Years Later] was held at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP). In 1979, the book Octávio Ferreira de Araújo: 10 Anos de Pintura [Octávio Ferreira de Araújo: 10 Years of Painting], by José Roberto Teixeira Leite, was published.
Critical Commentary
In his paintings and prints, Octávio Araújo shows his interest in the works of Flemish, German and Italian painters of the 15th and 16th centuries, at times drawing directly on figures taken from these works.
Some scholars see in the artist's work an affinity with Surrealism, mainly because of its dreamlike atmosphere. According to the artist himself, his work seeks to awaken in the viewer an original atmosphere of mystery and magic. In this sense, the figure of the woman is associated with the elements of nature. In a single composition, Araújo combines very different images, such as animals, objects, stairs or ruins, creating unexpected scenes with them.
Critiques
"He disappeared from the São Paulo scene, with no news of him. Twenty years later he came back: he had traveled through Asia and Europe (...) The novelty he brought us on his return was his surrealist subject matter, perhaps in reaction to realism, to which his pyrotechnic fantasy of African descent had long barely adapted. His journey along the paths of the unconscious is guided by the love of woman, idealized in a variety of moments ranging from the pleasurable contemplation of the classical nude, in the manner of Ingres, to dreamed scenes in which incubi and the desire for the different cast the companion into disconcerting secret attitudes".
P. M. Bardi
BARDI, Pietro Maria. Prefácio. In: ARAÚJO, Octávio. Octávio Araujo: 20 anos depois. São Paulo: MASP, 1972. p. 4.
Testimonials
"I began drawing in my current line when I was in Moscow, in 1966. I have always been interested in the figure. I have been considered an expressionist, a surrealist, a fantastic realist, who knows. I feel more at ease when I talk about art in general. (...)
The female figure recurs in my work for several reasons. One is basic: in prehistory, woman was stripped of her condition as a human being. She represented an elemental force of nature, in all its purity and vigor. She lost that. In my work, the female figure would be the herald of woman being restored to her ancient, normal place. That is why the figure sometimes appears fragmented and distorted. As for the objects around her, they have a magical meaning that has been lost. Human beings used magic to transform themselves, to perfect themselves. Intuitively, I try to awaken in whoever sees a work of mine that original atmosphere of mystery and magic which has been lost. Hence the drowned man, the ruins, the fragmented woman, the staircase, the pearl, the bird, the lightning, the dark cloud".
Octávio Araújo a Eduardo Alves da Costa - 1972
COSTA, Eduardo Alves. Octávio Araújo. In: ARAÚJO, Octávio. Octávio Araujo: 20 anos depois. São Paulo: MASP, 1972. p. 8-10.
Solo Exhibitions
1972 - São Paulo SP - 20 Years Later, at Masp
1973 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Grupo B
1975 - Washington (United States) - Paintings, Drawings and Lithographs, at Brazilian-American Cultural Institute
1976 - Santos SP - Octavio Araújo: Prints, Drawings, Oil, at CCBEU
1979 - São Paulo SP - 10 Years Later, at Galeria de Arte André
1981 - São Paulo SP - Drawing and the Feminine, at Galeria de Arte André
1982 - São Paulo SP - Octávio Araújo: Oils and Drawings, at Galeria de Arte André
1996 - Santos SP - Octávio Araújo: Paintings, at Fundação Benedito Calixto
Group Exhibitions
1946 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Four Newcomers, at IAB/RJ
1947 - São Paulo SP - 19 Pintores [19 Painters], at Galeria Prestes Maia
1949 - Paris (France) - Latin American Artists, at Maison de L'Amérique Latine
1951 - Paris (France) - Latin American Artists, at Maison de L'Amérique Latine
1953 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 4th Still Life Salon, at Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro
1957 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salon for All, at Ministério da Educação e Cultura - travel prize to China, shared with Roberto De Lamonica
1958 - Bucharest (Romania) - Exhibition of Works from the Salon for All
1958 - Moscow (Soviet Union - now Russia) - Exhibition of Works from the Salon for All
1958 - Beijing (China) - Exhibition of Works from the Salon for All
1958 - Shanghai (China) - Exhibition of Works from the Salon for All
1968 - São Paulo SP - 19 Pintores [19 Painters], at Tema Galeria de Arte
1971 - São Paulo SP - 3rd Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1972 - São Paulo SP - Fantastic Art, at Paço das Artes
1974 - Madrid (Spain) - Visual Arts Exhibition Room
1974 - São Paulo SP - 6th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1974 - São Paulo SP - National Biennial 74, at Fundação Bienal
ca. 1975 - Birmingham (United States) - National Biennial and Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at Museu de Arte de Birmingham
1975 - Nashville (United States) - The Art of Brazil, at Tennessee Fine Arts Center-Cheekwood
1975 - São Paulo SP - 13th Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, at Fundação Bienal
1975 - Vienna (Austria) - Group show, at Museu Albertina
1976 - Florence (Italy) - 5th Biennale Internazionale della Grafica d'Arte
1976 - New York (United States) - Looking Inside, at The New York Botanical Garden Museum
1976 - Penápolis SP - 2nd Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1976 - São Paulo SP - 8th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1976 - São Paulo SP - Young Drawing of the 1940s, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1977 - Lagos (Nigeria) - 2nd World Festival of Black and African Arts and Culture
1977 - São Paulo SP - The Groups: The 1940s, at Museu Lasar Segall
1978 - Penápolis SP - 3rd Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1978 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 18th Art and Ecological Thought Exhibition, at Biblioteca Euclides da Cunha
1978 - São Paulo SP - 19 Pintores [19 Painters], at MAM/SP
1979 - São Paulo SP - Group show, at Galeria de Arte André
1980 - Penápolis SP - 4th Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1982 - Penápolis SP - 5th Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1982 - São Paulo SP - From Modernism to the Bienal, at MAM/SP
1983 - Olinda PE - 2nd Exhibition of the Abelardo Rodrigues Visual Arts Collection, at MAC/Olinda
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradition and Rupture: A Synthesis of Brazilian Art and Culture, at Fundação Bienal
1985 - Penápolis SP - 6th Noroeste Visual Arts Salon, at Fundação Educacional de Penápolis. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Penápolis
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 8th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ
1985 - São Paulo SP - The Art of the Imaginary, at Galeria Encontro das Artes
1985 - São Paulo SP - Highlights of Brazilian Contemporary Art, at MAM/SP
1987 - São Paulo SP - 20th Contemporary Art Exhibition, at Chapel Art Show
1987 - São Paulo SP - The Craft of Art: Painting, at Sesc
1988 - São Paulo SP - The Afro-Brazilian Hand, at MAM/SP
1988 - São Paulo SP - Brasiliana: Man and the Land, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1989 - Los Angeles (United States) - Introspectives: Contemporary Art by Americans and Brazilians of African Descent, at The California Afro-American Museum
1990 - New York (United States) - Introspectives: Contemporary Art by Americans and Brazilians of African Descent, at The Bronx Museum of the Arts
1990 - São Paulo SP - 21st Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1991 - São Paulo SP - Graphic Record: Original Lithographs, at Kramer Galeria de Arte
1992 - Santo André SP - Lithography: Methods and Concepts, at Paço Municipal
1992 - São Paulo SP - Sérgio's View of Brazilian Art: Drawings and Paintings, at Biblioteca Municipal Mário de Andrade
1992 - São Paulo SP - Polarities/Perspectives, at Paço das Artes
1993 - João Pessoa PB - Woodcut: From Cordel to the Gallery, at Fundação Espaço Cultural da Paraíba
1993 - São Paulo SP - 100 Masterpieces from the Mário de Andrade Collection: Painting and Sculpture, at IEB/USP
1994 - São Paulo SP - Woodcut: From Cordel to the Gallery, at Metrô
1997 - Salvador BA - A Toast to Coffee, at Espaço Cafelier
1998 - São Paulo SP - The Collectors - Guita and José Mindlin: Matrices and Prints, at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Rio Printmaking Show. Brazilian Modern Printmaking: Museu Nacional de Belas Artes Collection, at MNBA
1999 - São Paulo SP - The Female Figure in the MAB Collection, at MAB/Faap
1999 - São Paulo SP - Lithography: Fidelity and Memory, at Espaço de Artes Unicid
2000 - São Paulo SP - The Female Figure in the MAB Collection, at MAB/Faap
2000 - São Paulo SP - Investigations: Brazilian Printmaking, at Itaú Cultural
2001 - Brasília DF - Investigations. Brazilian Printmaking, at Galeria Itaú Cultural
2001 - Penápolis SP - Investigations. Brazilian Printmaking, at Galeria Itaú Cultural
2001 - São Paulo SP - 4 Decades, at Nova André Galeria
2003 - São Paulo SP - Art & Artists: Exhibition of the Nineteen Painters, at Masp
2003 - São Paulo SP - Art and Society: A Controversial Relationship, at Itaú Cultural
2004 - São Paulo SP - New Acquisitions: 1995 - 2003, at MAB/Faap
Source: Itaú Cultural
