Quirino Campofiorito (Belém PA 1902 - Niterói RJ 1993)
Painter, draftsman, printmaker, art critic and historian, illustrator, caricaturist, teacher.
In 1917, in Rio de Janeiro, he works as an illustrator for the magazines Tico-Tico and Revista Infantil, and as a caricaturist for the periodicals A Maçã, O Malho, D. Quixote and A Máscara. In 1920 he begins a painting course at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes - Enba, where his teachers include Modesto Brocos, Baptista da Costa, Augusto Bracet and Rodolfo Chambelland. He wins the foreign travel prize in 1929, goes to Paris and remains there until 1932, studying in the Pongheon studio at the Académie Julian and at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. Between 1932 and 1934, he lives in Rome, where he attends the painting course at the Scuola di Belle Arti di Roma [School of Fine Arts of Rome] and the drawing course of the Circolo Artistico and the British Academy in Rome. He returns to Brazil in 1935 and settles in Rio de Janeiro, where he publishes and edits, among other things, the monthly Belas Artes, the first Brazilian newspaper devoted exclusively to art, closed in 1940 under pressure from the Departamento de Imprensa e Propaganda - DIP. After a short time in Rio, he moves to the interior of the state of São Paulo, where he organizes and directs the Escola de Belas Artes de Araraquara, teaching painting there until 1937. He returns to Rio de Janeiro in 1938 and teaches drawing and decorative arts at Enba until 1949. He becomes deputy director of Enba and, in 1950, is confirmed in the chair of decorative arts. In 1940, he serves on the organizing committee of the Modern Division of the Salão Nacional de Belas Artes - SNBA, in Rio de Janeiro. He also takes part in the Núcleo Bernardelli and is elected its president in 1942. With a view to reforming that institution's regulations, in 1957 he travels through Europe on a cultural mission for the Universidade do Brasil to observe decorative arts teaching programs, taking the opportunity to study mosaic technique in Ravenna, Italy. Between 1961 and 1963, he serves on the Comissão Nacional de Belas Artes. In 1981 he is named professor emeritus of the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ. He is the author of, among other works, the book História da Pintura Brasileira no Século XIX [History of Brazilian Painting in the 19th Century], published by Edições Pinakotheke in 1983, for which he receives the Prêmio Jabuti from the Câmara Brasileira do Livro.
Critical Commentary
Quirino Campofiorito's early works reveal a concern with social issues, such as the daily life of workers. He also paints urban scenes, figures and still lifes, notable for their spare, lyrical compositions. During the 1940s he is part of the Núcleo Bernardelli, showing figurative works that in some cases reveal affinities with the metaphysical painting of Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978). As the art historian Tadeu Chiarelli notes, his output, like that of other artists linked to the Núcleo Bernardelli, can be understood within the aims of the return to order. In the triptych Café [Coffee] (1940), one can see an affinity with Italian Renaissance painting, with the works of Mario Sironi (1885-1961) and also with Candido Portinari.
Alongside his artistic career, Quirino Campofiorito plays an important role as an art historian and, in 1983, publishes the book História da Pintura Brasileira no Século XIX [History of Brazilian Painting in the 19th Century].
Collections
Museo de La Plata - La Plata (Argentina)
Museu de Belas Artes - Belém PA
Museu Nacional de Belas Artes - MNBA - Rio de Janeiro RJ
Critiques
"In fact, and from the very beginning, the career of the painter Quirino Campofiorito has been contradictory and curiously 'postmodern'. In the midst of the 1920s, his figurative training stems from two sources that were antagonistic at the time: the disciplined, apathetic academicism of the Escola de Belas Artes and, at the same time, the invigorating work of a cartoon illustrator and advertising draftsman for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. This explains the ease with which he went on to grasp the Paris modernism of the 1930s and, three decades later, the American 'pop' appropriation. During the forty years that followed his return from Europe, a naturally modest temperament led to a constant critical aggressiveness, always devoted to renewing the art scene, compensating for a withdrawn painting practice (...). What we call the ostensible resumption of painting dates from the late 1960s. And, as if to recall the beginning of his professional life, in 1971 - his first exhibition since 1935 - Quirino Campofiorito presented one of the two aspects of his current painting: 'poster-painting', deliberately allegorical posters, yet painted in oil and conceived as tributes to Michelangelo, De Chirico, Brecht, Charlie Chaplin and Malevich (...)."
Ítalo Campofiorito
CAMPOFIORITO. Apresentação de Italo Campofiorito. Rio de Janeiro: Bolsa de Arte, 1977.
"Although teaching and critical activity have undoubtedly robbed the artist of precious time, Campofiorito has produced a considerable body of work, standing out for his urban views, nude and figure studies, still lifes and allegories, in which the influence of De Chirico and Metaphysical painting resonates very strongly. Perhaps the most enduring part of his pictorial work is the still lifes, in some of which the painter achieved admirable effects of lyricism, a personal note and a spare, unmistakable composition."
José Roberto Teixeira Leite
LEITE, José Roberto Teixeira. Dicionário crítico da pintura no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Artlivre, 1988.
Testimonials
"My life as a painter is different from the ordinary life of painters. They always commit themselves to the strict activities of the studio - exclusive attendance at the workshop, in order to achieve everything they can give to their work. I am one of those rare examples who have always disrupted attendance at the painter's studio with an equally assiduous dedication to other activities that kept me busy in very demanding spheres. Even so, not for a single moment did I deny a great and responsible commitment to the art truly indicated by my authentic vocation: painting. The other activities are consequences that arose along the way, offshoots of my convictions as a painter, which opened paths that ended up engaging my sensibility so deeply in the problems inherent to the visual arts as they presented themselves, particularly, in our country. It was impossible for my temperament to be only a painter. (...) Painting, the graphic arts (in all their variations), journalism and teaching trace the axis of my artistic life. Around this axis, developing in a straight line, there have been the painter that I am; the graphic artist always enthusiastic about a seductive variety of tasks; the journalist always devoted to disseminating art and commenting on it (from simple information to the responsible critical essay); and teaching, which does not escape the aims governing the artist's understanding and professional training: the rigor of the work of art (its technique)."
Quirino Campofiorito
CAMPOFIORITO, Quirino. Retrospectiva comemorativa dos 90 anos do artista. Rio de Janeiro: MNBA, 1992. p. 13.
Solo Exhibitions
1935 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Associação dos Artistas Brasileiros
1936 - Araraquara SP - Solo
1973 - Brasília DF - Retrospective, at Fundação Cultural do Distrito Federal
1973 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Sumário Retrospectivo 1920-1973 [Retrospective Summary 1920-1973], at MIS/RJ
1977 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Retrospectiva: 50 Anos de Pintura [Retrospective: 50 Years of Painting], at Bolsa de Arte
1978 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Desenhos dos Anos 30 [Drawings from the 1930s], at Galeria Estampa
1979 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria AM Niemeyer
1982 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Quirino Campofiorito - 80 anos [Quirino Campofiorito - 80 Years], at EAV Parque Lage
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Acervo Galeria de Arte
1992 - Niterói RJ - Retrospective, at Museu Antonio Parreiras
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Retrospectiva comemorativa dos 90 Anos do Artista [Retrospective Celebrating the Artist's 90th Birthday], at MNBA
1993 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Retrospectiva 80 Anos de Paixão Gráfica: Quirino Campofiorito [Retrospective 80 Years of Graphic Passion: Quirino Campofiorito], at Biblioteca Nacional
Group Exhibitions
1927 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 34th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba - large silver medal
1928 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 35th General Exhibition of Fine Arts - large gold medal
1929 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 36th General Exhibition of Fine Arts, at Enba - foreign travel prize
1932 - Paris (France) - Salon de la Société Nationale
1933 - Paris (France) - Salon d'Automne
1935 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 41st National Salon of Fine Arts - silver medal
1937 - São Paulo SP - 5th São Paulo Fine Arts Salon
1938 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 2nd Salão de Maio [May Salon]
1938 - San Francisco (United States) - Exposição Internacional da Califórnia [California International Exhibition]
1943 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Exposição Anti-Eixo [Anti-Axis Exhibition], at Museu Histórico e Diplomático. Palácio Itamaraty
1944 - Belo Horizonte MG - Modern Art Exhibition, at Edifício Mariana
1944 - London (England) - Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, at Royal Academy of Arts
1944 - Norwich (England) - Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, at Norwich Castle and Museum
1944 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 50th National Salon of Fine Arts, at MNBA
1945 - Bath (England) - Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, at Victory Art Gallery
1945 - Bristol (England) - Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, at Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery
1945 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - 20 Artistas Brasileños, at Salas Nacionales de Exposición
1945 - Edinburgh (Scotland) - Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, at National Gallery
1945 - Glasgow (Scotland) - Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, at Kelvingrove Art Gallery
1945 - La Plata (Argentina) - 20 Artistas Brasileños, at Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes
1945 - Manchester (England) - Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, at Manchester Art Gallery
1945 - Montevideo (Uruguay) - 20 Artistas Brasileños, at Comisión Municipal de Cultura
1946 - London (England) - Exposição dos Artistas Brasileiros ao Povo de Londres [Exhibition of Brazilian Artists to the People of London]
1946 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Painters Go to the People's School, at Diretório Acadêmico da Enba
1952 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st National Salon of Modern Art
1953 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 4th Still Life Salon, at Theatro Municipal
1954 - Goiânia GO - Exhibition of the National Congress of Intellectuals
1954 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Black and White Salon, at Palácio da Cultura
1955 - Porto Alegre RS - 1st Exhibition of Contemporary Brazilian Art, at Margs
1956 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Railway Salon, at MEC
1956 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 5th National Salon of Modern Art
1956 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 50 Anos de Paisagem Brasileira [50 Years of Brazilian Landscape], at MNBA
1958 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Work in Art, at MNBA
1967 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 16th National Salon of Modern Art
1970 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 19th National Salon of Modern Art, at MAM/RJ
1973 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 22nd National Salon of Modern Art
1976 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 25th National Salon of Modern Art
1982 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - The Universe of Football, at MAM/RJ
1982 - São Paulo SP - Núcleo Bernardelli Exhibition: Brazilian Art in the 1930s and 1940s, at Acervo Galeria de Arte
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Self-Portraits, at Galeria de Arte Banerj
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradition and Rupture: A Synthesis of Brazilian Art and Culture, at Fundação Bienal
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 8th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Visões do Trabalho [Visions of Work], at MNBA
1993 - São Paulo SP - Modern Drawing in Brazil: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
Posthumous Exhibitions
1994 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Modern Drawing in Brazil: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, at MAM/RJ
1994 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Brasil Século XX, at Fundação Bienal
1998 - São Paulo SP - The Modern and the Contemporary in Brazilian Art: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection - MAM/RJ, at Masp
2000 - Belém PA - Arte Pará 2000, at Museu de Arte Sacra
2000 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brasil + 500 Rediscovery Exhibition. Negro de Corpo e Alma [Black in Body and Soul], at Fundação Casa França-Brasil
2000 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - When Brazil Was Modern: Visual Arts in Rio de Janeiro from 1905 to 1960, at Paço Imperial
2000 - São Paulo SP - Ars Erótica: Sexo e Erotismo na Arte Brasileira [Ars Erotica: Sex and Eroticism in Brazilian Art], at MAM/SP
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brasil + 500 Rediscovery Exhibition, at Fundação Bienal
2002 - São Paulo SP - Arte e Política [Art and Politics], at MAM/SP
2003 - São Paulo SP - Art and Society: A Controversial Relationship, at Itaú Cultural
Source: Itaú Cultural
