Waldemar da Costa (Belém PA 1904 - Curitiba PR 1982)
Waldemar da Costa was a painter and teacher. He completed his training in Portugal, where he moved with his family in 1910. Between 1920 and 1924, he attended the Liceu Camões. In 1923, he studied drawing with Martinho da Fonseca and watercolor with João Alves, entering the Academia Nacional de Belas Artes in Lisbon the following year, where he took drawing classes with Ernesto Condeixa and painting with Carlos Reis between 1924 and 1928. He began a course at the Escola Superior de Belas Artes but did not complete it.
In 1928, he moved to Paris, where he attended various studios and free academies and associated with artists such as Eduardo Viana, Giorgio de Chirico (1888–1978), Alberto Savinio, Pascin, Foujita, Gastão Worms (1905–1967) and Candido Portinari (1903–1962). He returned to Brazil in 1931 and settled in Rio de Janeiro until 1933. For the next three years, he withdrew from the art world and lived on a small farm in Correias, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. In 1936, he moved to São Paulo, where he set up his studio in a room of the Teatro Municipal provided by the Department of Culture.
During this period he began teaching, Clovis Graciano (1907–1988) being one of his first students. In 1937, he founded the Família Artística Paulista (FAP) together with Rossi Osir (1890–1959) and Vittorio Gobbis (1894–1968), and became head of the group two years later. In 1938, he became a teacher at the Liceu de Artes e Ofícios de São Paulo (Laosp), where his students included Hermelindo Fiaminghi (1920–2004) and Lothar Charoux (1912–1987).
In the 1950s, he once again withdrew from the art world and moved to a small farm in Pedra Bonita, in the interior of São Paulo. In 1954, he was hired by the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM/SP) to teach painting. Two years later, he returned to Portugal, where he taught at several institutions, including the Círculo de Belas Artes of the Associação Acadêmica de Coimbra, between 1960 and 1966. In 1960, he was hired by the cultural section of the Brazilian Embassy. In 1962, he went to Italy on a grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. He returned to Brazil in 1963, living in São Paulo, then in Macaé, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, from 1976 to 1980, and in Curitiba from 1980 to 1982.
Critical Commentary
Waldemar da Costa's name is linked to the artistic groups active in the city of São Paulo in the 1930s and 1940s. His close relationship with the Família Artística Paulista - FAP and with the salons of the Sindicato dos Artistas Plásticos [Visual Artists Union], and the awards he received at two salons of the Sociedade Pró-Arte Moderna - Spam, are some clear signs of his prominence on the art scene of the period, owing to his work and activity. His profile can thus be compared to that of other artists who, like him, benefited from the aesthetic achievements of modernism while also drawing on the contributions of traditional art. But Costa combines these legacies with others and, in this sense, traces a singular path within Brazilian art. His training included learning the craft at Portuguese institutions - more classical and conservative in character - and the experience of Paris, where he came into contact with the most varied expressions of the avant-garde. Critics draw attention to the way he appropriated disparate tendencies: the "mental" painting of Paul Cézanne (1839 - 1906), the compositions based on simple colors of Othon Friesz (1879 - 1949), the juxtaposed color areas used by Robert Delaunay (1885 - 1941) and the lyrical abstraction of Wassily Kandinsky (1866 - 1944).
Rather than indecision between different approaches, Costa's work allows us to gauge the benefits of a hybrid training acquired in several centers. Figuration was his preferred option until the 1950s, when he produced portraits, still lifes and landscapes. One notes the harmonious balance of forms and colors, combined with a lyrical treatment of the subjects. In the late 1950s, his commitment to geometric construction became evident, gaining prominence in the following decade. In any case, figuration was never abandoned, and it returned to an important place in his mature work.
Collections
Acervo da Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo/Brasil - São Paulo SP
Biblioteca Municipal Mário de Andrade - São Paulo SP
Coleção Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo - MAC/USP - São Paulo SP
Coleção Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo - MAM/SP - São Paulo SP
Museu Gulbenkian da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian - Lisboa (Portugal)
Museu Nacional de Belas Artes - MNBA - Rio de Janeiro RJ
Critiques
"The painter managed to come through those years of the 1930s with a panache acquired in Paris - the celebrated aura of Montmartre left him with something refined that throbs in the manner of Cézanne or Emile Othon-Friesz, as has been said of him. In his adherence to the new vision arising from the neorealism that emerged from cubism and expressionism, there are no extravagances. He had depth, very much his own, verifiable in any of these figures. Waldemar da Costa seems to us to have suffered, many times over, the uprootedness of one who never settled in one milieu. (...) The war passed and events came along such as the Art Museums, the Biennial and the exhibitions from Figurativism to Abstractionism. At that juncture, Waldemar da Costa's concern with abstraction moved into the schemes of his figures. Ten years after the Second World War, Waldemar da Costa returned to Europe and settled in Portugal, by then wholly committed to the geometric construction of space, a critic tells us: Lind. This same critic highlights his activity in Lisbon from 1956, his influence on young non-figurative artists and, besides the exhibitions he held, his work at the Associação Acadêmica de Coimbra, where he was a teacher, helping 'to break the resistance of the Portuguese bourgeoisie to abstract art'. In 1962, as a consequence of this vital activity, most of the painters in the Second Gulbenkian Exhibition were abstract. By 1962, Waldemar da Costa had embraced the geometric. He had filtered his drawing and form through a baroque-abstract moment, and was now committed to what is his painting today".
Geraldo Ferraz
RETROSPECTIVA Waldemar da Costa: exposição homenagem ao mestre. Apresentação de Geraldo Ferraz. São Paulo: MAM, 1972.
Solo Exhibitions
1930 - Lisbon (Portugal) - First solo exhibition, at Galeria Bobone
1932 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Palace Hotel
1935 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Palace Hotel
1944 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Ateliê de Clóvis Graciano
1947 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Itapetininga
1956 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Solo, at Secretariado Nacional de Informação
1959 - Coimbra (Portugal) - Solo, at Associação Acadêmica
1961 - Madrid (Spain) - Solo, at Sala Abril
1961 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Retrospectiva 30 Anos de Pintura de Waldemar da Costa [Retrospective: 30 Years of Painting by Waldemar da Costa], organized by the Brazilian embassy
1961 - Porto (Portugal) - Retrospectiva 30 Anos de Pintura de Waldemar da Costa [Retrospective: 30 Years of Painting by Waldemar da Costa], organized by the Brazilian embassy
1961 - Coimbra (Portugal) - Retrospectiva 30 Anos de Pintura de Waldemar da Costa [Retrospective: 30 Years of Painting by Waldemar da Costa], organized by the Brazilian embassy
1963 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Masp
1964 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Solo, at Galeria de Arte da Livraria Divulgação
1966 - Aveiro (Portugal) - Despedida de Portugal [Farewell to Portugal], at Galeria Borges
1966 - Coimbra (Portugal) - Despedida de Portugal [Farewell to Portugal], at Sala Primeiro de Janeiro
1966 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Despedida de Portugal [Farewell to Portugal], at Galeria Diário de Notícias
1967 - São Paulo SP - Retrospective, at Galeria Astréia
1969 - São Paulo SP - Retrospective, at Galeria Astréia
1969 - Santos SP - Waldemar da Costa: Paintings, at Galeria de Arte Centro Cultural Brasil-Estados Unidos
1972 - São Paulo SP - Retrospective, at MAM/SP
1973 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Cosme Velho
1973 - Brasília DF - Solo, at Galeria Múltipla
1978 - Belém PA - Solo show 50 Anos de Pintura [50 Years of Painting], at cinquentenário do Teatro da Paz
1981 - Curitiba PR - Solo, at MAC/PR
Group Exhibitions
1927 - Lisbon (Portugal) - First exhibition, alongside José Tarrago
1930 - Lisbon (Portugal) - 1st Salon of Independents
1930 - Paris (France) - 41st Exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants
1931 - Lisbon (Portugal) - 2nd Salon of Independents
1931 - Paris (France) - 42nd Exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants
1931 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Revolutionary Salon, at Enba
1935 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Social Art Exhibition, at Clube de Cultura Moderna
1936 - São Paulo SP - Joaquim Figueira and Waldemar da Costa, at Palácio das Arcadas
1937 - Belém PA - 1st São Paulo Painting Salon
1937 - Fortaleza CE - 1st São Paulo Painting Salon
1937 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Família Artística Paulista Show
1937 - São Paulo SP - 1st Salon of the Família Artística Paulista, at Esplanada Hotel de São Paulo
1937 - São Paulo SP - 1st Salão de Maio, at Esplanada Hotel de São Paulo
1939 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Salon of the Família Artística Paulista, at Automóvel Clube
1939 - São Paulo SP - 5th Salon of the Visual Artists' Union, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1941 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Modern Art Division of the National Salon of Fine Arts - bronze medal
1941 - São Paulo SP - 1st Art Salon of the National Industries Fair, at Parque da Água Branca
1942 - São Paulo SP - 7th Salon of the Visual Artists' Union, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1944 - Belo Horizonte MG - Modern Art Exhibition, at Edifício Mariana
1944 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 50th National Salon of Fine Arts. Modern Division, at MNBA - silver medal
1944 - São Paulo SP - 8th Salon of the Visual Artists' Union, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1944 - São Paulo SP - 9th Salon of the Visual Artists' Union, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1944 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian-North American Modern Painting Exhibition, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1946 - São Paulo SP - 10th Salon of the Visual Artists' Union, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1947 - São Paulo SP - 11th Salon of the Visual Artists' Union, at Galeria Prestes Maia
1948 - São Paulo SP - 12th Salon of the Visual Artists' Union, at Galeria Domus
1951 - São Paulo SP - 1st São Paulo International Biennial, at Pavilhão do Trianon
1951 - São Paulo SP - 1st São Paulo Salon of Modern Art
1952 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Artists, at MAM/RJ
1952 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Exhibition of Brazilian Artists, at MAM/RJ
1952 - São Paulo SP - 2nd São Paulo Salon of Modern Art
1953 - São Paulo SP - 2nd São Paulo International Biennial
1954 - São Paulo SP - 3rd São Paulo Salon of Modern Art, at Galeria Prestes Maia - small silver medal
1955 - São Paulo SP - 3rd São Paulo International Biennial, at Pavilhão das Nações
1955 - São Paulo SP - 4th São Paulo Salon of Modern Art, at Galeria Prestes Maia - small gold medal
1957 - Lisbon (Portugal) - 1st Visual Arts Exhibition of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, at Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
1957 - São Paulo SP - 5th São Paulo International Biennial, at Pavilhão Ciccilo Matarazzo Sobrinho
1958 - Évora (Portugal) - Represents Brazil at the Évora International Art Mission
1958 - Lisbon (Portugal) - 1st Modern Art Salon of the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes
1959 - Lisbon (Portugal) - 2nd Modern Art Salon of the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes
1960 - Lisbon (Portugal) - 3rd Modern Art Salon of the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes
1961 - Lisbon (Portugal) - 4th Modern Art Salon of the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes
1962 - Lisbon (Portugal) - 5th Modern Art Salon of the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes
1962 - Madrid (Spain) - Pintura Brasileña Contemporánea [Contemporary Brazilian Painting]
1963 - Lisbon (Portugal) - 6th Modern Art Salon of the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes
1965 - São Paulo SP - 8th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1967 - Campinas SP - 3rd Campinas Contemporary Art Salon, at MACC - large gold medal
1967 - São Paulo SP - 9th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1969 - São Paulo SP - 1st Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1970 - São Paulo SP - 1970, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1970 - São Paulo SP - 2nd Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1972 - São Paulo SP - Waldemar da Costa Retrospective: Tribute to the Master, at MAM/SP
1973 - São Paulo SP - 5th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1975 - São Paulo SP - 13th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1976 - São Paulo SP - 8th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1976 - São Paulo SP - The Salons: of the Família Artística Paulista, of May and of the São Paulo Visual Artists Union, at Museu Lasar Segall
1977 - São Paulo SP - The Groups: The 1940s, at Museu Lasar Segall
1982 - São Paulo SP - From Modernism to the Bienal, at MAM/SP
Posthumous Exhibitions
1984 - Fortaleza CE - 7th National Visual Arts Salon
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Salão de 31 [The 1931 Salon], at Funarte
1988 - São Paulo SP - Brasiliana: Man and the Land, at Pinacoteca do Estado
1993 - Cascavel PR - Southern Cone Integration Visual Arts Show, at Espaço Cultural da Prefeitura Municipal
1993 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Southern Cone Integration Visual Arts Show, at Instituto Cultural Brasil Argentina
1993 - São Paulo SP - Southern Cone Integration Visual Arts Show, at Centro Cultural São Paulo
1996 - São Paulo SP - Matemática, Realidade e Estética: Microships e Arte Moderna [Mathematics, Reality and Aesthetics: Microchips and Modern Art], at MAC
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Negotiated Images: Portraits of the Brazilian Elite, at CCBB
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
2001 - São Paulo SP - Aldo Franco Collection, at Pinacoteca do Estado
2002 - São Paulo SP - Modernism: From the Week of '22 to Sérgio Milliet's Art Section, at CCSP
2003 - Belém PA - 22nd Arte Pará Salon, at Museu do Estado do Pará
Source: Itaú Cultural
