Francisco Antonio Paulo Matarazzo Sobrinho (February 20, 1898 – April 16, 1977), known as Ciccillo Matarazzo, was a Brazilian industrialist, founder of

São Paulo Museum of Modern Art The São Paulo Museum of Modern Art, (Portuguese: Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, or MAM), is located in Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo. Founded by Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho and Yolanda Penteado, and built in 1948, the museum is modelled on ...

and

São Paulo Art Biennial The São Paulo Art Biennial (Portuguese: ''Bienal de São Paulo'') was founded in 1951 and has been held every two years since. It is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennale (in existence since 1895), which serves as ...

Early life and family

Matarazzo was born in São Paulo. He was the son of millionaire Andrea Matarazzo, one of the brothers of Count

Francesco Matarazzo Francesco Matarazzo (1443 – August 21, 1518) was an Italian historian of the European Renaissance. His fame rests largely on his masterwork ''Chronicles of the City of Perugia 1492-1503'' which has become a primary source for many later hist ...

. Matarazzo was cousin of Earl Francisco Matarazzo II, Ciccillo. He interrupted his engineering course in Europe at the outbreak of the First World War.

Career

The creator of the

and entrepreneur, Matarazzo became the main engine of modern art in Brazil. His name was present in all the events that streamlined the state capital in the 1950s, as the Brazilian Comedy Theater and Film Company Vera Cruz. In 1948, he founded

and, in 1951, created the Biennial, in a style similar to that of

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

, which he visited several times. With the help of his first wife,

Yolanda Penteado Yolanda de Ataliba Nogueira Penteado (1903-1983) was a Brazilian patron of the arts and member of an affluent coffee ranching family with artistic connections. Her aunt was Olívia Guedes Penteado and she was married to Ciccillo Matarazzo. Refe ...

, Matarazzo could house a makeshift shed, hundreds of works from different countries she visited and convinced them to participate. In 1954, with the celebration of the fourth centenary of the city, which was also part of its organizing committee, the Biennale was able to gather important works such as ''

Guernica Guernica (, ), official name (reflecting the Basque language) Gernika (), is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the mu ...

'',

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

's huge mural. Powerful, authoritarian and possessive, until 1975, Ciccillo was solely responsible for the exposure, imposing its determinations and creating numerous areas of friction. However, at his own expense, was admittedly irreplaceable.

Personal life

His first wife was

. When he was 74, Matarazzo married for the second time Balbina Martinez de Zayas. He died aged 79 on April 16, 1977.

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20150317102907/http://memorialdafama.com/biografiasCD/CiccilloMatarazzo.html (In Portuguese) 1898 births 1977 deaths 20th-century Brazilian businesspeople Businesspeople from São Paulo Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany {{Brazil-business-bio-stub