Clóvis Graciano (January 29, 1907 – June 29, 1988) was a Brazilian artist who worked with painting, drawing, scenography, costume design,

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...

and

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...

Early life

Graciano was born in Araras.

Career

In 1927 he was hired by the ''Estrada de Ferro Sorocabana'' (or "Sorocabana Railroad", currently ''

América Latina Logística The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

''), in

Conchas Conchas is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 milli ...

, São Paulo state, where he painted poles, signboards and warnings for the railroad stations. In 1934 he moved to

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

to work as a clerk. From then, he divided his time between art and his job. After ten years, he was fired for excessive absences. In 1937, having encountered the art of

Alfredo Volpi Alfredo Volpi (April 14, 1896 – May 28, 1988), was a prominent painter of the artistic and cultural Brazilian modernist movement. He was born in Lucca, Italy but, less than two years later, he was brought by his parents to São Paulo, Brazil ...

, Clóvis Graciano took his place in the Palacete Santa Helena, becoming part of the

Grupo Santa Helena {{short description, Brazilian painters Grupo Santa Helena, or Santa Helena Group, was the name given by the critic Sérgio Milliet to the painters that met in the ateliers of Francisco Rebolo and Mario Zanini starting in the 1930s. The ateliers bel ...

, together with

Francisco Rebolo Francisco Rebolo Gonsales, widely known as Francisco Rebolo, or just Rebolo (August 22, 1902 in São Paulo – July 10, 1980 in São Paulo), was a Brazilian painter. He was a son of Spanish immigrants that arrived at Brasil in the end of 19th c ...

Mario Zanini Mario Zanini, or simply Zanini (September 10, 1907 in São Paulo – August 16, 1971 in São Paulo), was a Brazilian painter and interior designer. He was born in a humble family. As a teenager he studied in the '' Escola de Belas de São Paul ...

Aldo Bonadei Aldo Cláudio Felipe Bonadei, also known as Aldo Bonadei (June 17, 1906 in São Paulo – January 16, 1974 in São Paulo) was a Brazilian painter of Italian descent. Early life Between 1923 and 1928, Aldo studied with Brazilian academic painter ...

Fulvio Pennacchi Fulvio Pennacchi (December 27, 1905 in Villa Collemandina – October 5, 1992 in São Paulo) was an Italian-Brazilian artist who specialized in painted murals and made ceramics. He was part of the Santa Helena Group, together with Alfredo V ...

and others, besides Volpi. Graciano befriended Portinari. In the late 1940s, he went to Paris, where he learned about

mural painting A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spanis ...

. Back to Brazil, he did several panels. For instance, ''Armistício de Iperoig'' (or "Iperoig's truce"), for FAAP (1962); the panel ''Operário'' (or "Proletarian") in Avenida Moreira Guimarães, in São Paulo city (1979), murals in Avenida Paulista, and in

Diário Popular ''Diário Popular'' was a Portuguese language daily newspaper published in Lisbon, Portugal, between 1942 and 1990. History and profile ''Diário Popular'' was first published on 22 September 1942. Its headquarters was in Lisbon. The paper was o ...

's building. In 1971, he worked as director of São Paulo State Pinacotheca, and as president of the São Paulo's State Board for Visual Arts, and of the São Paulo's State Council for Culture. Besides painting, Graciano worked in several different activities in parallel, teaching scenography in EAD ( USP's drama school), and illustration newspapers, magazines and books, particularly in the 1980s. Throughout his career, Graciano was faithful to

Figurativism Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real object sources and so is, by definition, representation (arts), representational. The term is often in ...

, and never felt a slight attraction to

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...

. He worked extensively with social themes, like the migrants, besides themes with musicians and

dancers Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

. He died in

, aged 81. His works are held by museums and private collections in Brazil and abroad.

References

*
Obras de Clóvis Graciano
' 1907 births 1988 deaths People from Araras Modern artists 20th-century Brazilian painters 20th-century Brazilian male artists {{Brazil-painter-stub

Early life

Career

See also

References