Livio Abramo (June 23, 1903 – April 26, 1992) was a

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 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian-born

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

an sketcher, engraver, and aquarellist. Abramo was born on June 23, 1903, in

Araraquara Araraquara ( or ) is a city in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 250.314 (2022 est.) in an area of . It is also known as "the abode of the sun," because of its impressive sunset and because of its hot atmosphe ...

to Italian-Jewish parents of

Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

background. He described his father as a liberal and his paternal grandfather as an anarchist. Although born in

, he adopted

as his nation and it was in this country that he produced much of his work. He is considered to be "a key player in this development of Paraguayan modern art." In his book ''Etapas de un itinerario: grabados, dibujos, acuarelas de Livio Abramo'' (''Phases of an Itinerary: Engraves, Drawing and Aquarelles From Livio Abramo'') Abramo claimed that his artistic skills were entirely

autodidactic Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or educational institution, institutions (such as schools). Generally, ...

, and that many of his creations were inspired by his political views. Scholars consider him to be influenced by

Oswaldo Goeldi Oswaldo Goeldi (31 October 1895 – 16 February 1961) was a Brazilian artist and renowned engraver. He was the son of Swiss naturalist Émil Goeldi. Goeldi was born in Rio de Janeiro, but lived in Belém, in the state Pará, until he was 6 ...

and by German expressionists such as

Käthe Kollwitz Käthe Kollwitz ( born as Schmidt; 8 July 1867 – 22 April 1945) was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking (including etching, lithography and woodcuts) and sculpture. Her most famous art cycles, including ''The Weavers'' and ''T ...

Beginnings

After obtaining a major prize for his engravings in 1950, he travelled for almost two years in

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, accompanied by his daughter Larissa. During this time he visited many European museums. Abramo was a journalist for 33 years, and his political ideologies are expressed in his artistic work. He was very politically active; a trait which landed him in trouble on several occasions, with him spending some time in jail.

Work

Abramo followed the studies of Brazilian nature, known as ''Itapecerica'', ''Campos de Jordão'' (Fields of Jordao), and others. Following this, he created the series ''Obrero'' (Worker) and ''Guerra civil española'' (Spanish Civil War). Years later, he produced the xylo-engrave series in 1948 to illustrate the book ''Pelo Sertão'', written by Brazilian writer Alfonso Arinos.

Career milestones

Following is a list of some important events during Abramo's career: *1951: Had a special room at the First Biennial of Modern Art of São Paulo; also had a special room at the sixth edition of the event. *1956: Provided an individual exposition to the Modern Arts Museum of Río de Janeiro, and another at São Paulo. *1956: First visit to Paraguay *1957: Founded the Taller de Grabado Julián de la Herrería ( Julián de la Herrería Engraving Workshop) in

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of ...

. *1960: Along with engraver María Bonomi, founded the Estudio Gravura at São Paulo. *1964: Moved permanently to Asunción, where he worked training Paraguayan artists. *1976: Made an introspective show at the São Paulo Biennial. *1978: Invited to repeat his previous retrospective by the Modern Arts Museum of Río de Janeiro. *1983: Made an exposition in the Cultural Center of São Paulo. *1990: The Lasar Segall Museum organizes a retrospective of his work.

Legacy

On April 26, 1992, a few months before turning 89 years old, he died in

. Abramo was admired for his extraordinary humility, kindness, the integrity and clarity of his thoughts, and the thorough approach he employed in the training of many other artists. He was considered to be one of the renovators of the xylographic language of the 20th century. His engravings can be found at the British Museum of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the Museum of the Vatican, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the Riverside Museum, the Philadelphia Museum, The National Library of the Louvre in Paris, the Modern Arts Museums of São Paulo and Río de Janeiro, and the Visual Arts Center in Asunción, as well as in numerous private collections. In February 2006, works by Livio Abramo and other Paraguayan artists were exhibited to celebrated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Taller de Grabado Julián de la Herrería (Julián de la Herrería Engraving Workshop). In February 2007, Vanessa Tio-Groset and Jorge Codas paid tribute to his work in the multidisciplinary exhibition ''Festa ao ritmo da chuva'' at the Cultural Center of the Brazilian Embassy in Paraguay.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abramo, Livio 1903 births 1992 deaths People from Araraquara 20th-century Brazilian Jews 20th-century engravers 20th-century Paraguayan painters 20th-century Sephardi Jews Brazilian engravers Brazilian comics artists Brazilian Sephardi Jews Brazilian people of Italian-Jewish descent Jewish painters Brazilian emigrants to Paraguay