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

scenography Scenography is the practice of crafting stage environments or atmospheres. In the contemporary English usage, scenography can be defined as the combination of technological and material stagecrafts to represent, enact, and produce a sense of plac ...

costume design Costume design is the process of selecting or creating clothing for a performers. A costume may be designed from scratch or may be designed by combining existing garments. "Costume" may also refer to the style of dress particular to a nation, a ...

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on 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 ar ...

and

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

Early life

Graciano was born in

Araras Araras () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality located in the interior of São Paulo (state), State of São Paulo, Brazil. The population is 135,506 as of the 2020 Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE estimate. Etymology ...

Career

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

América Latina Logística The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

''), in Conchas, 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 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

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, Brazi ...

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

Francisco Rebolo Francisco Rebolo Gonsales, widely known as Francisco Rebolo or just Rebolo (August 22, 1902 – July 10, 1980), was a Brazilian painter and footballer. He was a son of Spanish immigrants that arrived into Brazil at the end of the 19th century. ...

, Mario Zanini, Aldo Bonadei, Fulvio Pennacchi 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 Spani ...

. 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 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. It was one of two Portuguese newspa ...

'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

in EAD ( USP's drama school), and illustration newspapers, magazines and books, particularly in the 1980s. Throughout his career, Graciano was faithful to Figurativism, and never felt a slight attraction to

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a Composition (visual arts), composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. ''Abstract art'', ''non-figurative art'', ''non- ...

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

dancers Dance is an art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements or ...

. 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 Brazilian modern artists 20th-century Brazilian painters 20th-century Brazilian male artists {{Brazil-painter-stub

Early life

Career

See also

References