MEETING 8
04/30 - Thursday:
At the UDESC painting studio, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.
Content: Breakfast with José Maria Dias da Cruz
Artist and reference links:
https://www.facebook.com/jm.d.dacruz?fref=ts
http://josemariadiasdacruz.com.br/livros/
The Artist
“The artist is not an ego, he is an echo”. Nothing could be more pertinent than using this thought from José Maria Dias da Cruz himself to present him. Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1935, he was the son of the writer Marques Rebelo, who introduced his son to important artists: Iberê Camargo, Pancetti, Milton Dacosta, Tarsila do Amaral, Santa Rosa and others.
José Maria Dias da Cruz began his artistic activities in Santa Catarina when he was only 12 years old, the year in which he participated in his first exhibition, in the collective that gave rise to the first Museum of Modern Art in Brazil in 1948, founded by his father, who was undoubtedly one of the greatest supporters of the visual arts in the country in the 40s and 50s.
José Maria Dias da Cruz received guidance from Thomás Santa Rosa and, through a scholarship offered by Itamaraty and the French government, he went to live in Paris, where he received guidance in painting from Emílio Pietorutti and in engraving from photographer and artist Lee Friedlander. In addition to the teachers who guided him, he listened to a lot of Pancetti, Milton Dacosta Iberê Camargo, Di Cavalcanti and other masters who frequented his father's house.
Considered one of the greatest scholars of color, José Maria created theories never before mentioned in the History of Art. The immense theoretical and intellectual load with which he handles paints and brushes gave rise to three publications and more than three decades of teaching at the most respected art schools in Brazil. Generations of artists such as Carlos Bevilacqua, BobN, among others, have passed through his classroom. He maintains a close friendship with Gonçalo Ivo, who sought him out for guidance and today he is his largest collector with more than 150 works. Among his interlocutors are Luiz Camillo Osório, Milton Machado, Guilherme Bueno and Ricardo Simões. Recently, the artist Beatriz Milhazes stated in an interview with Vogue Magazine that José Maria Dias da Cruz is the artist who most investigates the perception of colors in Brazil.
In 1998, a retrospective of his work was held at the Paço Imperial, which was considered by the newspaper O Globo to be one of the 10 most important exhibitions held that year in Rio de Janeiro. In a poll conducted by Jornal do Brasil, JMDC was cited among the 70 most important Brazilian artists of the 20th century.
With over 60 years of painting, the artist has works in the main public collections in the country, such as MAC Niteroi; MAR Rio de Janeiro; MASC Florianópolis; MAM São Paulo; and in important collections such as Luis Chrisóstomo, Gilberto Chateaubriand and João Satamini.
The artist will begin the project of cataloging his work by the end of 2014.
