Emiliano Di Cavalcanti

Background

Emiliano Di Cavalcanti was born on September 6, 1897 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The son of Frederico Augusto Cavalcanti de Albuquerque e Melo and Rosalia de Sena.

Education

Emiliano Di Cavalcanti proved to have a talent for drawing and caricature from a fairly young age, and spent much of his time experimenting with painting. He was also musically inclined, and took piano classes with the musician Judith Levy.

While in Rio de Janeiro, he attended the workshop of Gaspar Puga Garcia. He also attended the Colégio Pio Americano, and upon graduation, decided to pursue a degree in law. To this end, Di Cavalcanti moved to São Paulo in 1916, and enrolled at the Faculdade de Direito do Largo de São Francisco in the city.

Career

Di Cavalcanti had begun making illustrations and caricatures for the magazine Fon-Fon before leaving for São Paulo, and continued to do so during his studies. In 1917 he held his first exhibition at the "Editora do Livro" (the bookstore) in São Paulo, where he mainly showed caricatures.

Along with the artists of a group of intellectuals and artists in São Paulo, Di Cavalcanti was instrumental in organizing the "Semana de Arte Moderna" in 1922. Held at the Theatro Municipal in the city, it was an important and influential exhibition championing the cause of modern art.

Di Cavalcanti lived in Paris and Montparnasse from 1923 until 1925. His time in Europe was fruitful, and he exhibited widely across the Continent, showing in London, Berlin and Amsterdam, besides Paris. He was also in touch with the greatest artists and intellectuals of the era there, including Picasso, Matisse, Jean Cocteau and Erik Satie. He was concurrently working for "Correio da Manhã" through these years as their Paris correspondent. His discussions with artists in Europe led him to realize the need for finding a purer Brazilian art form that would be able to shed influences from elsewhere.

After returning from Europe and having experienced the modernist movement in Europe Di Cavalcanti would start working on a more Brazilian art. He made two panels for the Teatro João Caetano in the city in 1929, and the following year traveled to the United States to participate in a Brazilian exhibition in New York.

In 1932 Di Cavalcanti was arrested for his involvement with the Revolução Constitucionalista. He had also been teaching art during these years. That year was particularly eventful, as he was also one of the founders of "Sociedade Pró-Arter Moderna", which organized the "Exposiçao de Arte Moderna" in 1933, featuring the art of Picasso, Braque, and Fernand Léger.

In 1937 Di Cavalcanti and his wife Noêmia Mourão decided to move to Europe for a while, and arrived in Paris in 1937. His years in Paris were successful, and he exhibited regularly and widely. However, the couple was forced to leave France in 1940 because of the onset of World War II, leaving behind a large number of his paintings.

They arrived back in São Paulo in 1940. He lectured and wrote, and in 1946 returned to Paris in an attempt to locate the paintings he had left behind there, to no avail. He was by this time making illustrations for books by the writer Jorge Amado, and also for the musician Vinicius de Moraes.

In 1951 the first of the Bienals, held at the Museu de Arte Moderna at São Paulo, featured Di Cavalcanti’s works. In 1954 a retrospective of his work was held at the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro.

During his last decade, Di Cavalcanti travelled frequently abroad. Besides, his lost paintings were suddenly discovered in 1966 at the Brazilian embassy basement in Paris.

Emiliano Di Cavalcanti died on October 26, 1976 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Achievements

• Emiliano Di Cavalcanti was one of the first Brazilian artists to make art that strove to shed all European influence.
  
  He was awarded a Gold medal for his murals in the French-Brazilian Coffee Company in the Art Technique Exhibition in Paris in 1937.
  
  Besides, the Portuguese government made him a Comendador da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique in 1975.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Macumba

  • Mulher Deitada com Peixes e Frutas

  • A Carioca

  • Músicos

  • Untitled

  • Samba

  • Mulatas

  • Cinco Moças de Guaratinguetá

  • Mangue

  • Untitled

  • Untitled (Heralds)

  • Venezia

  • Natureza Morta

  • Mulata e Pássaros

  • Mulata no sofá

  • O Homem e a máquina

  • Mulheres no balcão

  • Baianas

  • Pierrete

  • Women from Bahai

Membership

In 1918 Di Cavalcanti became a member of a group of intellectuals and artists in São Paulo which would contain artist like Oswald de Andrade, Mário de Andrade, Guilherme de Almeida, among others. This movement along with the Group of Five wished to revive the artistic environment in São Paulo at the time and had as its main interest to free Brazilian art from the European influences found within it.

Connections

Di Cavalcanti was married to his cousin Maria in 1921. His second wife was the painter Noêmia Mourão, who would be an inspiration in his works in the later 1930s.

Father:

Frederico Augusto Cavalcanti de Albuquerque e Melo

Mother:

Rosalia de Sena

first spouse:

Maria

second spouse:

Noêmia Mourão

teacher:

Judith Levy

teacher:

Gaspar Puga Garcia

Friend:

Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho