MARCIER, OR AN ADVENTURE IN BRAZIL
<Click here to see the painters's house in Barbacena city, Minas
Gerais
...Were he not so young, his presence would be an artistic event of great importance
for our milieu and our artists. Being young, his coming to Brazil has a unique interest.
We can have, here, the peivilege of following the development of an exceptional
artistc nature, his blossoming from the moment of the enthusiasms and anxieties
of adolescence. This is the chance meaning - and also important for us - of Marcier's
flight to Brazil, an adventure which may be for him, after risks and torments, a
really creative experience, welcome by the artist himself.
...but what can we say in favor of Marcier's staying with us? Nothing. He brought
us the stimulating and wonderful lesson of his presence. He chose our skies and
our light to free himself from the persecution of the Huns; he brought us the best
of himself, the best strenght of this creative powers of youth. Arriving here, he,
an European, reminds the Brazilian artists of a Brazil older than Hollywood or Copacabana,
of an ancient landscape full of a tradition saved from the demolishing cosmopolitism.
So it is a refugee a foreigner, who ressurects our inner and forgotten landscape
for the arts.
Ruben Navarra,
"Diário de Notícias", 1944.
I don't know if Marcier come to Brazil as Gauguin went to Tahiti. The truth is that
on coming here he did not take long to scratch the coast, as the crabs mentioned
by Fry Vicente do Salvador. After getting married increasing the Brazilian population
with six charming children, he went inland and became a small farmer in Barbacena.
Manuel Bandeira
"Jornal do Brasil, October 17, 1956.
It is in this truceless fight between the man and his work, between temperament
and art, between these two Sphinxes always afraid of each other, that the victory
is and Marcier already won it.
Roberto Alvim Corrêa
"Revista do Brasil", August 1942.
We wish to emphazise the importance of the Marcier case and its special significance
for the future of Brazilian art. We have witnessed his fight against the angel of
creation during these seven years he has lived in Brazil. A fight with all his body
and soul against huge dificulties of all sorts that a cyclic painter has to face
in our time. Because Marcier is a cyclic painter. Besides, in him the old and the
modern techniques are welded together...
Murilo Mendes,
"Pintura Religiosa: Marcier", "O Jornal", December 7, 1947.
It is interesting to notice how the visual elements can be used, as in this case,
to express opposite wills. We could stress the fact that this contradiction speaks
for the authenticity of Marcier's experience. Besides, it is also an indication
of his vitality, another point of interest is the fact that a painter so tied to
his inner problems tries to get a support for his language in such a rational and
optical artist as Cézanne.
Ferreira Gullar,
"Jornal do Brasil", October 21, 1956.
To stress the desolate and dramatic character of the landscape of Minas Gerais,
Marcier always places on the background a range of mountains without any picturesque
character, without any accident; he gives plain, somber and neutral colors to these
mountains which contrast with the whiteness of the churches or the green of the
vegetation. Few elements are enough for Marcier to give the total vision, the lirical
and interior vision of the landscape of Minas Gerais.
Flávio de Aquino,
"O Semanário", October 11, 1956.
If I could give some idea of, or the sense of something that could be called the
spiritual in History, and meaning as History the experience (of painting) and as
spiritual the motivation of a theme that persists because it is human. In these
two words I would sum up Marcier's work.
Clarival Valadares,
"Diário de Notícias", October 27, 1963.
Marcier is, without doubt, the only true painter of religious subjects procreated
by Modern Art in Brazil.
José Roberto Teixeira Leite,
Catalogue for an exibition in Tokyo 1967.
Filtering his emotions in forms and colors, Emeric Marcier matured as man and painter,
with the candid purpose of dignifying the Brazilian painting and making it greater.
Harry Laus,
Catalogue for an exibition in São Paulo, 1969.
This great painter is universal and local at the same time, for he can give us an
adequate image of this univewrsal and colonial city, Ouro Preto.
Tristão de Ataide, December 1980.
Marcier is possibly the most important painter alive in Brazil. His work is at the
same time a documentary of a compact work and pathetic, with roots in the purpose
of a conversation. Because we believe that the most important fact in Marcier's
life is his conversion to Catholicism. And all his paintings, landscapes, portraits,
selfportrait, were always a variation about the Christ motive.
Walmir Ayala, "Artes Plásticas" June 1980.
BIOGRAFICAL DATA
1916- Emeric Marcier is born in Cluj, România.
1935- After a brief stay in Bucarest, he travels to Milan.
1938- Graduates from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Brera of Milan. His discovery
of the Italin mural painting of the 12th and 13th centuries was capital for his
development as an artist.
1939- Is enrolled in the School of Fine Arts of Paris, in the sculpture classes,
but does not follow the course because of its
strict academic teaching. Gets in touch with members of the Paris School, such as
Brauner, Vieira da Silva, Szenes and others.
1940- Goes to Lisbon because of the war, and spends there a productive period. Contributes
to the "Presença" magazine, and the meeting with Portuguese writers
and artists has an influence on his decision to go to Brazil.
1940- Leaves Europe and settles in Brazil. Organizes his first individual exhibition
at the Brazilian Artists Salon, in Rio de Janeiro.
1942- "O Cruzeiro" Magazine sends him as special contributor on a trip
through the historical cities of Minas Gerais, and Marcier is deeply impressed by
Ouro Preto.
1943- Long stay at the Penedo Farm in Itatiaia, where he begins working on themes
from the bible.
1946- Starts painting frescos in the JOC Chapel in Mauá, São Paulo.
1947- Transfers his residence to Barbacena, to a small farm named Santana. He likes
the country life and from now on concentrates on mural painting, with the exception
of a few individual and collective exhibitions.
1959- By invitation of the government of Minas gerais, organizes an exhibition of
his works in Belo Horizonte.
1963- Awarded the Medal of the Inconfidence, Ouro Preto, in the same square,the
Praça Tiradentes, where he had painted the first time he went there, and
where he goes on painting until now.
1966- The City Council pays him hommage on his 50th birthday, making him a honorary
citizen of Barbacena.
1968- By invitation of the "Comitetul de Stat Pentru Cultura Si Arta"
and sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, organizes an exhibition
of his works in Bucarest.
1973- Transfers residence to Paris, where he works until 1979, with frequent visits
to Brazil.
1980- Returns to Barbacena, Brazil.
ONE-MAN EXIBITIONS
1940 Brazilian Artistis Salon - Rio de Janeiro
1942 National Museum of Fine Arts - Rio de Janeiro
1944 Institute of Architects - Rio de Janeiro
1952 Gallery Ambiente - São Paulo
1954 Petite Gallery - Rio de Janeiro
1956 Maison de France - Rio de Janeiro
1956 Gallery Tenreiro - Rio de Janeiro
1957 Gallery A. Weil - Paris
1959 D.E.I. Salon - Belo Horizonte
1960 Petite Gallery - Rio de Janeiro
1961 Gallery Relevo - Rio de Janeiro
1963 Gallery Bonino - Rio de Janeiro
1965 Gallery Bonino - Rio de Janeiro
1965 Gallery of Diário de Notícias - Lisbon
1966 Casa do Brasil - Rome
1966 Gallery Relevo - Rio de Janeiro
1966 50 Years Comemoration Exibition - Barbacena
1967 Gallery Isogaya - Tóquio
1968 Gallery Ibeu - Rio de Janeiro
1968 Ateneu Român - Bucharest
1969 Gallery Cosme Velho - São Paulo
1980 Gallery Bonino - Rio de Janeiro
1982 Gallery Boghici - Rio de Janeiro
1983 Gallery Acervo - Rio de Janeiro
1985 Gallery Bonino - Rio de Janeiro
1986 Museum of Modern Art of Latin America - OEA, Washington, D.C. - USA
GROUP EXIBITIONS
1937 Gallery Ítalo-Romena - Milano
1938 Palazzo della Permanente - Milano
1944 Burlington House - London
1952 Museum of Modern Art - Rio de Janeiro
1953 Salon of Still Life - Rio de Janeiro
1953 II Bienal - São Paulo
1955 III Bienal - São Paulo
1957 Brazilian Painters - Buenos Aires
1957 Brazilian Painters - Santiago
1958 Bienal Panamericana - México
1965 M.A.M. Ville de Paris - Paris
1965 Gulbenkian Foundation - Lisbon
1965 Brazilian Painters - Prague
1966 Bienal of Sacred Art - Salzburg
1967 Sacred Art Exibition - Belo Horizonte
1978 Forty Years of Brazilian Painting - Rio de Janeiro
1980 Exibition In Honour of Mario Pedrosa - Rio de Janeiro
1981 From Moderns To Contemporary - Rio de Janeiro
1982 60 Years Modern Art Gulbenkian Foundation - Lisbon
1984 G. Chateaubriand Collection M.A.M. - São Paulo
1985 Expressionism In Brazil - São Paulo
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