Brecheret, Vítor (1894–1955)

Vítor Brecheret (b. 22 February 1894; d. 17 December 1955), Brazilian sculptor. Born in Italy, Brecheret moved to Brazil with his sister in 1913 and began his formal artistic education at the Liceu de Artes e Ofícios de São Paulo in 1912. For the next six years he studied art in Europe, where he came to greatly appreciate the work of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. While in Rome, he won first place in Rome's International Exhibition of Fine Arts for his Despertar.

When Brecheret returned to São Paulo in 1919, he set up a studio, and by January 1920 he had met fellow artists Di Cavalcanti, Hélios Seelinger, Menotti des Picchia, and Oswald de Andrade, who recognized his importance for modernism. That same year he was selected to submit plans for a monument commemorating the participation of the bandeira in Brazil's early history. In 1921, after his Eva was acquired by the prefecture of São Paulo, Brecheret obtained a government stipend to finance a second trip to Europe. Before leaving for France, however, he selected twelve of his sculptures for exhibition during São Paulo's Modern Art Week in 1922.

Between his return to Brazil in 1930 and his death in 1955, Brecheret realized numerous exhibitions and founded the Sociedade Pró-Arte Moderna (1932). He received the French Legion of Honor and won the National Prize for Sculpture in the 1951 São Paulo Biennial. He also did several commemorative public monuments.

See alsoArt: The Twentieth Century .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mário Da Silva Brito, História do modernismo brasileiro (1978), esp. pp. 104-134.

Aracy Amaral, Artes plásticas na Semana de 22: Subsídios para uma história da renovação das artes no Brasil, 4th ed. (1979), esp. pp. 240-242.

Additional Bibliography

Alvarado, Daisy V. M. Peccinini de. Brecheret: A linguagem das formas. São Paulo: Instituto Vitor Brecheret, 2004.

Camargos, Marcia. Semana de 22: Entre vaias e aplausos. São Paulo: Boitempo, 2002.

                                Caren A. Meghreblian