Valladares, José Antônio do Prado (1917–1959)

The art critic José Valladares was born in Salvador, Bahia, on May 3, 1917, the son of Antônio do Prado Valladares and Clarice Santos Silva Valladares. At age seventeen he was already working for the newspaper Diário de Pernambuco in Recife while attending law school, from which he graduated in 1937.

Returning to Salvador, in 1939 he became the director of museums and monuments of the State of Bahia. He launched the organization of various collections and a line of specialized publications. In 1943 the state government acquired the stately home of the former governor, Góes Calmon, with all its collections, from paintings to furniture and porcelain. The Museu de Arte da Bahia, the creation of José Valladares, was inaugurated in 1946. Art history courses and similar activities established the fine reputation of the museum.

In 1949 Valladares established the Bahia Gallery of Fine Arts (Salão Baiano de Belas Artes), attracting artists from all over the country. Two years later he was appointed professor of esthetics at the University of Bahia. For years he was the designated art critic for the Bahia periodical Diário de Notícias and was the steward for several exhibitions, including the third Bienal de Arte de São Paulo (1955). During the second Congresso Nacional de Museus (1959) he distinguished himself as president of the Fine Arts Department. He died prematurely in a plane crash on December 16, 1959.

See alsoArt: The Twentieth Century; Bahia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Leite, José Roberto Teixeira. Dicionário crítico da pintura no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Artlivre, 1988.

O museu de arte da Bahia. São Paulo: Banco Safra, 1997.

                   Carmen Lucia de Azevedo