Divergent
Asis, Esmeraldo, Ferrari, Fernández Arriaga, Gego, Glassford, Maggi, de la Mora, Orensanz, & Ríos
October 20 - December 17, 2016
SÉRVULO ESMERALDO (1929-2017, Brazil)
“Geometry describes everything that you see.”
Sculptor, engraver, draftsman, and kinetic artist Sérvulo Esmeraldo began his artistic career in the late 1940s in northern Brazil, where he attended the open studio of the Sociedade Cearense de Artes Plásticas in Fortaleza. In 1951, he moved to São Paulo to study architecture, his arrival coinciding fortuitously with the first Bienal de São Paulo. Interested in mathematics, geometry, and physics, Esmeraldo also studied mechanics, electricity, and optics; these studies continue to influence his artistic output.
Like many Latin American artists in the 1950s, Esmeraldo moved to Europe to continue his studies and pursue a career; he lived in France from 1957 to 1977. While there, he worked and lived in close contact with an expatriate Brazilian community of artists, including Vicente do Rego Monteiro, Lygia Clark, Sérgio de Camargo, Franz Krajcberg, Arthur Luiz Piza, Flávio-Shiró, and Rossini Peres. He took classes in printmaking at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, and learned metal engraving in the studio of Johnny Friedlaender. During his first years in France, he also made weekly visits to the National Library, where he studied prints by Albrecht Dürer. In 1959, he was invited to participate in the fifth Bienal de São Paulo, marking the growing recognition of his work. He simultaneously pursued commercial work designing book covers, magazine illustrations, and record album covers.
In the early 1960s, Esmeraldo began making paintings and art objects he called Excitables, works which were activated by the static electricity from the viewer’s touch. “Charges run through them,” he noted, “jumping from element to element, modifying the structure of the composition.” Upon his return to Brazil in 1977, Esmeraldo started making public art projects. He organized two international exhibitions of ephemeral sculptures in 1986 and 1991, in which he invited artists from around the world to send designs for sculptures, to be completed and installed by preparators in his hometown of Ceará, Brazil. The exhibitions were unprecedented events in the history of public art production. Throughout Esmeraldo’s work—whether in printmaking, sculpture, or kinetic projects—a close observation of nature underpins his constructions. He returns consistently to the idea of line as an abstract value, and he observes, “For a question of temperament I was led to the purity of forms, balance, constraint, in short, simplicity…”
2017 | Sérvulo Esmeraldo - Objetos Nômades - Galeria Raquel Arnaud, São Paulo |
2016 | Sérvulo Esmeraldo, die europäischen Jahre 1957-1975, Beurret & Bailly, Basel, Switzerland |
| Sérvulo Esmeraldo: Alinha, a luz, o Crato, Urca Campus Pimenta, Encosta do Seminario, Crato, Ceará, Brazil |
| Sérvulo Esmeraldo Esculturas e Relevos, Galeria de arte Murilo Castro, Belo Horizonta, Minas Gerais, Brazil |
| Sérvulo Esmeraldo, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, Frieze Masters Spotlight section, London, Great Britain. |
2015 | Traço, Volume, Espaço, Galeria Raquel Arnaud, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil |
| É pericoloso sporgersi, Amazém da Cultura, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil |
2014 | Sérvulo Esmeraldo, Paulo Darzé Galeria de Arte, Salvador, Bahia, Brésil |
| O Arquivo Vivo de Sérvulo Esmeraldo, Instituto de Arte Contemporanea (IAC), São Paulo, SP, Brazil |
2013 | Pinturas, Desenhos, Gravuras, Esculturas, Objetos e Excitáveis, Pinakotheke Cultural, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Sérvulo Esmeraldo: Luz, Palácio da Abolição, Fortaleza, Brazil |
2012 | Simples como um triângulo, Galeria Raquel Arnaud, São Paulo, Brazil |
2011 | Sérvulo Esmeraldo, Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paulo, Brazil |
2010 | Ocupação de Espaço, Centro Cultural Banco do Nordeste, Fortaleza, Brazil |
| Sérvulo Esmeraldo, Les Excitables, Art Outsiders, Maison Europeenne de la Photographie, Paris, France |
| Correspondência, Centro Cultural dos Correios, with Alex Nicolaeff, Fortaleza, Brazil |
2008 | Sérvulo Esmeraldo por Mota Machado – Obras de 40 anos, Centro Dragão do Mar de Arte e Cultura, Fortaleza, Brazil |
2007 | Sérvulo Esmeraldo, Sicardi Gallery, Houston, TX, USA |
| Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Centro Dragão do Mar de Arte e Cultura, Fortaleza, Brazil |
2002 | Galeria Antônio Bandeira, Fortaleza, Brazil |
2001 | 1st Bienal de Artes do Cairi, Galeria do Sesc, Crato, Brazil |
| Múltipla Galeria de Arte, São Paulo, Brazil |
1999 | Centro Cultural do Abolição, Salão de Abril, Fortaleza, Brazil |
1989 | Tríade Galeria de Arte, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Galeria Paulo Figueredo, São Paulo, Brazil |
1988 | Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud, São Paulo, Brazil |
| Galeria Klee, Escritório de Arte Orlando Bessa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Museu de Arte da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil |
1986 | Esmeraldo/Krajcberg, ARTE Galeria, Fortaleza, Brazil |
| Skultura Galeria de Arte, São Paulo, Brazil |
1985 | Retrospective, 1947-1985, ARTE Galeria, Fortaleza, Brazil |
1982 | Skultura Galeria de Arte, São Paulo, Brazil |
1981 | Galeria Aktuell, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
1980 | Jornal “O Povo”, Centro de Convenções, Fortaleza, Brazil |
| Galeria Ignez Fiuza, Fortaleza, Brazil |
1979 | Centro Venezolano de Cultura, Bogotá, Colombia |
| Hotel Quatro Rodas, São Luís, Brazil |
1977 | Sociedade de Cultura Artística, Crato, Brazil |
| Galeria Memória, Belo Horizonte, Brazil |
| Gatsby-Arte, Recife, Brazil |
1976 | Palácio das Artes, Belo Horizonte, Brazil |
| Petite Galerie, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Gabinete de Artes Gráficas, São Paulo, Brazil |
1975 | White Gallery, Lutry, Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Galerie Paul Bruck, Luxembourg |
| Galeria Ignez Fiuza, Fortaleza, Brazil |
| Gabinete de Artes Gráficas, São Paulo, Brazil |
| Correio Braziliense, Hotel Nacional, Brasilia, Brazil |
1974 | Galerie Sanguine, Collioure, France |
1973 | Galeria Ignez Fiuza, Fortaleza, Brazil |
1971 | Galerie La Pochade, Paris, France |
| White Gallery, Lutry, Lausanne, Switzerland |
| Galerie La Pierre de Lune, Canet-Plage, France |
| Galerie 32, Lyon, France |
1969 | Galerie Cosme Velho, São Paulo, Brazil |
1968 | Galerie Maurice Bridel, Lausanne, Switzerland |
1967 | Museu de Arte da Universidade do Ceará (MAUC), Fortaleza, Brazil |
| Galeria Itatiaia, Belo Horizonte, Brazil |
| Associação dos Amigos do Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Brazil |
1966 | Galeria A Gravura, Lisbon, Portugal |
| Galeria Ítalo-Brasiliano, Milan, Italy |
| Festival de Viana do Castelo, Viana do Castelo, Portugal (Guest artist) |
| Galerie Nouvelle Gravure, Paris, France |
1964 | Galerie Il Canale, Venice, Italy |
1963 | Galerie Maurice Bridel, Lausanne, Switzerland |
1962 | Galeria Relevo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Galeria de Arte de Recife, Recife, Brazil |
| Museu de Arte da Universidade do Ceará (MAUC), Fortaleza, Brazil |
| Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil |
| Centro de Artes, Ciências e Letras, Campinas, Brazil |
1961 | Galerie Maurice Bridel, Lausanne, Switzerland |
1960 | Galeria Lemac, Recife, Brazil |
1957 | Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil |
| Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil |
1956 | Clube dos Artistas, São Paulo, Brazil |
1951 | Sociedade de Cultura Artística do Crato, Crato, Brazil |
Banco do Nordeste do Brasil, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
Biblioteca Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Biblioteca Pública de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Bolsa de Valores Regional, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
Cabinet des Estampes, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, France
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnatti, OH, USA
Collection Oboé Cultural, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
Collections Publiques du Gouvernement Français, Paris, France
Espace de L’Art Concret, Donation Albers-Honneger, Mouans-Sartoux, France
Fonds National d'Art Contemporain, Paris, France
Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal
Gemeentemuseum, Den Haag, The Netherlands
Governo do Estado do Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
Graphic studio, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
Itaú Cultural, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland
Musée d’Art Moderne de Saint Étienne, Saint-Étienne, France
Musée Rate, Geneva, Switzerland
Museo de Arte de La Habana, Havana, Cuba
Museo de la Solidaridad Fundación Salvador Allende, Santiago, Chile
Museu da Gravura de Curitiba, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
Museu de Arte Contemporânea de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Centro Dragão do Mar de Arte e Cultura, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
Museu de Arte da Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
Museu de Arte de Londrina – Londrina, Paraná, Brazil
Museu de Arte de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil
Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Museu de Arte Vicente Leite, Crato, Ceará, Brazil
Museu Nacional de Belas Artes do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje, Macedonia
NovoMuseu, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo,São Paulo, Brazil
Prefeitura Municipal de Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
Secretaria da Cultura do Estado do Ceará - Centro de artes visuais Raimundo Cela, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
