Francisco Rebolo

Francisco Rebolo Biography

Francisco Rebollo Gonsales (artistic name: REBOLO) was born on 8/22/1902, in São Paulo, son of Spanish immigrants that arrived in Brazil at the end of the XIXth Century. He lived intensively two trajectories: first, as a soccer player, from 1917 to 1932, when he played in Corinthians (1921 to 1927) and in Ypiranga, both soccer teams from the city of São Paulo; in 1934, he becomes a painter and completes, on the date of his death (7/10/1980), a history of nearly half a century as an important artist. A curious fact connected his two activities: in the 30’s, already a well-known painter, he drew the definitive Corinthians symbol, which is today a national icon. Santa Helena’s Group (St. Helen’s Group): Companionship Making Art and Life A marking characteristic of Rebolo, which appeared clearly during his long trajectory as an artist, was his capacity as an organizer of the class. Still in the beginning of his career, in the early 30’s, he rented two rooms in the imposing Santa Helena’s Building – which divided the former Sé Square and Clóvis Square in the center of São Paulo; there, he built his atelier of easel painting, using it also as a location to receive his customers of ornamental painting of residences, in the condition of a small businessman. With a spirit of leadership, Rebolo invited to use the rooms several names that entered the history of Brazilian art: Aldo Bonadei, Fúlvio Pennacchi, Alfredo Volpi, Clóvis Graciano, Mário Zanini and others, and from this close association emerged what was called by the critics of the time as “Santa Helena’s Group”. All of its members remained friends and companions forever. Profile of Leadership and Organizer A short time afterwards, the always active Rebolo helped organize art exhibits, besides being one of the founders of the Sindicate of Artists and Musicians and one of the creators of the Club of Artists and Friends of Art, the “Clubinho”, which became a legend in the cultural and bohemian panorama of the city of São Paulo. Years later, he was with the group that helped create the Museum of Modern Art (Museu de Arte Moderna-MAM/SP) and also the São Paulo Art Biennial (Bienal de Arte de São Paulo), where he exposed and was member of the jury. Winner of many important prizes in art exhibits since the beginning of his career, this process achieved an important position with the “Prize of a Trip Abroad”, which made it possible for him to live with his family during two years in Europe (Italy, Germany, France, Netherlands, Spain and Austria). During this period, he developed a new stage in his pictorial work, having these countries as theme for his work. Returning to Brazil, his maturity stage begins, very productive and marked by experiments in which he always returns to the original lyricism, especially in his final decade, in the 70’s, when he traveled throughout the country, painting and exposing. The art critics make known that Rebolo developed, with his work, a true “lyric ring”, where the sensibility was always present. Master of Brazilian Landscape Since the beginning of his artistic career, Rebolo was considered by the best critics of the period (Mário de Andrade, Sérgio Milliet, and other intellectuals) as one of the most important landscape artists of national painting. Besides his consecration as a master of landscape, his distinguished work, with an estimate total superior to 3000 paintings, hundreds of drawings and a collection of 50 different prints of several techniques, involves an expressive assembly of portraits, figures, still life, and flowers. Today, Rebolo’s works are in the main Brazilian museums, in the estate of cultural and governmental organizations and in private collections throughout Brazil. Dozens of individual exhibitions of his work were accomplished, in addition to great retrospectives in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia. In 1975, the art critic and filmmaker Olívio Tavares de Araújo made an award winning short movie of 20 minutes about the artist. In 1986, a book was published with reproductions of over 1000 of his main paintings, drawings and prints containing critical studies and exhaustive reviews about the life and work of Rebolo. http://institutorebolo.org.br makes it possible for users to know the artist, praised in a text by Jorge Amado as “a master in a generation of masters”. This site is one of the commemorative pieces of the centennial of the artist’s birthday, which will take place in 2002. Francisco Rebolo is a historic figure with a huge productivity and intense cultural and sociological presence, being the biggest and most productive painter of Brazilian landscapes.