Conversando com a Pintura de Alberto Valença
A biographic novel by Vera Spínola
Salvador: Museu de Arte da Bahia, 2020.
Remarkable facts of the life and artistic path of the painter Alberto Valença (Alagoinhas/BA, 1890 – Salvador/BA, 1983), a distinguished representative of Bahia School of Painting, are the guideline of the art book and novel Conversando com a Pintura de Alberto Valença.
Although he has spent most of his life in Bahia, Valença attended the Julian Academy, in Paris, in 1925/1927; he lived in Brittany, northwestern France, in 1927/1928; he worked in Rio de Janeiro in 1931/1933. For almost three decades, from 1933 to 1960, he taught at the School of Fine Arts of the Federal University of Bahia and became the master of several generations of artists.
This book, with 244 pages organized in 19 chapters and an appendix, was written out of real facts, sometimes approached in journalistic style, sometimes in a poetic/literary style, once Valença’s work is a chromatic poem. He didn’t use to work in a studio. He used to paint what he saw, in open air, depicting the effect of the light at that moment on landscapes, human beings, mystical interiors of convents and monasteries. His work is an iconographic document of the places where he lived, especially of the city of Salvador in the first half of the 20th century.
You can watch author Vera Spinola’s interview on Jornal da Metrópole.
The book is available for sale at:
Escariz
Caramurê
Alberto Valença: Um Estudo Biográfico e Crítico
VALLADARES, Clarival do Prado
Construtora Norberto Odebrecht SA, 1980
Bilingual edition (Portuguese and English), essential for the researchers and admirers of Valença’s work; 360 pages and 131 illustrations with technical and critical explanations; timeline; text about Manuel Lopes Rodrigues, one of the masters of Bahia School of Painting; about the French masters; interviews and testimonials of relatives, ex-students, professors/colleagues, and friends of the painter. Most of them have already passed away.
Clarival Valladares has developed a hard work for recovering the painter’s work and life, by doing interviews, visiting museums and inquiring archives.
Valença didn’t use to keep records or dates of his works. At 90 years old, he followed the projection of 120 slides selected by the researcher, identifying and correcting locations, estimating dates, remembering buyers and, surprisingly, indicating flaws in the documentation due the lack of works that he considered relevant. Clarival recognized the importance and validity of the orientation given by the painter himself when finalizing the selection.
O caráter iconográfico da pintura de Alberto Valença (1890-1983)
SPÍNOLA, Vera
Revista do Instituto Geográfico e Histórico da Bahia, 2019
The object of this article is the life and work of painter (Alagoinhas/BA, 1890 – Salvador/BA, 1983), one of the representatives of Bahia School of Painting. Its specific objective is identifying the iconographic feature of works that depict mainly the city of Salvador/BA in the first half of the 20 th century. Remarkable facts of his biography and artistic path, narrated in chronological order, are the guideline of the text. The paintings with iconographic features, as well as, happenings and personalities of the cultural-artistic environment of that time, are distinguished along the narration. Although Valença has spent most of his life in Salvador/Bahia, he attended the Julian Academy in Paris, in 1925/1927; he lived in Brittany in 1927/1928; he worked in Rio de Janeiro in 1931/1933. For almost three decades, from 1933 to 1960, he taught at the School of Fine Arts of the Federal University of Bahia. He was the master of several generations of artists.
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