Jorge Brito

Jorge Enrique Brito (11 June 1925, Buenos Aires – 17 February 1996, Paris) was an Argentine muralist, medalist, art educator, sculptor, and painter. He is best known for his murals in Buenos Aires and Montevideo and the bronze medals he designed for the Monnaie de Paris.

Brito gained recognition for being a signatory of the Manifiesto de Cuatro Jóvenes (Manifesto of Four Young Artists) in 1942 which protested the annual National Art Exhibition of Buenos Aires (Salón Nacional de Buenos Aires) competition and its effects on art education in Argentina.

He began his career as an artist in 1942. He worked in Argentina, Uruguay, and Venezuela before settling in Paris in 1968 where he continued his career until his death in 1996.

Early life Jorge Enrique Brito was born on 11 June 1925 in Buenos Aires. While staying in Córdoba, he met and married Lola Altamira, an art teacher. He then settled with his wife in Pocitos where he studied under Uruguayan painter Manuel Aguiar. Brito and Pezzino both became closely tied to Torres-García and his associates.

He worked with Rantz and Cortegoso again in 1960 to create a fresco plaster frieze for a gallery the pair had created in Flores which he completed in 1961. At this point in his career he worked primarily with ceramics, scenery painting, illustration, and industrial design.

In late 1962, Brito immigrated to Venezuela and settled in Caracas. While in Venezuela he gave lectures to the Faculty of Architecture at the Central University of Venezuela and in 1964 participated in the first Young Latin American Artists Salon at the Museum of Fine Arts of Caracas, where three of his works were featured.

In 1968, Brito left South America for Europe. He traveled throughout Spain, Italy, and France, before settling in Paris. While in Paris, Brito focused on sculpting, primarily with bronze, and he became a medalist for the Monnaie de Paris. His sculpted bronze medals appeared in ten volumes of the Grand Fontes series of its monthly bulletin entitled Bulletin Le Club Français de la Médaille between 1978 and 1986. His medals were also featured in a volume of the Bulletin 's Effigies series in 1984 and four volumes of its monthly Revue de la Médaille d'Art Métal Pensant bulletin between 1987 and 1991.

He was also featured in several exhibitions in Paris between 1976 and 1988. He was featured twice at the Maître Albert Gallery in Paris in 1977 and 1979, once appeared in the Médailleurs Epagnols et Français exhibition held at the Casa de Velázquez in Madrid, and was featured in an exhibition in Paris in 1988 called "Paris & Prague: Art and Artists Seen Through the Medal and the Sculpture of the Twentieth Century".

Personal life Brito met Lola Altamira in 1944 while temporarily staying in Córdoba after returning to Argentina from Uruguay. They married the same year. They would have six children together, three sons and three daughters. His first son Cristian, born in 1945, died in 1956.

Brito died in Paris on 17 February 1996. He was buried in Villiers-le-Bel.

Works

Paintings and murals

Lovers (1953), oil painting The Christ (1953), oil painting Cervantes (1956), wall mural located at C. Soriano 1658 in Montevideo Comedians (1956), oil painting Glazed ceramic mural at 3715 Traful Street, Buenos Aires (1961) Initiation au Vol (1990), oil painting Retour du Fils Prodige (1990), oil painting

Bronze medals

1978 - Hamlet ' - Grand Fontes Series - Bulletin Le Club Français de la Médaille No. 58 - Monnaie de Paris (122x115mm) 1978 - Faust ' - Grand Fontes Series - Bulletin Le Club Français de la Médaille No. 59-60 - Monnaie de Paris (130x134mm) 1978 - Violence du Temp ' - Grand Fontes Series - Bulletin Le Club Français de la Médaille No. 61 - Monnaie de Paris (160x150mm) 1979 - Du Jeu des Masques ' - Grand Fontes Series - Bulletin Le Club Français de la Médaille No. 65 - Monnaie de Paris (170x93mm) 1980 - Hommage à Kafka ' - Grand Fontes Series - Bulletin Le Club Français de la Médaille No. 68 - Monnaie de Paris (170x130mm) 1983 - Image Sécrete ' - Grand Fontes Series - Bulletin Le Club Français de la Médaille No. 81 - Monnaie de Paris (200x170) 1984 - L'Homme et le Mystère ' - Grand Fontes Series - Bulletin Le Club Français de la Médaille No. 82-83 - Monnaie de Paris (120x110mm) 1984 - '''L'Illusion d'Être ' - Grand Fontes Series - Bulletin Le Club Français de la Médaille No. 85 - Monnaie de Paris (110x95mm) 1984 - Antonio Machado ' - Effigies Series - Bulletin Le Club Français de la Médaille No. 86-7 - Monnaie de Paris (68mm) 1985 - Point Oméga ' - Grand Fontes Series - Bulletin Le Club Français de la Médaille No. 86-7 - Monnaie de Paris (140x115mm) 1986 - Paradoxe du Miroir ' - Grand Fontes Series - Bulletin Le Club Français de la Médaille No. 92 - Monnaie de Paris (160x125mm) 1987 - Tango ' - Revue de la Médaille d'Art Métal Pensant - Monnaie de Paris (200x140mm) 1990 - Ange Musicien ' - Revue de la Médaille d'Art Métal Pensant - Monnaie de Paris (220x90mm) 1990 - Hommage à Rilke ' - Revue de la Médaille d'Art Métal Pensant - Monnaie de Paris (100x100mm) 1991 - Sonnet de la Mélancolie ' - Revue de la Médaille d'Art Métal Pensant - Monnaie de Paris (100x100mm)

Exhibitions

1976 - Galerie Doddol, Paris 1977 - Ten Rioplatenses Artists - Maître Albert Gallery, Paris 1979 - Maître Albert Gallery, Paris 1979 - Galerie d'Art, Paris 1980 - Galerie Valmay, Paris 1984 - Rumeurs d'Hiver - Galérie Valmay, Paris 1984 - Médailleurs Epagnols et Français - Casa de Velázquez, Madrid 1988 - Paris/Prague - Art and Artists Seen Through the Medal and the Sculpture of the Twentieth Century'', Paris

Awards

Foreign Artist Award, Silver Medal - XI National Painting and Sculpture, Uruguay (1947) London-Paris Bronze Medal Award - XV National Painting and Sculpture, Uruguay (1951) Foreign Artist Award, Silver Medal - XX National Painting and Sculpture, Uruguay (1956)