Libindo Ferrás

Libindo Ferrás (Porto Alegre, 1877 - Rio de Janeiro, 1951) was a Brazilian painter and teacher. He studied in Porto Alegre with Ricardo Albertazzi and in Italy from 1897 to 1899. He was one of the creators of the Institute of Fine Arts of Rio Grande do Sul, heading the school from its foundation in 1908 until 1936.

Biography

Early life Initially, Libindo did amateur painting, although he took lessons from Ricardo Albertazzi. In 1896, he began his career by exhibiting small canvases in a special room at the Ao Preço Fixo bazaar. In a column in the Correio do Povo, Olinto de Oliveira mentioned one of Libindo's paintings and, although he pointed out the amateurish nature of the work, he noticed exceptional talent and encouraged him. However, at this time Libindo was studying for his engineering degree. In 1897, he was in Rio de Janeiro, where he was supposed to continue his studies at the Polytechnic School, but he dropped out before the end of the year and left for Italy.

Artistic production and acknowledgement In 1908, Libindo participated in the founding of the Institute of Fine Arts of Rio Grande do Sul (ILBA) at an assembly called by state president Carlos Barbosa Gonçalves. In 1909, ILBA founded a Music Conservatory and in 1910, on Libindo's initiative, an Art School, where he was the organization's first director and teacher. The original project included the theoretical and practical teaching of Plastic Arts, including Drawing, Architecture, Sculpture, Applied Arts and Crafts. He remained in this position until the school was incorporated into the University of Porto Alegre in 1936.

During this period, Libindo produced a large number of works mainly in oil technique and landscape themes, and established his reputation as one of the main artists from Rio Grande do Sul in the first half of the 20th century.

Even though he was not part of the artistic circles of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and after the attacks imposed by the modernists on the academics, recent critics recognized Libindo's valuable contribution to painting in Rio Grande do Sul, placing him among the leading artists of his generation and, for a time, the greatest painter permanently active in the state. According to historian Sérgio da Costa Franco, Libindo Ferrás "was a renowned academic painter who influenced several generations of art students". For Athos Damasceno, Libindo had a very promising and original start to his career, but after finding a personal style, his talent conformed to a formula that was somewhat averse to innovation, but which produced one of the most solid careers in Rio Grande do Sul landscaping. Paradoxically, even today his work is little studied. Students and teachers at the Institute of Arts in 1925. Libindo Ferrás is on the far right. Anatomy class at the Institute directed by Libindo Ferrás, 1928. As a naturalist, Libindo preferred outdoor painting, leading his students with him to create paintings in the semi-rural suburbs of Porto Alegre. His work for the arts in Rio Grande do Sul was essential in both the artistic and pedagogical spheres, as well as institutionally. He was the only artist among the 25 founding members of the Central Committee of the Institute of Fine Arts and one of the main people responsible for the existence of the School of Art in its early years, a period affected by a lack of funds, teachers and good facilities.