Vicente do Rego Monteiro

Vicente do Rego Monteiro (December 19, 1899 — June 5, 1970 ), born in Recife, was a Brazilian painter, sculptor, and poet, born to a rich family. He was part of the Semana de Arte Moderna exhibition and helped form the later Brazilian Modernism.

Biography Vicente do Rego Monteiro was part of a rich Pernambuco family in Recife. His mother was a professor and his father a businessman. He was born December 19, 1899. He was known for being a Brazilian painter, poet and sculptor, by 1911 he went to Paris, in company of his older sister. He attended a course, for little time, at the Académie Julian, as well as the academies Colarossi and the Grande Chaumiére. In Vittel, Rego Monteiro focused on religious themes, influenced by Fernand Léger.

Rego Monteiro was committed to a native and cosmopolitan approach. He lived and work in busy Paris but drew from the native people of Brazil.. He was supported by Maison de L’Amerique Latine and Revue de L’Amerique Latine while in Paris, along with Pedro Figari, Joaquίn Torres-Garcίa and a few other artists. Anita Malfatti's art was the final push to put Brazilian Modernism into full swing.

Vicente do Rego Monteiro's art was known for its identity based nature. His works focused on showing the true identity of Brazilians and used the natives as way to illustrate it. Rego Monteiro was part of an artist group that focused was centered on modernism using pre-colonization native roots and the regional cultural traditions and stories.

Style During the early 1920s he started developing his “relief” style where is paintings looked like sculptures. They are two-dimensional and look like they are carved into the surface. A multitude of his relief paintings were of religious themes such as “A Crucifixão” (The Crucifixion), which is one of his most famous works. "A Crucifixão" and "A Descida Da Cruz" along with several of his other religious paintings feature figures that are forlorn, mourning, and crying, the color of the paintings also being very muted; which is very different from his brightly colored ceramics of indigenous. Because of their style, most of his religious-themed works are similar to Ivan Mestrović's "melancholic deco".

In his poems, Rego Monteiro was very whimsical with strong humorous undertones that mocked traditional Eurocentric travel narrative. Often he would use hieroglyphs in his poems such as Légendes, and tended to write in French, even though it would have Brazilian subject matter.

Exhibitions and Groups Salons des Indepéndants (1913-1914) Independent Exhibits Exhibition (1920-1921) Galérie Fabre (1925) Galerie Bernheim-Jeune (1928) Semana de Arte Moderna (1922): At the same time the Brazilian government was hosting Exposição Internacional do Centenário da Independência do Brasil (International Exposition of the Centennial of the Independence of Brazil) held at the capital Rio de Janeiro. A group of modern artists decided to put on their own exhibition in São Paulo that represented a different view of Brazilian identity. Writers such as Mário de Andrade and Oswald de Andrade and artists Anita Malfatti, Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, John Graz, Martin Ribeiro, Zina, and Vicente do Rego Monteiro participated in the Modern Art Week. They, instead of overwriting the country's past, chose to redefine and exhibit the true Brazilian identity through their arts. 1928 Solo show at the Galerie Bernheim Jeune Galérie de l'effort Moderne (1922-1930) Galérie Zack (1930): The first exhibition of Latin American Artists, organized by Joaquίn Torres-Garcίa.

Artworks "A Cobra Grande manda para a sua filha a noz de tucunã" (Big Snake sends her daughter the tucunã nut) Presented at the Semana de Arte Moderna "Negro Head" (1922) "Retrato de Ronald de Carvalho" (Portrait of Ronald de Carvalho, 1921): Expressionist "Cabecas de Negras" (Heads of Black Woman, 1920): Impressionist portrait of black women Two Cubist works, both titled "Cubismo" (Cubism) Two with Brazilian subject matters, both titled "Lenda Brasileira" (Brazilian Legend) "A Crucifixão" (The Crucifixion, 1922) "A Descida Da Cruz" (The Descent from the Cross, 1924) "O Urso" (the bear, 1925) "A cacada" (Hunting, 1923) "O atirador de arco" (the bowman, 1925) "Maternidade Indigena" (native motherhood, 1924) "A crucifixão" (crucifixion, 1922) "Pieta" (1924) "Seated Woman" (1924) "Guerreiro, vagalume, indiozinho montado" (Warrior, gloworm, and seated little Indian, 1920)