José Bernardo Cardoso Junior - Cardosinho

1861, Coimbra - Portugal | 1947, Rio de Janeiro - RJ - Brazil

José Bernardo Cardoso Júnior, known as Cardosinho, was born in Coimbra, Portugal, in 1861. He arrived in Rio de Janeiro at the age of three, aboard a ship that sank during the journey, resulting in the deaths of his mother and two of his siblings. Cardosinho began painting around the age of 70, in the early 1930s, after retiring from a career of over four decades in education.

Between the ages of 14 and 16, Cardosinho studied at the Seminário São José, a traditional institution for theological and philosophical training in Rio de Janeiro. His studies continued at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy, where he likely studied between 1877 and the middle of the following decade, eventually earning a degree in philosophy. Upon returning to Brazil, and having distanced himself from ecclesiastical activities, Cardosinho began teaching Latin, Portuguese, and French at the Ateneu Mineiro in Juiz de Fora. In 1888, he became the inspector of the State Primary Education Headquarters of Rio de Janeiro, a position he held for 30 years. Later he also taught at the Liceu de Artes e Ofícios in Rio de Janeiro, among other institutions.

Cardosinho was, therefore, a man of great culture, also the author of three novels (including Almas Satânicas) and a book of poetry (Ideias e Telas). When he took up painting, his approach was self-taught, driven by a desire to practice constructing images based on engravings and photographs from books, newspapers, magazines, and postcards. As a result, some of his works exhibit a collage-like quality, where figures, objects, and spaces are combined in a seemingly disjointed manner, with variations in scale, source material, or execution. For example, in one painting, the figure of a bather, apparently drawn from an almanac illustration, is depicted seated on a rock in a landscape rendered with a strikingly realistic objectivity.

Cardosinho’s painting career spanned from 1931 to 1947. Though long classified as naïve, his work garnered enthusiastic recognition from numerous artists and intellectuals within Brazil’s modernist circles, including art critics Celso Kelly and Rubem Navarra, painter Candido Portinari, and writers Mário de Andrade and Rubem Braga. The Argentine art critic Jorge Romero Brest also commented on Cardosinho’s work, particularly on the blend of “childlike innocence” and eroticism in his paintings, as part of a broader analysis of Brazilian art in the first half of the 20th century. This analysis was published in the catalog for the 20 Artistas Brasileños exhibition at the La Plata Museum of Fine Arts in Argentina in 1945.

One of Cardosinho's paintings, titled Elas se Divertem (c. 1935-40), became part of the Tate Modern collection in England after being featured in a 1944 charity exhibition of "Brazilian Modern Painting" in London, organized by the British Royal Air Force during World War II (1939-1945). Additionally, his works are held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro (MAM-Rio), which houses the Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, and the Institute of Brazilian Studies at the University of São Paulo (IEB-USP), home to the Mário de Andrade Collection

Education 

1885 Pontificial Gregorian University (Philosophy), Roma, Italy

Collective Exhibitions:

2019 Lincoln Kirstein`s Modern, The Museum of Modern Art - MoMA, New York, USA

2018 Horizontes – As Paisagens nas Coleções, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro - MAM/RJ, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

2016 Entreolhares: poéticas d’alma brasileira, Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araujo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2013 O colecionador: arte brasileira e internacional na Coleção Boghici”, Museu de Arte do Rio - MAR, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

2011 Arte Naïf: com açúcar e com afeto, Araraquara - SP, Brazil

2011 Arte Naïf: com açúcar e com afeto, no Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Campinas - MACC, Campinas - SP, Brazil

2004 Bienal Naïfs do Brasil - sala especial “Mistura fina: a arte da necessidade” - SESC Piracicaba - SP, Brazil

2003 Arte brasileira na Coleção Fadel: da inquietação do moderno à autonomia da linguagem”, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil - CCBB, Brasília - DF, Brazil. 

2002 Pop Brasil: a arte popular e o popular na arte, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil - CCBB, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2002 Arte brasileira na Coleção Fadel: da inquietação do moderno à autonomia da linguagem, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil - CCBB, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

2002 Arte brasileira na Coleção Fadel: da inquietação do moderno à autonomia da linguagem”, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil - CCBB, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2000 Quando o Brasil era Moderno: artes plásticas no Rio de Janeiro de 1905 a 1960, no Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

1995 Coleção Unibanco: exposição comemorativa aos 70 anos de Unibanco, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro - MAM/RJ, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

1994 Coleção Unibanco: exposição comemorativa aos 70 anos de Unibanco, Casa da Cultura de Poços de Caldas - MG, Brazil

1993 “Mário faz 100 Anos: 100 obras primas da Coleção Mário de Andrade: pintura e escultura”, Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros - IEB/USP, São Paulo – SP, Brazil

1993 Brasil: 100 anos de Arte Moderna, Museu Nacional de Belas Artes - MNBA, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, Brazil

1992 Arte moderna brasileira: obras de 51 artistas plásticos brasileiros, Instituto Moreira Salles de Poços de Caldas - MG, Brazil

1992 Natureza: quatro séculos de arte no Brasil, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil - CCBB, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, Brazil

1987 Galeria de Arte Banerj, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, Brazil

1984 7º Salão Nacional de Artes Plásticas em Fortaleza – CE, Brazil

1984 Salão de 31, Funarte, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, Brazil

1984 – 1985 Tradição e rupturas: síntese de arte e culturas brasileiras, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo – SP, Brazil

1982 Brasil 60 anos de arte moderna: Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand, Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão - CAM, Lisboa, Portugal

1982 Brasil 60 anos de arte moderna: Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK

1975 Ciclo de Exposições de Pintura Brasileira Contemporânea da SPAM e CAM, Museu Lasar Segall, São Paulo – SP, Brazil

1972 “Naïve Painting: A selection from the Museum Collection”, The Museum of Modern Art - MoMA, New York, USA

1971 “Ways of looking”, The Museum of Modern Art - MoMA, New York, USA

1960 Pan American Union, Washington, D.C. USA

1945 Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, Victory Art Gallery, Bath, UK

1945 Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery, Bristol, UK

1945 Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK

1945 Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, National Gallery, Edimburgh, UK

1945 Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, Kelingrove Art Gallery, Glasgow, UK

1945 “20 artistas brasileños", Salas Nacionais de Exposições de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1945 “20 artistas brasileños”, Museu Provincial de Belas Artes de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina

1945 “20 artistas brasileños”, Comissão Municipal de Cultura de Montevidéu, Montevidéu, Uruguay

1945 “Mostra de la pintura brasileña contemporanea”, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1945 “Mostra de la pintura brasileña contemporanea”, La Plata, Argentina

1944 Exhibition of modern brazilian paintings, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK

1944 Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings, Norwich Castle and Museum, Norwich, UK

1943 The Latim-American Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Modern Art - MoMA, New York, USA

1936 Palace Hotel, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, Brazil

1933 2ª Exposição de Arte Moderna da Sociedade Pró-Arte Moderna (SPAM), Palacete Campinas, São Paulo – SP, Brazil

1931 XXXVIII Exposição Geral de Belas Artes, Escola Nacional de Belas Artes, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, Brazil

Public Collections

The Museum of Modern Art - MoMA, New York, USA

Tate Modern, London, UK

Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro - MAM RJ, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

Selected Publications

1975 Mitopoética de 9 artistas brasileiros, Lélia Coelho Frota, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, Brazil

1953 Três Primitivos, Rubem Braga, Ministério da Educação e Cultura, Rio de Janeiro – RJ, Brazil