José Antônio da Silva

1909, Sales de Oliveira | SP - 1996, São Paulo | SP – Brazil

José Antônio da Silva was born into a poor family in Sales de Oliveira, São Paulo, Brazil. His oil canvases were first noticed by São Paulo art critics in 1946 at a small town-hall art competition in São José do Rio Preto, in rural São Paulo State. Due to the critics’ interference and much to the horror of the local organizers, first prize was nearly handed to the unknown self-taught artist who painted over flannel-fabric stretched frames in a “garish” color scheme, avoided smooth brushstrokes and refrained from religious scenes. Eventually, da Silva placed fourth in his hometown competition but soon gained the approval of Professor Pietro Maria Bardi, MASP Museum’s renowned founder-director, who included him in his 1970 book “Profile of the New Brazilian Art.” Soon he was showing solo in São Paulo’s most prestigious gallery of the 1950s, Galeria Domus. 

Prolific, José Antonio da Silva painted more than 5,000 canvases in his lifetime. From overnight he became a media sensation who wrote books, poetry, music and a play. He also produced a short-film entitled “Quem Não Conhece o Silva?” [Who Doesn’t Know Silva?], recounting his lifetime feats. Silva used to say he painted many self-portraits because he enjoyed using himself as a subject.

The fast brushstrokes of this onetime hired-hand worker seduced the socially conscious art elite with the genuine brasilidade [Brazilianness] of his common-man motifs, his knowledge of the daily chores and poetics pertaining to life on the large exploitative plantations much like the US South: the cotton field (algodoal), the slash-and-burn cultivation (queimada), the wattle and daub house (casa de pau-a-pique) and the cattle (boiada). 

Before becoming a celebrated painter with a thirty-room home, da Silva job-jumped here and there from sugar-cane worker to cattle herder, wagoner, mason, hotel doorman and gravedigger. As a boy he drew with twigs on the back of coffee leaves and was able to see in them imaginary animals when they dried out. The artist participated in the first edition of the São Paulo Biennial in 1951, as well as in 1953, 1955, 1961, 1963, 1965 and 1989, but when his work failed to be accepted in the end of 1960s he painted the self-portrait, “Odeio as Bienais” (I hate the Biennials). His work represented Brazil’s official participation at the Venice Biennale in 1952 and 1966. In the US he exhibited at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh in 1955, and twelve years later in the Washington D.C. exhibition “Popular Painters and Sculptors of Brazil.”

Individual Exhibitions Nacional (Brazil):

2023 José Antônio da Silva, Paulo Kuczynski Escritório de Arte, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2021 José Antônio da Silva: Landscape and Culture, viewing room, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2018 I was born Wrong and I'm Right - José Antônio da Silva, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2017 Jose Antônio da Silva: Life is not enough, Galeria Almeida e Dale, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2013 José Antônio da Silva in two times, MAC - Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2009 José Antônio da Silva - Tribute to the Centenary of Birth, Pinacoteca da Associação Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2009 I was born Wrong and I'm Right - José Antônio da Silva, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2004 The way of the cross by José Antônio da Silva, MAB - Museu de Arte da Bahia, Bahia - BA, Brazil

2003 José Antônio da Silva, Galeria Jacques Ardies, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2001 José Antônio da Silva, Ricardo Camargo Galeria, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1994 The passion and death of Our Lord according to Silva, MAS/SP - Museu de Arte Sacra de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1994 José Antônio da Silva - Eighty-five years of life and art, Ibilce-Unesp, São José do Rio Preto - SP, Brazil

1988 José Antônio da Silva - Forty Years of Painting, Renot Art Dealer, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1976 José Antônio da Silva: selected works, Ricardo Camargo Galeria, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1970 José Antônio da Silva, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1966 José Antônio da Silva, Galeria São Luis, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

Collective Exhibitions Nacional (Brazil):

2022 Cristina Canale and José Antônio da Silva - Two Poetics, Estação Gallery, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2021 They Were Already Here, Galeria Base, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2020 Bailão de Dois: dialogue between two artists, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2019 Folk Art - Arte Naïf – no museum less, Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

2019 The Sacred in Modern Brazilian Art, MAS/SP - Museu de Arte Sacra de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2019 The stupidity of men, Gomide&Co, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2016 Collection in transformation, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2016 Childhood stories, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2018 The visionary Theon Spanudis and your group of artists, Galeria Berenice Arvani, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2017 Queer Museum: cartography of difference in Brazilian art, Farol Santander Porto Alegre - RS, Brazil

2017 Modern Art Market in São Paulo: 1947 -1951, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2015 MASP in process, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2013 33ª Brazilian Art Parorama, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2012 - 2013 Janete Costa “Um Olhar”, Museu Janete Costa de Arte Popular, Niterói - RJ, Brazil

2009 Brazil Brasileiro, CCBB - Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

2008 Brasil Brasileiro, CCBB - Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2007 Live Culture live the Brazilian People, Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2003 José Antônio da Silva, Galeria Jacques Ardies, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2002 Santa Ingenuidade, Unifieo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2002 POP Brasil: popular art and the popular in art, CCBB - Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2002 Modernism: from the Week of 22 to the art section of Sérgio Milliet, CCSP - Centro Cultural de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2002 Wild Mirror: modern art in Brazil in the first half of the 20th century, Nemirovsky Collection, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1997 Feliz Aniversilva, Museu de Arte Primitiva, São José do Rio Preto - SP, Brazil

2001 Shape and Color as Light in the Naïfs, Itaú Cultural, Brasília - DF, Brazil

2000 Brazil + 500 Rediscovery Exhibition. Popular Art, Fundação Bienal, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2000 Naif Art, Galeria Jacques Ardies, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1999 Ingenuous Geniuses 70/80, Itaú Cultural, Brasília - DF, Brazil

1998 The Collector, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1998 The Art of Exhibiting Art, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1998 Brazilian Art in the MAM / SP Collection - Recent Donations, CCBB - Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

1997 Anthropophagic Appropriations, Itaú Cultural, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1996 Figure and Landscape in the MAM Collection: tribute to Volpi, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1996 FIEO Expo: donation from Luiz Ernesto Kawall, Centro Universitário Fieo, Osasco - SP, Brazil

1995 Primavera, Galeria Rosa, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1995 Unibanco Collection: Unibanco’s 70th anniversary commemorative exhibition, MAM/RJ - Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

1994 Unibanco Collection: Unibanco’s 70th anniversary commemorative exhibition, Casa de Cultura Poços de Caldas, Poços de Caldas - MG, Brazil

1992 The formation of the Modernist look: A selection, MAC/USP - Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1992 Nature: four centuries of art in Brazil, CCBB - Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

1992 Retrospective, National Museum of Fine Arts MNBA - Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

1992 Retrospective, Paço das Artes, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1990 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition, Brazil-Japan Foundation, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1990 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

1990 Brasília Fine Arts Award, MAB/DF - Museu de Arte de Brasília, Brasília - DF, Brazil

1990 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition, Brasília - DF, Brazil

1990 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition, Atami | Japan 1989 Individual, Livraria Mário de Andrade, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1990 Figurativism/Abstracionism: the Red in Brazilian painting, Itaú Cultural, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1989 As Mesas, Galeria Ranulpho Art, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1989 Retrospective - José Antônio da Silva: painter from Brazil, MAC/USP - Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1988 MAC 25 years: highlights from the initial collection, MAC/USP - Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1988 The Fascinating World of Naïfs, Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

1987 20th Contemporary Art Exhibition, Chapel Art Show, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1986 The landscape at the MAM Collection, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1986 Party of Colors, Rio Design Center, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

1984 Tradition and Rupture - Synthesis of Brazilian Art and Culture, Fundação Bienal, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1983 80 Years of Brazilian Art, MAC/PR - Museu de Arte Contemporânea do Paraná, Curitiba - PR, Brazil

1983 80 Years of Brazilian Art, Fundação Clóvis Salgado. Palace of Arts, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

1982 From Modernism to the Biennial, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1982 80 Years of Brazilian Art, Bauru - SP, Brazil

1982 80 Years of Brazilian Art, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1982 Soccer Universe, MAM/RJ - Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

1981 Transcendent Art, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1980 Pinacoteca of the State of State of São Paulo at Sesc, Galeria Sesc/Carmo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1980 Transcendent Art, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1980 Earth People, Paço das Artes, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1980 Images of Dance, Paço das Artes, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1978 Constructivists and figuratives from Theon Spanudis Collection, Porto Seguro Art Center, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1976 Santeiros e Imaginário, Paço das Artes, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1976 8th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1974 Collective, Galeria Casa Grande, São José do Rio Preto - SP, Brazil

1974 Party of Colors, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1973 6th Official Contemporary Art Exhibition, Piracicaba - SP, Brazil

1973 5th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1972 Brazilian Theme, Paço das Artes, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1972 Art / Brazil / Today: 50 years later, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1970 Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo 1970, Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1969 1st Panorama of the Current Brazilian Art, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1969 Ä mão do povo brasileiro", MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1963 Contemporary painting and sculpture, Museu Carlos Gomes, Campinas - SP, Brazil

1963 Contemporary painting and sculpture, Centro de Ciências, Letras e Artes, Campinas - SP, Brazil

1962 Selection of Brazilian Art Works from the Ernesto Wolf Collection, MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1959 8th Paulista Salon of Modern Art, Galeria Prestes Maia São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1958 Leirner Contemporary Art Award, Galeria Folha, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1958 7th Paulista Salon of Modern Art, Galeria Prestes Maia São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1957 6th Paulista Salon of Modern Art, Galeria Prestes Maia São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1957 12 artists from São Paulo, Galeria Folha, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1956 Brazilian Landscape from 1900 to the present day, Palácio dos Estados, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1956 5th Paulista Salon of Modern Art, Galeria Prestes Maia São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1956 6th Bahia Salon of Fine Arts, Salvador - BA, Brazil

1955 4th Paulista Salon of Modern Art, Galeria Prestes Maia São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1955 5th Bahia Salon of Fine Arts, Salvador - BA, Brazil

1954 Exhibition of the National Congress of Intellectuals, Goiânia - GO, Brazil

1953 Extraordinary Congress of the International Association of Art Critics, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1953 3rd Bahia Exhibition of Fine Arts, Salvador - BA, Brazil

1949 12th Salon of the Fine Artists Union of São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1949 Pintura Paulista, Ministério da saúde e Educação, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

1947 Collective, Commercial Club of São José do Rio Preto, São José do Rio Preto - SP, Brazil

1946 Opening exhibition, Casa da Cultura de São José do Rio Preto, São José do Rio Preto - SP, Brazil

International Exhibitions:

2018 - 2019 Exposición Lina Bo Bardi Tupí or not tupí ?, Fundación Juan March, Madrid, Spain

2012 Histoires de Voir, Cartier Foundation, Paris, France

1990 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition, Tokyo, Japan

1990 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition, Sapporo, Japan

1980 20 Brazilian Painters, Chilean Academy of Fine Arts, Santiago, Chile

1980 Ochenta Años de Arte Brasileño, Banco Itaú, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1976 Popular Painters and Sculptors of Brazil, Washington DC, USA

1972 Collective of the Museum of Sacred Art of São Paulo, Municipal Museum of Hispanic American Art Issac Fernandez Blanco, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1957 Modern Art from Brazil, Lima, Peru

1957 Modern Art from Brazil, Santiago, Chile

1957 Modern Art from Brazil, Rosario, Argentina

1957 Modern Art from Brazil, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1955 Carnegie Institute International Exhibition, Pittsburgh, USA

1955 International Painting Exhibition, Ateneo de Valencia, Caracas, Venezuela

1952 Drawing and Engraving from Brazil, Santiago, Chile

Biennials:

2002 6th Naifs of Brazill Biennial, Sesc Piracicaba, Piracicaba - SP, Brazil

1989 20th International Biennial of São Paulo, Fundação Bienal, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1987 19th São Paulo International Biennial, Fundação Bienal, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1984 Mexico Biennial, Mexico City, Mexico

1984 Biennial of Japan, Tokyo, Japan

1967 9th São Paulo International Biennial, Fundação Bienal, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1966 1st National Biennial of Fine Arts, Salvador - BA, Brazil

1966 33rd Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

1965 8th International Biennial of São Paulo, Fundação Bienal, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1963 7th São Paulo International Biennial, Fundação Bienal, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1961 6th International Biennial of São Paulo, Ciccilo Matarazzo Sobrinho Pavilion, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1955 3rd São Paulo International Biennial, Pavilhão das Nações, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1954 2nd Hispanic-American Biennial, Havana, Cuba

1953 2nd São Paulo International Biennial, at the Pavilhão dos Estados, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1952 26th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

1951 1st São Paulo International Biennial, Trianon Pavilion, São Paulo - SP, Brazi

Public Collections:

MAC/USP - Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brasil

MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brasil

MAM/SP - Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brasil

Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP

Selected Publications:

2021 Silva: um gênio na coleção Orandi Momesso, publisher Via Impressa, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2018 O círculo de Theon Spanudis, publisher Cultura Arte e Comunicação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2017 Jose Antônio da Silva, Galeria Almeida e Dale, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2018 Brazilian popular art: contemporary views, Publisher WMF Martins Fontes, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2012 Histoires de Voir, Cartier Foundation, Paris, France

2010 Pavilion of Brazilian Cultures: Puras Misturas, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2009 I was born Wrong and I'm Right, Catalog, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2007 Cheers to the Living Culture of the Brazilian People, Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2005 Small Dictionary of the Art of the Brazilian People - 20th century, Lélia Coelho Frota, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2000 Rediscovery Exhibition - Brazil 500 years | Arte Popular, Takano Editora, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1998 Silva - Painting, not the novel, Olivio Tavares, Metrón, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1998 Naive Art in Brazil, Jacques Ardies, Empresa das Artes, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1992 Modern Brazilian art: MAC / USP collection, Poços de Caldas House of Culture, Poços de Caldas - MG, Brazil

1982 80 years of Brazilian art, Museum of Art of Bahia (MAB), Salvador - BA, Brazil

1978 Mythopoetics of 9 Brazilian artists: life, truth and work, Lélia Coelho Frota, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

1975 Party of colors, MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

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