Amilcar de Castro

Amilcar de Castro (Paraisópolis, MG, 1920 - Belo Horizonte, MG, 2002)

Amilcar de Castro was a sculptor, engraver, draftsman, layout artist, set designer, and teacher. He moved with his family to Belo Horizonte in 1935 and attended the Law School of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) from 1941 to 1945. From 1944 onwards, he attended a free drawing and painting course with Guignard (1896–1962) at the School of Fine Arts in Belo Horizonte and studied figurative sculpture with Franz Weissmann (1911–2005). In the late 1940s, he held several public offices, which he soon abandoned, as well as his career as a lawyer.

At the same time, his artistic work transitioned from drawing to three-dimensionality. In 1952, he moved to Rio de Janeiro and worked as a layout artist for several periodicals, notably for the graphic renovation he carried out at Jornal do Brasil. After coming into contact with the work of the Swiss artist Max Bill (1908–1994), he produced his first constructive sculpture, exhibited at the São Paulo International Biennial in 1953.

He participated in exhibitions by the Concretist group in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in 1956 and signed the Neoconcrete Manifesto in 1959. The following year, he attended the International Exhibition of Concrete Art, organized by Max Bill in Zurich. In 1968, he traveled to the United States with the support of a scholarship from the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and the travel award he won at the 1967 edition of the National Salon of Modern Art (SNAM).

Upon returning to Brazil in 1971, he settled in Belo Horizonte. He taught composition and sculpture at the Guignard School until 1977, including as director. He also taught at the Faculty of Fine Arts at UFMG during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1990, he retired from teaching and devoted himself exclusively to artistic activity.

Student of Guignard and signatory of the Neoconcrete Manifesto

Amílcar was a student of Guignard in Belo Horizonte. From the capital of Minas Gerais, he moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he was one of the signatories of the Neoconcrete Manifesto, which marked a break with the São Paulo Concretist group. An active intellectual, Amílcar also designed the striking graphic design for the culture supplement of Jornal do Brasil in the late 1950s. A Guggenheim Foundation fellow, he lived in the United States from 1969 to 1971.

A metal sculptor

Amílcar de Castro became a reference for Brazilian artists and, especially, for his students at the Guignard School in Belo Horizonte, to which he returned. His sculptures, based almost exclusively on two actions (cutting and folding, which are not always combined) on iron and wood, are impressive for their economy of means and the lesson they offer about the affirmative power of gesture and the fact that they accomplish the transition from plane to volume.

Critical Commentary

As a child, Amilcar de Castro lived in several cities in the interior of Minas Gerais. The son of a judge, he settled with his family in Belo Horizonte at the age of 14. In 1941, he entered the Law School of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). In his third year of law school, he attended a drawing and painting course taught by Guignard (1896-1962), with whom he learned to use the hard pencil, which leaves grooves on the paper, requiring firmness in the line. At the School of Architecture and Fine Arts, he studied sculpture with the then figurative artist Franz Weissmann (1911–2005), who would later become his colleague in the Neoconcrete movement. He graduated in law, worked briefly as a lawyer, and took on public office, which he soon abandoned. In the late 1940s, Ouro Preto's landscape drawings tended toward abstraction, as did his sculpture. In 1952, after getting married, he moved to Rio de Janeiro and worked as a layout artist for the magazines A Cigarra and Manchete.

The lecture by Swiss artist Max Bill (1908-1994), the leading promoter of concrete art in Latin America, which he attended in Rio de Janeiro in 1949, and the artist's award at the 1st São Paulo International Biennial, marked his career. From then on, he refined his drawing skills and designed his pieces for later realization in space. Thus, he definitively moved away from figurative sculpture. He exhibited his first constructive sculpture, designed on paper and later realized in space, in 1953 at the 2nd São Paulo International Biennial, which demonstrated a strong desire for order. In 1956, he participated in the 1st National Exhibition of Concrete Art, with a sculpture made of aluminum and iron, displaying all the mathematical rigor characteristic of the movement. The following year, he began renovating the graphic design of the Jornal do Brasil newspaper, a landmark in Brazilian graphic design. In 1959, he signed the Neoconcrete Manifesto with Ferreira Gullar (1930), Franz Weissmann, Lygia Pape (1927-2004), Lygia Clark (1920-1988), among others, and participated in the group's exhibitions. In his sculpture, instead of adding or subtracting material, he begins with a plane (circular, rectangular, square, etc.) that is cut and folded, forming a three-dimensional object articulated by an intense dialogue with space. Without fragmenting the material, the separation caused by the cuts and folds maintains the sculpture's internal unity. The absence of welding, which would give it an artificial character, and the iron's resistance to human action due to the thickness of the plates coexist with the presence of time, which the grime of rust makes explicit. If the concretists, especially Max Bill, begin with an idea and sublimate the material from which the sculpture is made, Amilcar de Castro maintains his connection with the soil and nature. According to historian Rodrigo Naves, "in these sculptures, Minas Gerais goes far beyond a geographical and anecdotal localism. Something of the insane effort to extract wealth from the soil remains in them."

In the 1960s, he designed layouts for the newspapers Diário Carioca, Última Hora, Estado de Minas, and Diário de Minas. In 1968, after receiving a Guggenheim Foundation grant, he moved with his wife and children to the United States, where he created several sculptures made from steel rings, plates, and wires. These pieces, which he would not continue, have different points of equilibrium on the ground. Returning to Brazil in 1971, after a brief stint in Rio de Janeiro, he settled in Belo Horizonte. In 1973, he taught classes at the Ouro Preto Art Foundation and later became a professor of sculpture and composition at the Guignard School, of which he would later become director. During the 1970s and 1980s, he taught at the Faculty of Fine Arts at UFMG. During this period, he intensively returned to drawing and continued his sculpture prior to the American period. In his drawings—deeply linked to the sculptural work and lithography he developed in the 1990s—his gesture becomes more pronounced. Some allow for various positions and configurations; the artist even signs on multiple sides. The organization of space emerges in them without a prior design, as can be seen in the fluidity of his gesture and the brushstroke trail. In some of his later sculptures, he does not create folds, but merely cuts in thick iron walls that allow light to pass through. In some, he frees a mobile solid, but preserves the unity that the cut would initially have destroyed. It is the subtle juxtaposition of this solid to the plane that maintains the possibility of its integration into the whole. In 1990, he retired from the Faculty of Fine Arts and dedicated himself to artistic pursuits until the end of his life.

In 1999, he presented new works in an exhibition held at the Hélio Oiticica Art Center in Rio de Janeiro, respecting the strength limits of the historic building's slabs. Next to the building, in Tiradentes Square, he exhibited a series of monumental pieces. In his latest sculptures, departing from the constructivist orthodoxy, he did not start with the regular geometric figures that characterized a period of his production.

Having long been removed from the base, his works extend horizontally on the ground and engage with the landscape. Over a career spanning nearly five decades, Amilcar de Castro experimented with the infinite possibilities of the plane. Resistant to excessive rationalism, his folds made geometry malleable and more human.

Critiques

"Iron is its raw material. Iron and Amilcar constitute a pair of identities as strong as color theories and Seurat. (...) The sculptural tradition of the 20th century, particularly from Constructivism onwards, establishes an intense dialogue with matter, determining expression and form. But, in this tradition, the same artist will use different materials throughout his work. Iron is this and something more in Amilcar's work. Mass and weight, density and resistance, color and 'texture' - expressed in oxidation - are assimilated into the whole in the same way as the artist's interventions. Just as a primary perception of space is impossible (Schilder), a primary presence of matter is impossible. Iron transforms itself to, actively, compose a whole that always betrays its original and primitive history. Sculpture realizes in iron the full meaning of folding, of one making two, duplicating and intensifying, making it more complete and, at the same time, subduing it, it rises and in the same movement rests stable on its base, the earth, the ground. This dignity, this ethics materialized in asceticism, finds a dramatic unity in form and matter, in the plane, in the cut, in the fold, and in the iron. The iron, its resistance to the artist's gesture, and the mark of this clash are part of the drama that resides in the paradox of constructing symphonic works with camera resources. Hence, also, the traces of subjectivity, the traces of intervention in the plane, attributing to it a body whose construction does not repress the marks of the process of its elaboration."
Paulo Sérgio Duarte
DUARTE, Paulo Sérgio. Amilcar de Castro or the Adventure of Coherence. New Studies Cebrap, n. 28, p. 152-158.

"Amilcar de Castro is a member of the group of Neoconcrete artists and, as such, carries out an experiment that has its origins in the Concretist aesthetic, which he deepens. From that stage of inquiry and study, Amilcar retained some general and positive characteristics: a desire for simplicity, defined structures, and direct expression. He also rejected the notion of form, so to speak, quantitative, which translates into serial construction, the composition of elements added to one another. And if he rejected it, it was because this analytical way of viewing structure leads to a contradictorily intellectualist and optical language; given the external way in which form is conceived, the artist must resort to visual effects to lend it dynamism. Amilcar descends to a conception prior to form to surprise it in its inception and capture it at birth. He manages, with seemingly simple elements—a rectangular plate—to reveal a dramatic experience of form, this conflict of form that wants to be born and establish itself in the comfort of our perception and the force that simultaneously solicits it and opposes it, the gesture that provokes the explosion and stops it. Amilcar's sculptures want to explode, and the explosion is latent in the virtual movement of the slab that wants to unfold and shrink, of the surface that with a living force rises from the ground and becomes immobile on the eve of a new, never-precipitated movement. His forms are monumental without being rhetorical, they are heavy without possessing mass, they are dramatic without resorting to any conventional figuration of drama."
Ferreira Gullar
GULLAR, Ferreira. Sculptures by Amilcar de Castro. In: AMARAL, Aracy (Org.). Brazilian Constructive Project in Art: 1950-1962. Rio de Janeiro: MAM, 1977. p. 241. [Text originally written for Revista Módulo No. 5, April 1961]

"Everything in Amilcar de Castro's work rejects easy and imposing forms, even though few Brazilian works of art have achieved his formal strength. After all, is it the cuts that order these pieces, or the folds? Does the structure of these sculptures derive from the line that disrupted the serenity of a rectangle, or from the twists that seem to resist the ordering pressure? Certainly, there is a dependence between the two. But more, much more than the expression formal unity usually allows. Here, the iron acquires a mode of appearance that, in principle, refuses any limitation. And yet this occurs only by virtue of a type of framing. This movement, however, demands enormous precision, which the economy of Amilcar's works knew how to rigorously orchestrate. (...)

In Amilcar de Castro's sculpture, the rust on the surfaces testifies to the encounter of two very different times, a sign that the forms undergo injunctions of order varied. Constructivist optimism needs to coexist with a powerful ballast - a past that makes abrupt arrangements impossible and clouds the lightness of the first day. (...)

With rust, an entire colonial legacy comes to light. The formal clarity of these pieces, the freshness of such limpid articulations, weighs heavily on the memory of a social archaism that cannot be reversed solely through complex structures and decisive relationships. Between the corrosion of rust and the crystalline lines, between the rawness of the ore and the purity of the metal, emerge those activities that lead from one to the other—mining, metallurgy—a work that these works always keep visible, never concealing. In these sculptures, Minas Gerais goes far beyond a geographical and anecdotal localism. Something insane, an effort to extract wealth from the soil, remains in them."
Rodrigo Naves
NAVES, Rodrigo. Amilcar de Castro: Materia de Risco. In: NAVES, Rodrigo. A forma difícil: ensaios sobre arte brasileira. São Paulo: Ática, 1996. p. 225, 235, 238.

"In a 1983 text, I wrote that the poetics of Amilcar's sculpture is based on the dialogue between the cut and the fold. If it were merely a cut, his sculpture would be a split object. A manifestation of his authority over raw material: a tear, a wound, an act of violence. By associating the cut with the fold, the artist introduces a poetic element into his sculpture. In the cut, the iron, even wounded, is passive. With the fold, it resists, imposes its presence. The cut is the straight line, the plane merely suggested. The fold is the curve, the plane becomes space. A living organism. The cut separates, the fold softens. The cut is an operation of no return, like that furrow a hard pencil makes on paper. It's gone, it stays. The fold is virtual, latent, something that is not completed. The cut is space, the fold is time. Cut-fold = space-time. His sculpture is pure space, as drawing is line and painting is color. Whole, solid, it needs no external support. Glue, welds, screws, rivets, hinges, frames, knots, loops, ties, internal structures—his sculpture dispenses with all these or any other mechanical resource to stand. And it doesn't ask for the spectator's playful participation. Only contemplation. And silence."
Frederico Morais
MORAIS, Frederico. The three-dimensional field: sculptures, reliefs, objects, and installations. In: TRIDIMENSIONALITY: Brazilian art of the 20th century. 2nd ed. São Paulo: Itaú Cultural: Cosac & Naify, 1999.

"Amilcar de Castro understands his lithographs as lightning-fast drawings: he proposes no mystery for them, being everyday art. He interprets the lithography in proximity not only to the project, but also to the completed sculpture. Comparing the drawing with the fold of the sculpture, one thinks that his lithographs can be interpreted as pure, in which the irregularly applied gesture of the brush describes zones in which regular forms endowed with a single color are set. Having the valence of Thais [Helt]'s chromatic setting, Amilcar's differs from it in its geometricism. This, made with a ruler, functions as the fold of the sculpture, referring the two arts to an exclusive concept of mysteries, that of epura, insofar as the hidden parts are present in it thanks to the transparency of the tracing. The sculptural interpretation of the lithography proposes the hypothesis that the fold and the rust of the sculpture are the interpreters of the geometric figure and the free gesture, respectively. In the analogy, the irregular frames the regular, as the banal frames the precious: the rust envelops and enhances the work.
Leon Kossovitch and Mayra Laudanna
KOSSOVITCH, Leon; LAUDANNA, Mayra. Engraving in the 20th Century. In: ENGRAVING: Brazilian Art of the 20th Century. São Paulo: Itaú Cultural: Cosac & Naify, 2000. p. 23-24.

"The cut in Amilcar is a structural trait, not an ornament.

The expression 'dry and solid,' used above to define the cuts Amilcar made in the material, was used here to compare his sculpture with representatives of abstract expressionist sculpture, where one might be tempted to situate the artist's production.

To the perhaps excessive search for sensuality in the material perceived in this type of sculpture, the Brazilian artist would oppose the sobriety of the simple cut. A precise cut, without regrets, followed by equally decisive twists. Hence their dryness and solidity, hence their production of works that are still 'classic,' but nonetheless possess a certain sensuality—or, at least, a disposition for a more affective dialogue with the world.(...)

(...) In a society attacked in so many ways, Amilcar, with a sheet of iron and a decisive cut, dialogues rather than threatens, embraces rather than obstruct. And this willingness to engage in a welcoming and powerful dialogue with the observer and the surroundings (without dissolving into them or depending on them) is perhaps Amilcar's greatest contribution to sculpture in the last 50 years."
Tadeu Chiarelli
CHIARELLI, Tadeu. Amilcar de Castro: effective and affective dialogues with the world. In: AMILCAR de Castro: corte e dobra. São Paulo: Cosac & Naify, 2003. 188 p., ill. color. p. 19-20

Testimonials

"My sculpture begins in the studio. Here I draw, make a paper model, then if I like it, I iron it out and make a model. Then, if I like it, I increase the size. Drawing is the foundation, a way of thinking. And thinking, in art, is drawing, because without drawing, there is nothing. There are other sculptors who make sculptures without drawing. I don't know how to do anything without drawing. (...)

My work with lithography is exactly the same as drawing; there's no mystery, it's just doing it. You draw on stone and print it. I do lithography every Saturday at Thais Helt's studio in Nova Lima. I work, drink a glass of wine, and then leave, and sometimes I just drink wine. (...)

The drawings in my studio I did all at once, on the same day, in one session at most. time. I draw on this table, grab the bucket of acrylic paint, the brush, and draw on the canvas. I draw without any plan, without anything planned, trying to organize the space, and that's it. Sometimes it turns out better, other times worse. I select what I don't like and throw it away, but what I like stays to see if I fight with him tomorrow or continue dating him. (...)

For many years, I've been making large drawings on canvas. I drape the canvas over the polyethylene (Ecatex), draw with acrylic paint, remove the canvas from the polyethylene (Ecatex), and place it on the aluminum frame. You can position the drawing however you like, vertically or horizontally. That's because I don't do it like this, standing up (referring to a drawing), I'm doing it like a sculpture, so it's free. (...)

My work is intuitive and adventurous. Sometimes I challenge myself, start a drawing on one side, switch to the other, switch again, and start the drawing with my left hand. I have to change to see what happens with the drawing, and the same happens with the fold of the sculpture."
Amilcar de Castro, 1999
CASTRO, Amilcar de. [Testimony, Belo Horizonte, 1999]. In: ENGRAVING: 20th-Century Brazilian Art. São Paulo: Itaú Cultural: Cosac & Naify, 2000. p. 154.

Collections

Itaú ​​Cultural Institute - São Paulo SP
Amílcar de Castro Institute of Contemporary Art
São Paulo Museum of Modern Art (MAM/SP) - São Paulo SP
Rio de Janeiro Museum of Modern Art (MAM/RJ) - Rio de Janeiro RJ
Dom Silvério Museum
National Museum of Fine Arts Arts (MNBA) - Rio de Janeiro RJ
São Paulo State Art Gallery (Pesp) - São Paulo SP

Solo Exhibitions

1969 - New York (United States) - Solo exhibition at the Kornblee Gallery
1970 - New York (United States) - Solo exhibition at the Convent of Jesus Sacred Heart
1978 - São Paulo, SP - Amilcar de Castro: drawings, at the Graphic Arts Office
1979 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo exhibition at the MAM/RJ
1980 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Amilcar de Castro: drawings and lithographs, at the Brazilian Gravura Gallery
1980 - São Paulo, SP - Solo exhibition at the Raquel Arnaud Art Office
1981 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Solo exhibition at the Gesto Gráfico Art Gallery
1982 - São Paulo, SP - Solo exhibition at the Raquel Arnaud Art Office
1983 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Solo exhibition at the Gesto Gráfico Gallery Art Gallery
1983 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo exhibition at the Thomas Cohn Gallery
1985 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Solo exhibition at the Gesto Gráfico Art Gallery
1985 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo exhibition at the Thomas Cohn Gallery
1986 - Ouro Preto, MG - Amilcar de Castro: drawings and sculptures, at the Museu da Inconfidência
1986 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo exhibition at the Paulo Klabin Gallery
1986 - São Paulo, SP - Solo exhibition at the Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud
1987 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Solo exhibition at the Fernando Paz Art Gallery
1987 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Solo exhibition at the Lucchesi Art Gallery
1987 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Solo exhibition at the Itaugaleria
1987 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Solo exhibition at the Lucchesi Art Gallery
1987 - São Paulo, SP - Amilcar de Castro: drawings and sculptures, at Unit II of the Art Gallery
1988 - Brasília DF - Amilcar de Castro: drawings, sculptures, and prints, at the Capital Contemporary Art Space
1988 - Ribeirão Preto SP - Amilcar de Castro: retrospective, at the Ribeirão Preto Visual Arts Promotions
1988 - São Paulo SP - Solo exhibition, at the Paulo Vasconcellos Art Gallery
1989 - Belo Horizonte MG - Solo exhibition, at the Gesto Gráfico Art Gallery
1989 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo exhibition, at the Paço Imperial
1989 - São Paulo SP - Amilcar de Castro: sculptures, at the Raquel Arnaud Art Cabinet
1989 - Tokyo (Japan) - Solo show, at the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art
1990 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Solo show, at the Novo Tempo Gallery
1990 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo show, at the Thomas Cohn Gallery
1990 - São Paulo, SP - Amilcar de Castro: the artist's space as a young man, at Paço das Artes
1991 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Solo show, at Cemig. Cultural Space Art Gallery
1991 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Solo show, at the Fernando Pedro Art Office
1992 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Manoel Macedo Art Gallery: 10 Years: Amilcar de Castro, at the Manoel Macedo Art Gallery
1992 - São Paulo, SP - Solo show, at the Raquel Arnaud Art Office
1993 - Niterói, RJ - Amilcar de Castro: drawings and sculptures, at the Fluminense Federal University Art Gallery
1993 - São Paulo, SP - Solo show, at the Raquel Arnaud Art Office
1994 - São Paulo, SP - Amilcar de Castro: drawings and sculptures, at the Raquel Arnaud Art Office
1996 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - An Exponent of Brazilian Concretism, at the Portinari Gallery
1996 - Florianópolis, SC - Amilcar de Castro: drawings, engravings, and models, at the Victor Meirelles Museum
1996 - Recife, PE - Amilcar de Castro: sculptures and drawings, at MAMAM
1997 - Curitiba, PR - Solo exhibition, at Ybakatu Art Space
1998 - Goiânia, GO - Solo exhibition, at the Jaime Câmara Foundation
1998 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo exhibition, at the Gustavo Capanema Palace
1998 - São Paulo, SP - Solo exhibition, at the Raquel Arnaud Art Cabinet
1999 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Solo exhibition, at the Kolams Art Gallery
1999 - Recife, PE - Amilcar de Castro: sculptures and drawings, at MAMAM
1999 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Amilcar de Castro: sculptures and drawings, at the Hélio Oiticica Arts Center
2000 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Solo exhibition, at Kalil and Lauar Art Gallery
2000 - São Paulo SP - Amilcar de Castro: 80 years, at the Thomas Cohn Gallery
2001 - São Paulo SP - Solo show, at the Thomas Cohn Gallery
2001 - São Paulo SP - Solo show, at the State Pinacoteca
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo show, at the Silvia Cintra Art Gallery
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo show, at the Armazém do Rio

Collective Exhibitions

1947 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 53rd National Salon of Fine Arts, at the MNBA - bronze medal in drawing
1951 - Salvador, BA - 3rd Bahia Salon of Fine Arts, at the Belvedere da Sé Gallery - bronze medal in sculpture
1953 - São Paulo, SP - 2nd International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Pavilion of the States
1955 - Salvador, BA - National Salon of Modern Art of Bahia - 1st prize in sculpture
1956 - São Paulo, SP - 1st National Exhibition of Concrete Art, at the MAM/SP
1957 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 1st National Exhibition of Concrete Art, at the MAM/RJ
1959 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 1st Exhibition of Neoconcrete Art, at MAM/RJ
1959 - Salvador, BA - 1st Exhibition of Neoconcrete Art, at the Belvedere da Sé Gallery
1960 - Belo Horizonte, MG - 15th Salon of Fine Arts of the City of Belo Horizonte, at the MAP - 1st prize in sculpture
1960 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 2nd Exhibition of Neoconcrete Art, at the MEC
1960 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 9th National Salon of Modern Art, at MAM/RJ - silver medal in sculpture
1960 - Zurich (Switzerland) - Konkrete Kunst, at the Helmhaus
1961 - São Paulo, SP - 3rd Exhibition of Neoconcrete Art, at MAM/SP
1961 - São Paulo, SP - 6th International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Ciccilo Matarazzo Sobrinho Pavilion
1962 - Belo Horizonte MG - 17th Salon of Fine Arts of the City of Belo Horizonte, at the MAP - 1st prize in sculpture
1965 - São Paulo SP - 8th International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Biennial Foundation
1966 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - Contemporary Brazilian Artists, at the Museum of Modern Art
1966 - Montevideo (Uruguay) - Contemporary Brazilian Artists, at the Museum of Modern Art of Montevideo
1967 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 16th National Salon of Modern Art
1970 - New York (United States) - Exhibition, at the Convent Jesus Sacrat Hart
1972 - São Paulo SP - 4th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1972 - São Paulo SP - Art/Brazil/Today: 50 years later, at the Gallery of Collectio
1972 - São Paulo, SP - Brazilian Multiples, at the Multiple Art Gallery
1974 - Belo Horizonte, MG - 6th National Contemporary Art Salon of Belo Horizonte, at the MAP - Grand Prize in Sculpture
1974 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Grand Prize in Sculpture, at the MAP
1976 - Campinas, SP - 10th Contemporary Art Salon of Campinas, at the MACC
1977 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Brazilian Constructive Project in Art: 1950-1962, at the MAM/RJ
1977 - São Paulo, SP - 9th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at the MAM/SP - Grand Prize in Drawing
1977 - São Paulo, SP - Brazilian Constructive Project in Art: 1950-1962, at the State Art Gallery
1978 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 3rd Art Now: Latin America, sensitive geometry, at MAM/RJ
1978 - São Paulo SP - 10th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP - Grand Prize in Sculpture
1979 - Mexico City (Mexico) - Biennial of Drawing and Engraving
1979 - São Paulo SP - 15th International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Biennial Foundation
1980 - São Paulo SP - Amilcar de Castro, Lygia Clark, Sérgio de Camargo and Franz Weissmann, at the Raquel Arnaud Art Cabinet
1981 - Belo Horizonte MG - 13th National Salon of Contemporary Art of Belo Horizonte, at MAP - Grand Prize of the City of Belo Horizonte
1981 - Belo Horizonte MG - 8th Global Winter Salon, at the Palace of Arts Foundation
1981 - Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais - Guignard's Students, at Itaugaleria
1981 - Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais - Featured Art, at the Palácio das Artes Foundation
1981 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 8th Global Winter Salon, at MAM/RJ
1981 - São Paulo, SP - 13th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1981 - São Paulo, SP - 8th Global Winter Salon, at Masp
1981 - São Paulo, SP - Brazilian Contemporary Artists, at the São Paulo Art Gallery
1982 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Contemporaneity: a tribute to Mário Pedrosa, at MAM/RJ
1982 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - What House is this of Brazilian Art
1982 - São Paulo, SP - A Century of Sculpture in Brazil, at Masp
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 13 Artists/13 Works, at Thomas Cohn Contemporary Art
1983 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 6th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ
1983 - São Paulo SP - Imagining the Present, at the Raquel Arnaud Art Cabinet
1984 - Belo Horizonte MG - 1st Visual Arts Salon of the Clóvis Salgado Foundation, at the Clóvis Salgado Foundation. Palace of Arts
1984 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Neoconcretism 1959-1961, at the Banerj Art Gallery
1984 - São Paulo SP - 10 Artists from Minas Gerais, at MAC/USP
1984 - São Paulo SP - The Color and Drawing of Brazil, at MAM/SP
1984 - São Paulo SP - Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection: portrait and self-portrait of Brazilian art, at MAM/SP
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradition and Rupture: synthesis of Brazilian art and culture, at the Bienal Foundation
1985 - Niterói RJ - A Question of Order, at UFF. Art Gallery
1985 - Porto Alegre, RS - Iberê Camargo: trajectory and encounters, at Margs
1985 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 8th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ
1985 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Encounters, at Petite Galerie
1985 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Velha Mania: Brazilian drawing, at EAV/Parque Lage
1985 - São Paulo, SP - 16th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1985 - São Paulo, SP - Highlights of Brazilian Contemporary Art, at MAM/SP
1986 - Brasília, DF - Iberê Camargo: trajectory and encounters, at the Cláudio Santoro National Theater
1986 - Fortaleza, CE - 1st International Exhibition of Ephemeral Sculptures, at the Demócrito Foundation Rocha
1986 - Porto Alegre, RS - Rubem Knijnik Collection: Brazilian art from the 60s, 70s, and 80s, at Margs
1986 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Iberê Camargo: trajectory and encounters, at MAM/RJ
1986 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - JK and the 1950s: a vision of culture and everyday life, at Galeria Investiarte
1986 - São Paulo, SP - Iberê Camargo: trajectory and encounters, at MAM/SP
1987 - Madrid (Spain) - Latin American Sculpture
1987 - Paris (France) - Modernity: Brazilian art of the 20th century, at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 1st Geometric Abstraction: concretism and neoconcretism, at Funarte. Arts Center
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Geometric and Informal Abstractionism: aspects of the Brazilian avant-garde of the 1950s, at Funarte
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - To the Collector: tribute to Gilberto Chateaubriand, at MAM/RJ
1987 - São Paulo SP - 18th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1987 - São Paulo SP - 19th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1987 - São Paulo SP - 1st Geometric Abstraction: concretism and neoconcretism, at MAB/Faap
1988 - New York (United States) - The Latin American Spirit: art and artists in the United States, 1920-1970, at The Bronx Museum of the Arts
1988 - Ribeirão Preto SP - Lívio Abramo, Iberê Camargo, and Amilcar de Castro, at the Casa da Cultura de Ribeirão Preto. 1988 - São Paulo, SP - 19th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP. 1988 - São Paulo, SP - Modernity: 20th-Century Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP. 1988 - São Paulo, SP - Rhythms and Forms: Contemporary Brazilian Art, at Sesc Pompéia. 1989 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Rhythms and Forms: Contemporary Brazilian Art, at the Charlottenborg Museum. 1989 - El Paso (United States) - The Latin American Spirit: Art and Artists in the United States: 1920-1970, at the El Paso Museum of Art. 1989 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Rio Hoje, at MAM/RJ. 1989 - San Diego (United States) - The Latin American Spirit: Art and Artists in the United States: 1920-1970, at the San Diego Museum of Art 1989 - San Juan (Puerto Rico) - The Latin American Spirit: Art and Artists in the United States: 1920-1970, at the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña 1989 - São Paulo, SP - 10 Sculptors, at the Raquel Arnaud Art Office 1989 - São Paulo, SP - 20th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Biennial Foundation 1989 - São Paulo, SP - Gesture and Structure, at the Raquel Arnaud Art Office 1990 - Atami (Japan) - 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition 1990 - Brasília, DF - 9th Brazil-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition 1990 - Brasília, DF - Brasília Prize for Visual Arts, at the Museum of Art of Brasília
1990 - Miami (United States) - The Latin American Spirit: art and artists in the United States, 1920-1970, at the Center for the Fine Arts Miami Art Museum of Date
1990 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 9th Brazil-Japan Exhibition of Contemporary Art
1990 - São Paulo SP - 21st Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1990 - São Paulo SP - 9th Brazil-Japan Exhibition of Contemporary Art, at the Brazil-Japan Foundation
1990 - São Paulo SP - Coherence - Transformation, at the Raquel Arnaud Art Cabinet
1990 - Sapporo (Japan) - 9th Brazil-Japan Exhibition of Contemporary Art
1990 - Tokyo Atami (Japan) - 9th Brazil-Japan Art Exhibition Contemporary
1991 - São Paulo SP - 22nd Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1991 - São Paulo SP - Geometric and Informal Abstractionism: aspects of the Brazilian avant-garde of the 1950s, at the State Art Gallery
1991 - Uberlândia MG - Sculpture, at the Federal University of Uberlândia
1992 - Belo Horizonte MG - Icons of Utopia, at the Palace of Arts Foundation
1992 - Curitiba PR - 10th Engraving Exhibition City of Curitiba/Mostra América, at the Engraving Museum
1992 - Niterói RJ - UFF Art Gallery: 10 Years, at UFF. Art Gallery
1992 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Brazilian Contemporary Art, at EAV/Parque Lage
1992 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Coca-Cola 50 Years with Art, at MAM/RJ
1992 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Sculpture 92: Seven Expressions, at Espaço RB1
1992 - Santo André, SP - Lithography: Methods and Concepts, at Paço Municipal
1992 - São Paulo, SP - Coca-Cola 50 Years with Art, at MAM/SP
1992 - Zurich (Switzerland) - Brasilien: entdeckung und self-deckung, at Kunsthaus Zürich
1993 - Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais - 4 x Minas Gerais, at the Palace of Arts
1993 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 4 x Minas Gerais, at the MAM/RJ
1993 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Brazil, 100 Years of Modern Art, at the MNBA
1993 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Engravings by Amilcar de Castro, Antonio Dias, Iberê Camargo, and Sérgio Fingermann, at the EAV/Parque Lage
1993 - Salvador, BA - 4 x Minas Gerais, at the MAM/BA
1993 - São Paulo, SP - 4 x Minas Gerais, at the Masp
1994 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Guignard: 50 Years of an Art School, at the Vidyã Gallery
1994 - Ouro Preto, MG - Virtual Identity, at the Museum of Inconfidência
1994 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Precision, at the CCBB
1994 - São Paulo SP - 20th Century Brazil Biennial, at the Bienal Foundation
1995 - Belo Horizonte MG - Derived Image: a look at the unfolding of engraving today, at MAP
1995 - Londrina PR - Brazilian Art: confrontations and contrasts, at the Octávio Cesário Pereira Júnior International Pavilion
1995 - São Paulo SP - Between Drawing and Sculpture, at MAM/SP
1995 - São Paulo SP - Morandi in Brazil, at the CCSP
1996 - Belo Horizonte MG - The City and the Artist: two centenaries, at BDMG Cultural
1996 - Belo Horizonte MG - Consolidation of Modernity in Belo Horizonte, at MAP
1996 - Belo Horizonte MG - Poetic Influence: ten contemporary illustrators, Amilcar de Castro and Mira Schendel, at Palace of Arts Foundation
1996 - Brasília, DF - Art and Urban Space: fifteen proposals, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Itamaraty Palace
1996 - Brasília, DF - Four Contemporary Brazilian Master Sculptors, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Itamaraty Palace
1996 - Paris (France) - Two Brazilian Artists, at Galerie Debret
1996 - Porto Alegre, RS - 1st Sesc Escultura: international outdoor sculpture exhibition, at Sesc Campestre
1996 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Poetic Influence: ten contemporary artists, Amilcar de Castro and Mira Schendel, at Paço Imperial
1996 - São Paulo, SP - 1st Off Biennial, at MuBE
1996 - São Paulo, SP - Desexp(l)os(ign)ição, at Casa das Rosas
1996 - São Paulo, SP - Urban Sculptures, at Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud
1997 - Contagem, MG - Guignard Students in Contagem, at Casa de Cultura Nair Mendes Moreira
1997 - Curitiba, PR - Contemporary Art of Engraving, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of Curitiba
1997 - Porto Alegre RS - 1st Mercosul Visual Arts Biennial, at Aplub; at the Mário Quintana Cultural Center; at DC Navegantes; at Edel; at the Gasômetro Plant; at the UFRGS Arts Institute; at the Mercosul Visual Arts Biennial Foundation; at Margs; at Espaço Ulbra; at the Museum of Social Communication; at the UFRGS Rectorate and at the São Pedro Theater
1997 - Porto Alegre RS - Object Imagination, at the Deprec Workshops; at the Navy Depot; in the Brazilian Navy Park and in public spaces throughout the city. 1997 - Porto Alegre, RS - Constructive and Design Aspects, at the Ulbra Cultural Space. 1997 - São Paulo, SP - Diversity of Contemporary Brazilian Sculpture, on Paulista Avenue. 1997 - São Paulo, SP - Brazilian Sculpture: Profile of an Identity, at Banco Safra. 1997 - São Paulo, SP - Three-Dimensionality in 20th-Century Brazilian Art, at Itaú Cultural. 1997 - Washington, D.C. - Brazilian Sculpture: Profile of an Identity, at the IDB Cultural Center. 1998 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Three-Dimensionality in 20th-Century Brazilian Art, at Itaú Cultural. 1998 - Brasília, DF - Three-Dimensionality in 20th-Century Brazilian Art, at the Itaú Cultural Gallery. 1998 - Penápolis, SP - Three-Dimensionality in 20th-Century Brazilian Art, at Itaú Cultural Gallery
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 16th National Visual Arts Salon, at MAM/RJ
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Graphic Thinking: the engraving of language, at the Imperial Palace
1998 - São Paulo SP - Constructive Art in Brazil: Adolpho Leirner Collection, at MAM/SP
1998 - São Paulo SP - The Collector, at MAM/SP
1998 - São Paulo SP - The Collectors - Guita and José Mindlin: matrices and engravings, at the Sesi Art Gallery
1998 - São Paulo SP - Theory of Values, at MAM/SP
1999 - Florianópolis SC - Drawings and Engravings: MVM Collection - 1994 to 1999, at the Victor Meirelles Museum
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Constructive Art in Brazil: Adolpho Leirner Collection, at MAM/RJ
1999 - São Paulo SP - 26th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1999 - São Paulo SP - Everyday Life/Art. Consumption, at Itaú Cultural
1999 - São Paulo SP - Lithography: fidelity and memory, at the Unicid Arts Space
2000 - Belo Horizonte MG - Belo Horizonte-Leiria: a meeting of cultures, at the Clóvis Salgado Foundation. Minas Gerais Dance Company
2000 - Belo Horizonte MG - Present of Kings, at the Kolams Art Gallery
2000 - Colchester (England) - Another 500: highlights of Brazilian contemporary art in UECLAA, at the Art Gallery - University of Essex
2000 - Curitiba PR - 12th Curitiba Engraving Exhibition. Marks of the Body, Folds of the Soul
2000 - Fortaleza, CE - 26th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at the Dragão do Mar Center for Art and Culture
2000 - Leiria (Portugal) - Belo Horizonte-Leiria: a meeting of cultures, at Gallery 57 - contemporary art
2000 - Lisbon (Portugal) - 20th Century: Art of Brazil, at the José de Azeredo Perdigão Center for Modern Art
2000 - Niterói, RJ - 26th Panorama of Brazilian Art, at MAC/Niterói
2000 - São Paulo, SP - Brazil + 500 Rediscovery Exhibition, at the Biennial Foundation
2000 - São Paulo, SP - Brazilian Ceramics: construction of a language, at the British Brazilian Center
2000 - São Paulo, SP - Brazilian Sculpture: from the Pinacoteca to the Jardim da Luz, at the Pinacoteca do State
2000 - São Paulo SP - Investigations: Brazilian Engraving, at Itaú Cultural
2000 - São Paulo SP - The Role of Art, at the Sesi Art Gallery
2001 - Belo Horizonte MG - Modernism in Minas Gerais: Reference Icons, at Itaú Cultural
2001 - Brasília DF - Investigations. Brazilian Engraving, at the Itaú Cultural Gallery
2001 - Nova Lima MG - Allen Roscoe, Amilcar de Castro, Pedro de Castro, Rodrigo de Castro, Thais Helt, at Amilcar de Castro's Studio
2001 - Penápolis SP - Investigations. Brazilian Engraving, at the Itaú Cultural Gallery 2001 - Penápolis, SP - Modernism in Minas Gerais: Reference Icons, at the Itaú Cultural Gallery 2001 - Porto Alegre, RS - Liba and Rubem Knijnik Collection: Contemporary Brazilian Art, at Margs 2001 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - The Image of Sound by Antônio Carlos Jobim, at the Imperial Palace 2001 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Blind Mirror: Selections from a Contemporary Collection, at the Imperial Palace 2001 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - The Spirit of Our Age, at MAM/RJ 2001 - São Paulo, SP - Blind Mirror: Selections from a Contemporary Collection, at MAM/SP 2001 - São Paulo, SP - The Spirit of Our Age, at MAM/SP 2001 - São Paulo, SP - The Trajectory of Light in Brazilian Art, at Itaú Cultural
2002 - Fortaleza, CE - Ceará Rediscovers Brazil, at the Dragão do Mar Center for Art and Culture
2002 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Brazilian Art in the Fadel Collection: from the restlessness of the modern to the autonomy of language, at the CCBB
2002 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Paths of the Contemporary 1952-2002, at the Imperial Palace
2002 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Parallels: Brazilian art from the second half of the 20th century in context, Cisneros Collection, at the MAM/RJ
2002 - São Paulo, SP - The Line as the Structure of Form, at the MAM/SP
2002 - São Paulo, SP - Amilcar de Castro and Five Artists from Minas Gerais, at the Marília Razuk Art Gallery
2002 - São Paulo, SP - Metrópolis Collection of Contemporary Art, at the State Art Gallery
2002 - São Paulo, SP - Collective 2002, at Galeria Baró Senna
2002 - São Paulo SP - Wild Mirror: Modern Art in Brazil in the First Half of the 20th Century, Nemirovsky Collection, at MAM/SP
2002 - São Paulo SP - Geometric and Kinetic, at Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud
2002 - São Paulo SP - The Plane as Structure of Form, at MAM/SP
2002 - São Paulo SP - Parallels: Brazilian Art from the Second Half of the 20th Century in Context, Colección Cisneros, at MAM/SP

Posthumous Exhibitions

2002 - Brasília, DF - Fragments to Their Magnet, at the Venâncio Contemporary Cultural Space
2002 - Brasília, DF - JK - An Aesthetic Adventure, at the Caixa Cultural Complex
2002 - São Paulo, SP - 10 Years of Marília Razuk, at the Marília Razuk Art Gallery
2002 - São Paulo, SP - Brazilian Art in the Fadel Collection: from the Restlessness of the Modern to the Autonomy of Language, at the CCBB
2002 - São Paulo, SP - AAA Collective, at the Baró Senna Gallery
2002 - São Paulo, SP - Image and Identity: A Look at History in the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, at the Banco Santos Cultural Institute
2002 - São Paulo, SP - Brazilian Multiples 30 Years Later, at Multipla de Arte
2003 - Brasília DF - Brazilian Art in the Fadel Collection: from the restlessness of the modern to the autonomy of language, at the CCBB
2003 - Mexico City (Mexico) - Cuasi Corpus: concrete and neoconcrete art from Brazil: a selection from the collection of the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art and the Adolpho Leirner Collection, at the Rufino Tamayo Museum
2003 - Iowa City (United States) - Layers of Brazilian Art, at the Faulconer Gallery
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Autonomy of Drawing, at the MAM/RJ
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Order x Freedom, at the MAM/RJ
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilianart Project, at the Almacén Art Gallery
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Black and White Project, at the Silvia Cintra Art Gallery
2003 - São Paulo SP - A Engraving Goes Well, Thank You: Brazilian Historical and Contemporary Engraving, at Espaço Virgílio
2003 - São Paulo SP - Constructivism and Form as Clothing, at MAM/SP
2003 - São Paulo SP - Cutting and Folding, at Marília Razuk Art Gallery
2003 - São Paulo SP - Sculptors - Sculptures, at Pinakotheke
2003 - São Paulo SP - Paper and Three-Dimensional, at Arvani Arte
2003 - Vila Velha ES - The Salt of the Earth, at Museu Vale do Rio Doce
2004 - Belo Horizonte MG - Pampulha, Collected Works: 1943-2003, at MAP
2004 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 30 Artists, at Mercedes Viegas Art Office
2004 - São Paulo SP - Contemporary Art in the Municipal Collection, at CCSP
2004 - São Paulo SP - Contemporary Art at the Iberê Camargo Studio, at the Maria Antonia University Center
2005 - Belo Horizonte MG - 40/80: an exhibition of Brazilian art, at Léo Bahia Contemporary Art
2005 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Soto: the construction of immateriality, at the CCBB
2005 - Porto Alegre RS - Amilcar de Castro: a retrospective
2005 - São Paulo SP - Trajectory/Trajectories, at the Raquel Arnaud Art Office