Maria Polo

Maria Polo (Venice, Italy 1937 - Rio de Janeiro RJ 1983)

Maria Polo was an Italian painter, illustrator, engraver, and stained glass artist. She studied at the Venice Art Institute between 1949 and 1955, where she developed her technical skills and laid the foundation for her artistic career. In 1959, she moved to Brazil, settling in São Paulo, where she held her first solo exhibition at the invitation of Pietro Maria Bardi, marking the beginning of her artistic career in the country.

In the 1970s, Maria Polo expanded her artistic repertoire to include tile work and stained glass, notable for her technical complexity, sensitive use of color, and the creation of harmonious compositions that capture light in a unique way. Her work combines influences from Italian art with elements of Brazilian art, making her a reference for collectors, researchers, and art students alike.

Throughout her career, Maria Polo participated in numerous exhibitions and received recognition from critics and the public. Her legacy remains relevant in modern art, influencing new generations of artists and cementing her role as a key figure in the history of Brazilian and international art.

Reviews

"Her current phase differs greatly from that which Maria demonstrated at the beginning of her career as an abstractionist. The colors, previously cool and based on gray tones, acquired the strong light, the cheerful and vibrant tone of the tropics. A wide variety of colors breaks the traditional rectangle of the canvas through the combination of broad round and oval shapes. Her pigment application technique is also very meticulous. The artist knows how to take advantage of the combination of various paint application methods, achieving great expressiveness through the effects achieved by her chromatic studies. She uses a wide variety of hues, creating vibrant but not aggressive canvases (...)".
Abril Editorial Team
ART through the centuries. São Paulo: Abril Cultural, 1972.

"... Maria Polo's painting is violent and at the same time serious, launching into the aphoristic adventure of forms, composing the stains, bringing together garish colors, screaming. She is a shy woman with fire inside. The countless critics who have spoken of her have not discovered that Maria Polo is a Mediterranean: the colors come from the Adriatic sun, which illuminates the immense Ungaretti region, but through a calm and harmonious module. Maria Polo, at times, blends the lights of her homeland with those of the tropics, and from this union emerge the strangest and most curious coloristic novelties (Gauguin, fusing the climates of Brittany with those of Tahiti, found his color solutions)."
Pietro Maria Bardi
CAVALCANTI, Carlos; AYALA, Walmir, ed. Brazilian Dictionary of Visual Artists. Introduction by Maria Alice Barroso. Brasília: MEC/INL, 1973-1980. (Specialized dictionaries, 5).

Solo Exhibitions

1960 - São Paulo, SP - Solo exhibition at Masp
1961 - São Paulo, SP - Solo exhibition at Galeria Astréia
1961 - Minnesota (United States) - Solo exhibition at Galeria Select Design
1962 - Porto Alegre, RS - Solo exhibition at the Porto Alegre Academy of Fine Arts
1962 - Caxias do Sul, RS - Solo exhibition at the Italian Club
1964 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Maria Polo: Recent Paintings, at Barcinski Art Gallery
1965 - São Paulo, SP - Solo exhibition at Galeria São Luiz
1966 - Houston (United States) - Solo exhibition at Kiko Galleries
1966 - Belo Horizonte, MG - Solo exhibition at the Belo Horizonte Art Museum
1966 - Rome (Italy) - Solo exhibition at Galeria da Casa do Brazil
1966 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo exhibition, at the Copacabana Palace Gallery
1967 - Washington, D.C. (United States) - Solo exhibition, at the Brazilian-North American Cultural Institute
1967 - São Paulo, SP - Solo exhibition, at the Cosme Velho Gallery
1967 - Salvador, BA - Solo exhibition, at the Concicirum Gallery
1968 - Brasília, DF - Solo exhibition, at the Hotel Nacional
1968 - Florianópolis, SC - Solo exhibition, at the MAM/SC
1969 - São Paulo, SP - Solo exhibition, at the National Bank of Minas Gerais S/A
1970 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo exhibition, at the Mini Gallery
1971 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo exhibition, at the Chica da Silva Gallery
1972 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo exhibition, at the Chica da Silva Gallery
1973 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo exhibition, at the Mini Gallery Gallery
1977 - Rome (Italy) - Solo exhibition, at the D"Arte Italo Brasiliana Gallery
1977 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo exhibition, at the Bonino Gallery
1979 - São Paulo, SP - Solo exhibition, at the Cosme Velho Gallery
1980 - Florianópolis, SC - Solo exhibition, at the Ceisa Center
1981 - São Paulo, SP - Solo exhibition, at the Studio José Duarte de Aguiar
1981 - São José dos Campos, SP - Solo exhibition, at the Casa das Artes
1982 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Maria Polo: Porcelains, at the Aktuell Gallery
1982 - Curitiba, PR - Expo 82: Maria Polo: Paintings, at the Guido Viaro Museum

Group Exhibitions

1958 - Rome (Italy) - Via Margutta International Art Fair
1960 - São Paulo, SP - Women's Contribution to the Visual Arts in Brazil, at MAM/SP
1961 - Curitiba, PR - October 1961, at the Paulo Valente Gallery
1961 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 10th National Salon of Modern Art
1961 - São Paulo, SP - 10th Paulista Salon of Modern Art, at the Prestes Maia Gallery - small silver medal
1962 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 11th National Salon of Modern Art
1963 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 12th National Salon of Modern Art
1963 - São Paulo, SP - 7th International Biennial of São Paulo, at the Bienal Foundation
1964 - Córdoba (Argentina) - 2nd American Art Biennial 1965 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 1st Esso Salon of Young Artists, at MAM/RJ 1965 - São Paulo, SP - 1st Esso Salon of Young Artists, at MAC/USP 1965 - São Paulo, SP - 8th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Biennial Foundation 1966 - Belo Horizonte, MG - 21st Municipal Salon of Fine Arts of Belo Horizonte 1966 - Salvador, BA - 1st National Biennial of Visual Arts 1967 - São Paulo, SP - 9th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Biennial Foundation 1969 - São Paulo, SP - 1st Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP 1970 - São Paulo, SP - 2nd Panorama of Art Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1973 - São Paulo SP - 5th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1976 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Caracas Honorary Awards, at the Decorators' Club
1976 - São Paulo SP - National Biennial 76, at the Biennial Foundation

Posthumous Exhibitions

1987 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Maria Polo Retrospective, at the MNBA
1988 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo Exhibition, at the MNBA
1990 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Solo Exhibition, at the Bolsa de Arte Gallery
1992 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - 1st On the Way to Niterói: João Sattamini Collection, at the Imperial Palace
2004 - São Paulo, SP - Gesture and Expression. Informal Abstractionism in the JP Morgan Chase and MAM Collections, at MAM/SP