Vicente do Rego Monteiro

Vicente do Rego Monteiro (Recife, PE, 1899 - idem, 1970)

Vicente do Rego Monteiro was a painter, sculptor, draftsman, illustrator, and graphic artist. Born in Recife, he was always surrounded by art, as his sister, Fédora, ten years older, encouraged by their mother, was already studying painting with private tutors. The unsatisfactory results of that training led the family to move to Rio de Janeiro, and Fédora began studying at the "School of Fine Arts." It was 1908, and accompanying his sister, Vicente painted his first watercolors.

“My painting could not have existed before Cubism, which bequeathed me the notions of construction, light, and forms. My influences: Futurism, Cubism, Japanese prints, Black art, the Paris School, our Baroque, and above all, the art of our Amerindians on the island of Marajó.”
Vicente do Rego Monteiro
In: “Vicente do Rego Monteiro – Painter and Poet”; Gilberto Freire et al.; 5th. Cor Editores; RJ, 1994[1].

“Research is necessary, even if it doesn't involve doing it.”

“For me, there are only two cities: Recife and Paris.”
Vicente do Rego Monteiro IN: op. cit.

1911: The idea that his sister was a great promise in the visual arts led the family to move to Paris[2]. There, our artist studied at the "Colagrossi," "Julian," and "Grande Chaumière"[3] Academies. Two years later – in 1913 – he participated in his first group exhibition, with two works, at the "Salon des Indépendants," which received praise from the critic of the newspaper "Le Matin." His first stay in Paris was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918).

1915-1921: They returned to Rio de Janeiro. Vicente began working with sculpture... He says he remembers the bust of Rui Barbosa with a "Rodinian" design. Two years later, they returned to Recife; and in 1919, he held his first solo exhibition in that city, soon after exhibiting in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. During this period, he studied Marajoara art and, with great personal interest, produced the play "Legends, Beliefs and Talismans of the Amazon Indians" in 1921 at the Trianon Theater in Rio de Janeiro. This play was highly praised by the poet, critic, and politician Ronald de Carvalho (1893-1935), with whom he left some works that represented him at the São Paulo Modern Art Week.

He left for Paris to work as a cabin boy[4] aboard the "Corcovado." The 1920s were a time of great activity for Vicente, who actively participated in Parisian life, exhibiting, illustrating books, and becoming a member of the group L'Effort Moderne, led by Léonce Rosenberg (1879-1947), a major art collector, antique dealer, art dealer, publisher, and staunch defender of Cubism.

In 1925 and 1928, he presented two solo exhibitions, one of which was presented by Amédée Ozenfant (1886-1966), a French Cubist painter and one of the founders of Purism, an avant-garde movement of the 1920s.

First digression: We know that in those years Philip Lehman (1861-1947), like the "moneyed" Americans, also circulated through Paris (and Europe) purchasing what would become the current "Robert Lehman Wing" of the Metropolitan Museum of Art-NYC, created from the donation, in 1969, of Robert, Philip's son, who had inherited it[5].

In 1923 ca., he met Vicente, became interested in his work, and purchased many pieces. With Lehman's financial support, Vicente was able to resist the demands for technical modifications made by his dealer, a fact that strengthened his pictorial identity, allowing our painter to continually develop without commercial pressures.

From this phase, "The Pavement Workers" and "The Hunt" are, in the artist's opinion, "my first truly anthropophagous theme, a fight between robot Indians and a fabulous animal inspired by Marajoara... it was the first that definitively marked my new phase. I abandoned the virtuosity of the drawing to add volume." Both works belong to the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Paris – Centre Georges Pompidou.

Statements by the artist himself indicate that "Brecheret and he were well-known figures in Paris – ca. 1923 – and some critics cited us with great enthusiasm." The Parisian success trickled down to Recife through a brother-in-law; The same man who convinced him to return to Brazil to be his daughter's godfather, which created the opportunity to organize an exhibition of the "School of Paris" in Recife, RJ, and São Paulo, together with Géo-Charles, or rather, Charles Louis Proper Guyot (1892-1963), an important French poet.

Second tour: "Brazil: 1920–1950. From Anthropophagy to Brasília," an exhibition that was installed at the Armando Álvares Penteado Foundation (FAAP) in 2002–2003.

According to the exhibition's general curator, Jorge Schwartz[6], professor of Hispanic-American Literature at USP, the "Modern Art Week of 1922" is the central point of "Brazil: 1920–1950. From Anthropophagy to Brasília." It was from this moment on that Brazilian art “managed to overcome the thorny issue of cultural dependence and create its own tradition through its own language, which opened the way for a genuine and autonomous art.”

However, the curator also states that, in 1921, the artist Vicente do Rego Monteiro already foreshadowed anthropophagy through his anthropophagic drawing with a Cubist approach, despite some rounded forms. In it, an Indian appears lying down, feasting on a man's femur that he had just served as food.

But let's return to Rego Monteiro. Since 1922, we find him in France – already living exclusively from his work. We wrote about his fervent activity in the fields of visual arts and literature, a phase that continued uninterrupted until 1930, when he returned to Brazil for family reasons (see page 3) and to present the "Paris School[7]" exhibition. Unfortunately, the exhibition (1930) was not crowned with success, despite featuring works by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Georges Braque (1882-1963), Joan Miró (1893-1983), Gino Severini (1883-1966), Fernand Léger (1881-1955), and his own works.[8] During the same period, he was affected by the New York Stock Exchange crash, which also affected Parisian artistic life.[9] Nevertheless, he continued to work and exhibit in various fields, with illustrations in a wide variety of publications. Poetry itself would come later, as it was in Brazil, during the years of World War II, that he developed it.[10]

His life continued with a succession of trips between Paris and Recife. The mill, equipped with a grinding machine, transformed the production of my still into a continuous process. It was short-lived, for many reasons. He returned to Paris, but the proximity of the war (1939-1945) made him return to Brazil, working as director of the Impresa Oficial de Pernambuco and developing the graphic part, creating illustrations for the magazines “Fronteiras[11]” with Manuel Lubambo and “Renovação”. Lubambo does not spare praise for Monteiro. He says:

"... (Monteiro) is one of the great names in modern painting. Alongside greats such as Picasso, Leger, Braque, and others, he participated in the entire post-war artistic renewal movement, and his work is now enshrined in private collections and museums in the United States and Europe."

And continuing, he noted the following about the relationship between the painter and the then Governor of Pernambuco, Carlos de Lima Cavalcanti:

"As strange as it may seem, in a state that seeks to honor culture, the great painter from Pernambuco limits himself, in Pernambuco, to planting sugarcane and making cachaça in a small village in Gravatá."

Despite the difficulties of gaining recognition and survival in his homeland, our painter-poet and translator encouraged young writers by publishing their texts in those magazines. 1946 marked another return to Paris, where he decided to live as a publisher.

1950: Even while publishing poetry, from the 1950s onwards, he returned to devoting himself more intensely to painting, incorporating regional themes more frequently into his works, such as in O Vaqueiro (ca. 1963) and O Aguardenteiro (late 1950s). He scrupulously adhered to the style of his early career, employing great formal simplification and a reduced chromatic range, to which he combined a monumental interpretation of Art Deco[12].

In about 1955, he suffered his first myocardial infarction and was helped by his French poet friends who, through multiple contributions, financed his hospital recovery and convalescence—about two years! He returned to Brazil in 1957. The resulting exhibitions were unsuccessful; not even the one by PM Bardi himself, held in 1966 with the aim of recovering my work, which he had seen when he visited the apartment where my wife, Marcelle Louis Villard, lived in Paris.

Toward the end of his life, he served as a painting professor at the National School of Fine Arts of the Federal University of Pernambuco in Recife from 1957 to 1966. That year, he was appointed professor at the Brasília Art Institute. He speaks highly of João Câmara, with his telluric characteristics, Portinari, Di Cavalcanti, and also “of that boy who had an exhibition here (at the MIS), Reinaldo Fonseca, who is another artist, a man who knows how to draw, who creates a well-crafted painting.”

He further states[13]:

“I would say that the discovery of Walmir Ayala, for me, was a great reward, because I considered myself a man, how should I put it, a castaway, lost in the ocean, without friends, without anyone, because I ran away too much. My good friends were dying. At 70 years old, I considered myself an old man, finished off by youth, and I found a young man who inspires me, giving me support that is a reward for my efforts as a painter. Above all, with his understanding. I don't know if I said that right.”

Vicente do Rego Monteiro died in Recife – victim of a second heart attack – while preparing to embark for Rio de Janeiro.

It is worth a brilliant tribute:

This Recife native in Paris
wrote in shorthand (like Miró)
the thin and the naked, the inexcessive
from where he was born and exiled;
and this meager calligraphy
of a Recife native knew how to add
to the rotten greens of the swamp,
translating what is mud into color.
João Cabral de Melo Neto
In: Complete Poetry: 1940-1980
Lisbon: Imp. Nac.-Casa da Moeda, 1986, p. 98

Florilégio

"Rather than simply applying himself to academic calligraphy, Rego Monteiro repudiated this Latin tradition (...) to revive the influence of the indigenous tradition, which should be the first to touch and stimulate every Brazilian artist. History has clearly demonstrated that all primitive art is susceptible to giving form to magnificent flowerings. Thus, an art as rich and powerful as indigenous art could not fail to serve as a stimulus to the visual development that time and the genius of artists generally contribute to bringing to the initial stages of a language. This is how Monteiro, rejecting the 'pastiches' of cold academic compilations, attempted to reformulate his artistic world by rekindling his sensitivity in the sources of indigenous art. (...) It is true, however, that the effect achieved remained purely decorative and that the painter's sensitivity was not yet expressed in a truly visual manner. It was then that Rego Monteiro came into contact in France with a purely visual art that led him to imagine a reconciliation between indigenous rhythm and the principles of the easel painting, the supreme purpose and essential reason for painting".
Maurice Raynal
MONTEIRO, Vicente do Rego, ZANINI, Walter (org.). Vicente do Rêgo Monteiro. São Paulo: MAC/USP, 1971.

"Vicente loves the nature of today as much as it did yesterday. He believes it is important to retain aspects that give his works a contemporary feel, almost always reflected in the mechanical nature he imprints on the forms, aided by Legerian geometrization. However, since he places perenniality on the other side of the scale, he is not so concerned with justifying the current era, nor does he exalt it. The mythology he chooses is not that of the 'metallurgical Venus,' and his men do not climb scaffolding nor have chimneys as their backdrop. He prefers Dianas, Venuses, Madonnas; men who may have lived near the pyramids, or emerged from the hands of the Renaissance, or even been molded by simple potters. He works with the oppositions between the current era, characterized by bold and articulated lines, and the acquisitions of the archaic or classical past, while preserving stylistic memories such as frontality and solemnity of religious ritual. (...) Vicente's art is often austere in appearance, monochromatic, devoid of direct cosmic references (...). In its meaning, it leads to the argument of an art that works oppositions between the archaic / modern; sacred / profane (sometimes, more specifically pagan / Christian); primitive / contemporary."
Elza Maria Ajzemberg
AJZENBERG, Elza. Vicente do Rego Monteiro: a dive into the past. 1984. 2nd volume. Thesis (Doctorate) - Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences of the University of São Paulo - FFLCH/USP, São Paulo, 1984. p. 213.

"I remember that Vicente, in Paris, used to softly sing a pornographically plebeian Brazilian song, learned by him I don't know where or from what kind of mouth:

When an old black woman gets angry
Puts her finger in her quirk
Gives it to the black man to smell.

What caught my attention in this song, so often sung by the painter while painting in Paris, was the emphasis on smell: in this case, the smell of a woman's sex. Added to this was Vicente's having once confessed to me that one of his greatest memories of Brazil was its smells. The smells of vegetables, the smells of food, the smells of cachaça, the smell of a sugar mill. And the smells of mixed-race women. Which coincided with one of my greatest memories of Brazil since I left it for my first, long absence. So, faced with further absences, I decided to fill this void by traveling abroad with a bottle of Aristolino soap in my suitcase. What seems anecdotal, in this case, worked. Could it be that Vicente's modernist painting, by involving 'saudosismo' for the senses—smell and taste, among them—involved something earthly that included, especially in these earthly nostalgias, a longing for Brazilian women's sex?

Remember, when he died in Recife, his connection with women of color. Sensitive as he was, I dare say that sex was almost always present in his paintings. His own nostrils always seemed voluptuous, eager for the scents of women of color: they were those of someone who enjoyed that pure pleasure of breathing, noted by Havelock Ellis, a taste for smells or aromas, vivid, tropical, Brazilian, capable of being, as it were, associated with the famous French suggestion, color perception, and—why not? - of forms."
Gilberto Freire
MONTEIRO, Vicente do Rego. Vicente do Rego Monteiro: painter and poet. Rio de Janeiro: 5ª Cor, 1994, p. 44-46

"Perhaps the first reference, of global intentions, that should be made to Monteiro's work is that it unfolded in distinct segments, while preserving constant traces of a conceptualized figuration whose content is equally stylized, decorative, and monumental.

Assimilator of diverse cultural sources, this painting demonstrated its capacity to deepen its own unmistakable artistic ideology, determined by flat, spatially circumscribed forms, by tactile and rigorous drawing, with elegant, measured rhythms, aided by moderate, luminous coloring, with few and minor variations of halftones. These elements responded to a conception of decorative aesthetic principles in their function of promoting a universal understanding of the world. The resulting representational synthesis, developed in harmonic compositions that prioritize effects of form and color while respecting the two-dimensional surface of the canvas, possesses the vocation of mural space, yet a level of achievement to which the artist never had access.
Walter Zanini
ZANINI, Walter. Introduction to the Artist. Vicente do Rego Monteiro: Artist and Poet 1899-1970. São Paulo: Empresa de Artes/Marigo Editora, 1997. p. 38

"Vicente do Rêgo Monteiro (1899-1970), Victor Brecheret (1894-1955), and Antonio Gomide (1895-1967) demonstrate in their works a connection not only with the modern movement, but also with a specific style. They align themselves with Art Deco through the structuring of floral elements from Art Nouveau, in curves that seek an elegant geometric regularity.

The post-war period calls for the decantation of previous combative poetics, such as Cubism or Dadaism. We are experiencing a moment of 'return to order' in the arts. Painting functions as a shield against the liberalization of customs, the frenetic pace of the Roaring Twenties. The feverish agitation that dictates the behavior of the time is a scenography.

Responding to modern ballets that seek nourishment in civilizations far from the Parisian hubbub, Vicente do Rêgo Monteiro presents the stylization of Brazilian indigenous civilizations, especially the Marajoara.

The Bow Shooter, 1925, proposes a choreography of the tensions generated by the instrument of war as the theme of the canvas. The force expended in the bow's swing echoes across the picture plane in a succession of waves. The proximity between form and background creates a shallow, low-relief space, inspired by a Cubist aesthetic, emptied of the aggressive tone of the first collages.
Nelson Aguilar
MOSTRA DO REDESCOBRIMENTO (2000: SÃO PAULO, SP), AGUILAR, Nelson (org.), SASSOUN, Suzanna (coord.). Modern art. São Paulo: Fundação Bienal de São Paulo: Associação Brasil 500 anos Artes Visuais, 2000. p. 40

“Vicente do Rego Monteiro (1899-1970), Victor Brecheret (1894-1955), and Antonio Gomide (1895-1967) demonstrate in their work an attunement not only with the modern movement, but also with a specific style. They align themselves with Art Deco through the structuring of floral elements derived from Art Nouveau, in curves that seek elegant geometric regularity.

The post-war period calls for the decantation of previous poetics of combat, such as Cubism or Dadaism. We are experiencing a moment of 'return to order' in the arts. Painting functions as a shield against the liberalization of customs, the frenetic pace of the Roaring Twenties. The feverish agitation that dictates the behavior of the era is a scenography.

Responding to modern ballets that seek nourishment in civilizations far from the Parisian hubbub, Vicente do Rêgo Monteiro presents the stylization of Brazilian indigenous civilizations, especially the Marajoara.

The Bow Shooter, 1925, proposes a choreography of the tensions generated by the instrument of war as the theme of the canvas. The force expended in the bow's span echoes across the picture plane in a succession of waves. The proximity between form and background creates a shallow, low-relief space, inspired by a Cubist aesthetic, devoid of the aggressive tone of the first collages.”
Nelson Aguilar
...to Walmir Ayala and Ricardo Cravo Albim, for the Visual Arts Cycle of the Museum of Image and Sound of Rio de Janeiro, on October 27, 1969. IN: MONTEIRO, Vicente do Rego. Vicente do Rego Monteiro: Painter and Poet. Rio de Janeiro: 5ª Cor, 1994. pp. 254-255, 270, 272.

"I had diverse tendencies. I liked portraiture. In portraiture, I always sought to portray the physical appearance of the spirit. I also translated the spirit of the portrait. I painted Gilberto Freire. I was in Paris in 1922. I painted the portrait of Alberto Cavalcanti and his mother, a French lady, Madame... and the portrait of the Martel sisters. Some of these paintings were exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in 1922 and 1923. Later, I became more of a Cubist, abandoning portraiture. I found it somewhat difficult to convince, to find an audience like Van Dongen, who, to paint a portrait, would go with the client to a renowned couturier and choose an outfit worth 20,000 francs. Naturally, the portrait could be paid four or five times the price of the dress. My technique was very simple; I couldn't earn a living. I preferred to paint simple paintings, simply the composition. That's why I launched into this series of religious and labor-related subjects like "Os Calceteiros" (The Cobblers), and my first truly anthropophagous theme is "The Hunt," a fight between robotic Indians and a fabulous animal inspired by Marajoara. This work is in the Museum of Modern Art in Paris.

The Museum of Image and Sound, at the suggestion of our director, would like you to talk about your aesthetic perspective and your work. You told me the other day about your painting, about its construction; I think that's very important.

I plan like an architect. I use successive calculations until I find the line for the definitive construction. I think the painting—I'll use that word—is fabricated, built like a house. This business of talking about inspiration, about improvisation, only exists in Tachism and Impressionism, where the artist goes with their body and face, with everything, improvising. But I think the artist, after Cubism, constructs their work. For me, the line is so important. The line is precisely the container, and the color, the content. Color gives light and shadow, but the line is what defines.

What would you say about the abolition of oil in the visual arts, such as in objects, in montages, etc., so fashionable today?

This construction painting is research; I consider it all very useful, necessary. Even to be done as an experiment and not to be practiced. There are the parachutists, and all that paving the way, showing what should and shouldn't be done. I think there's nothing more difficult than a pencil, and nothing purer than being a pencil, nothing more mediocre than a pencil drawing made by someone who doesn't know how to draw. With a pencil, you can do everything. It's wonderful. You can create a work of art or a negation.

Any permanent aesthetic value in the field of painting?

It's this: what's good is what's authentic. Sometimes, for the sake of interest, a name can be pushed aside, forgotten, but the authenticity returns. It's like certain painters, like Piero della Francesca, and other painters who spent centuries completely unknown, ignored, but who have resurfaced."

A NEWS STORY ABOUT VICENTE DO REGO MONTEIRO (1936)
LUBAMBO, Manoel. A news story about Vicente do Rego Mongeiro.
“Fronteiras”, Recife v. 5, n. 15, p. 1-3, July 1936.

Sharing the same monarchical and religious convictions, Lubambo was a great friend of Vicente do Rego Monteiro, and this highly favorable assessment of him is not surprising. His observations appeared in the magazine "Fronteiras" in 1936 and reveal his familiarity with the artistic world. He does not hold back his admiration for Monteiro, describing him as [...] one of the great names in modern painting. Alongside great names such as Picasso, Leger, Braque, and others, he participated in the entire post-war artistic renewal movement, and his work is now enshrined in private collections and museums in the United States and Europe.

Lubambo noted the following about the relationship between the painter and the then Governor of Pernambuco, Carlos de Lima Cavalcanti: "It is strange, in a state that seeks to honor culture, that the great painter from Pernambuco limits himself, in Pernambuco, to planting sugarcane and making cachaça in a small barn in Gravatá."

Regarding Monteiro's assessment, Lubambo is quite specific. It reads as follows:

"Vicente's painting falls within the neo-classicist movement. However, he has not always painted 'neo-classical'; of the works reproduced here, 50 are not neo-classical, nor are 'Les Paveurs' or the 'Nativity Scene'. In both, the hallmarks of Cubism are felt: the geometric sense, the idea of ​​solid volumes, the formal intent, the desire for objectivity. But the curious thing to note—and this is essential—is that, having started from Cubism (100% or 50% of the "Paveurs" or "Caça"), in a process of increasing rehumanization, his art only reached the clear purity of lines of "Femme à la Biche" and "Tennis"—paintings that correspond to his definitive phase and are characteristically neo-classical.

Knowing the friendship between Lubambo and Monteiro, his positive assessment is predictable. More interesting is that this article indicates how Lubambo incorporates his interest and taste for art into many others, such as those on economics, politics, and history. Researching the newspaper clippings left by Lubambo, we can affirm that he nourished this appreciation for art, enriching his knowledge by reading publications about it in French, Italian, English, and Spanish.

OTHER DRAWINGS BY VICENTE (1936)
LUBAMBO, Manoel. Other drawings by Vicente.
Fronteiras, Recife, v. 5, n. 16, p. 17, September 1936

In this short article, Lubambo expresses his appreciation of Vicente do Rego Monteiro as an illustrator or, as he prefers to call it, “illuminator” of books. The object of his positive evaluation is the book “illuminated” by Monteiro entitled, “Legendes, croyance et Talismnas des Indiens de l’Amazone,” published in Paris. Everything indicates that this book was an adaptation of a book by P. L. Ducharte. (FRONTEIRAS, Fronteiras, v. 4, n. 9, p. 12, December 1935.) The following paragraph presents the essence of the article:51

The book is full of animals, of amulets, of geniuses, of powers, of the entire mass of elements that filled the imagination of the Brazilian Indian. Vicente knew how to give a keen interpretation to everything—either by increasingly intellectualizing the line, or by stretching the ideal or emotional content of the object, belief, or legend into elans of lyrical intensity. In the representation of the prayer to Ruda, there is an almost mythical physical distension, and it is clear that the Apollonian, Olympian, and Pindaric Vicente was responsible for intensely feeling the entire inner and profound rhythm of the legend, whose pervasive pathos he gave us an interpretation of in terms of superb visual art.

Collections

Collection of the Palaces of the Government of the State of São Paulo - Campos do Jordão SP
Legislative Assembly of the State of Pernambuco - Recife PE
Central Bank of Brazil - Brasília DF
Banco Safra - São Paulo SP
Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection - MAM RJ - Rio de Janeiro RJ
Joaquim Nabuco Foundation - Recife PE
Aloísio Magalhães Metropolitan Art Gallery - Recife PE
Institute of Brazilian Studies, University of São Paulo (IEB/USP) - São Paulo SP
Musée de Grenoble - Grenoble (France)
Musée Géo-Charles - Échirolles (France)
National Museum of Modern Art - Centre Georges Pompidou - Paris (France)
Assis Chateaubriand Art Museum, State University of Paraíba - Campina Grande PB
Museum of Contemporary Art, University of São Paulo (MAC/USP) - São Paulo SP
Museum of Contemporary Art of Pernambuco - Recife PE
São Paulo Museum of Art Assis Chateaubriand (Masp) - São Paulo SP
Museum of the State of Pernambuco - Recife PE
National Museum of Fine Arts (MNBA) - Rio de Janeiro RJ
Palais des Congrès - Liège (Belgium)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art - New York (United States)
The Swindon Collection - London (United Kingdom)
Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE)

Solo Exhibitions

1918 - Recife PE - Solo, at Galeria Elegante
1918 - Recife PE - Solo, at Teatro Santa Isabel
1919 - Recife PE - Solo, at Fotografia Piereck
1920 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Livraria Moderna
1920 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Associação dos Empregados do Comércio
1921 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Teatro Trianon
1925 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galerie Emeric Fabre
1928 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galerie Bernheim Jeune
1937 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galerie David Garnier
1937 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galerie Katia Granoff
1939 - Recife PE - Solo, at Museu do Estado de Pernambuco
1942 - Recife PE - Solo, at Museu do Estado de Pernambuco
1947 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galerie Visconti
1956 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galerie de L´Odeon
1957 - Recife PE - Vicente do Rego Monteiro: Paintings and Monotypes, at Teatro Santa Isabel
1957 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Clube dos Seguradores e Banqueiros do Rio de Janeiro
1958 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galerie Royale
1960 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galerie Yves Michel
1961 - Recife PE - Solo, at Galeria Rozenblit
1962 - Recife PE - Solo, at Galeria Rozenblit
1962 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galerie Ron Volmar
1963 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galerie La Baume
1964 - Paris (France) - Vicente do Rego Monteiro: Paintings and Drawings, at Galerie R.G.
1966 - São Paulo SP - Retrospective, at MASP
1967 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galerie Katia Granoff
1967 - Paris (France) - Solo, at Galerie Debret
1968 - Recife PE - Solo, at ENBA
1969 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, at Galeria Barcinski
1969 - Recife PE - Solo, at Ranulpho Galeria de Arte

Group Exhibitions

1913 - Paris (France) - Salon des Indépendants
1914 - Paris (France) - Salon des Indépendants
1922 - São Paulo, SP - Modern Art Week, at the Municipal Theater
1923 - Paris (France) - Salon de Tuileries
1923 - Paris (France) - Salon des Indépendants
1923 - Paris (France) - Exhibition of Brazilian Artists, at Maison de L'Amérique Latine
1924 - Paris (France) - Salon de Tuileries
1925 - Paris (France) - 18th Autumn Salon
1925 - Paris (France) - Salon de Tuileries
1925 - Paris (France) - Salon des Indépendants
1926 - Paris (France) - Salon des Indépendants
1927 - Paris (France) - Salon des Indépendants
1928 - Paris (France) - Salon des Indépendants
1929 - Amsterdam (Netherlands) - Expositions Sélectes d'Art Contemporain, at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
1929 - The Hague (Netherlands) - Expositions Sélectes d'Art Contemporain, at Pulchri Studio
1929 - Paris (France) - 40th Salon des Indépendants, at Société des Artistes Indépendants
1930 - Paris (France) - Premiére Exposition of the Groupe Latino-Américain de Paris, at Galerie Zack
1930 - Paris (France) - Salon d'Avant Garde-1940
1930 - Recife, PE - Exposition de l'École de Paris, at Teatro Santa Isabel
1930 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ - Exposition de l'École de Paris, at Palace Hotel
1930 - São Paulo, SP - Exposition de l'École de Paris, at Palacete da Glória
1931 - Paris (France) - Salon des Surindépendants
1937 - Paris (France) - International Exhibition of Paris
1942 - Recife, PE - 1st Annual Painting Salon, at Museu do Estado de Pernambuco - 1st prize in painting
1943 - Recife, PE - 2nd Annual Painting Salon, at Museu do Estado de Pernambuco - 1st prize in painting
1944 - Recife, PE - 3rd Annual Painting Salon, at Museu do Estado de Pernambuco
1949 - Recife, PE - 3rd Modern Art Salon of Recife
1952 - São Paulo, SP - Commemorative Exhibition of the 1922 Modern Art Week, at MAM / SP
1954 - Recife, PE - Fédora, Joaquim and Vicente do Rego Monteiro, at Teatro Santa Isabel
1958 - Paris (France) - Group Exhibition, at Galerie Royale
1960 - Recife, PE - 1st Exhibition at the Recife Art Gallery
1960 - Recife, PE - Summer Group Exhibition, at Ranulpho Art Gallery
1960 - Recife, PE - Contemporary Pernambucan Painters, at University of Recife
1961 - Recife, PE - 1st Art Fair of Recife
1962 - Recife, PE - Pernambucan Artists, at Recife International Club
1963 - Salvador, BA - Artists of the Northeast, at MAM / BA
1964 - Olinda, PE - Atelier da Ribeira Exhibition, at Atelier da Ribeira
1965 - Paris (France) - Hommage au Poète Géo-Charles, at Galerie de l'Institut
1966 - Austin, USA - Art of Latin America since Independence, at The University of Texas at Austin, Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery
1966 - New Haven, USA - Art of Latin America since Independence, at Yale University Art Gallery
1966 - San Diego, USA - Art of Latin America since Independence, at La Jolla Museum of Art
1966 - New Orleans, USA - Art of Latin America since Independence, at Isaac Delgado Museum of Art
1966 - San Francisco, USA - Art of Latin America since Independence, at San Francisco Museum of Art
1966 - Paris (France) - Group Exhibition, at Galerie Katia Granoff
1966 - São Paulo, SP - Comparação Exhibition, at Galeria Mirante Artes
1967 - New York, USA - Precursors of Modernism in Latin America, at Center of Inter-American Relations
1967 - Paris (France) - Group Exhibition, at Galerie Katia Granoff
1969 - Recife, PE - Pernambucan Artists, at Detalhe Gallery

Posthumous Exhibitions

1970 - Recife PE - Solo, Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1970 - Recife PE - Preview of the Northeast Pre-Biennial, Pavilhão Fecin
1970 - Recife PE - Vicente do Rego Monteiro, Galerias Bancife
1970 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 8th JB Art Summary
1971 - Recife PE - Solo, Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1971 - São Paulo SP - Vicente do Rego Monteiro: Retrospective 1899-1970, MAC/USP
1972 - São Paulo SP - The Week of '22: Antecedents and Consequences, Masp
1974 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Solo, Galeria Vernissage
1974 - São Paulo SP - Recent Donations and Acquisitions, MAC/USP
1974 - São Paulo SP - Era of the Modernists, Masp
1975 - São Paulo SP - Modernism from 1917 to 1930, Museu Lasar Segall
1976 - São Paulo SP - Drawing in Pernambuco, Galeria Nara Roesler
1976 - São Paulo SP - Vicente do Rego Monteiro: Retrospective, Galeria Tableau das Artes
1981 - Maceió AL - Brazilian Artists of the First Half of the 20th Century, Instituto Histórico Geográfico
1981 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - From Modern to Contemporary: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, MAM/RJ
1982 - Échirolles (France) - Biennale d'Échirolles
1982 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Brazil: 60 Years of Modern Art, Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
1982 - Lisbon (Portugal) - From Modern to Contemporary: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian
1982 - London (UK) - Brazil: 60 Years of Modern Art, Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, Barbican Art Gallery
1982 - Paris (France) - Léger et L'Esprit Moderne, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
1982 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Football: Interpretations, Galeria de Arte Banerj
1982 - São Paulo SP - From Modernism to the Biennial, MAM/SP
1983 - São Paulo SP - Vicente do Rego Monteiro: Rites and Inventions, Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1984 - São Paulo SP - Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection: Portrait and Self-Portrait of Brazilian Art, MAM/SP
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradition and Rupture: Synthesis of Brazilian Art and Culture, Fundação Bienal
1985 - São Paulo SP - Mothers and the Flower in the Vision of 33 Painters, Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1985 - São Paulo SP - Trends in the Artist’s Book in Brazil, CCSP
1986 - Échirolles (France) - Brésilien de France: Vicente do Rego Monteiro, Musée Géo-Charles
1986 - Porto Alegre RS - Paths of Brazilian Drawing, Margs
1986 - São Paulo SP - Maturity, Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1987 - Paris (France) - Modernity: Brazilian Art of the 20th Century, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - To the Collector: Tribute to Gilberto Chateaubriand, MAM/RJ
1987 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Exhibition, Galeria Jean Boghici
1987 - São Paulo SP - Brazil Painted by National and Foreign Masters: 18th-20th Centuries, Masp
1987 - São Paulo SP - The Craft of Art: Painting, Sesc
1988 - São Paulo SP - Modernity: Brazilian Art of the 20th Century, MAM/SP
1988 - São Paulo SP - The Rediscovery of Brazil, Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1989 - Fortaleza CE - Brazilian Art of the 19th and 20th Centuries in Cearense Collections: Paintings and Drawings, Espaço Cultural da Unifor
1989 - Recife PE - Tactile Art, Fundação Joaquim Nabuco
1989 - Recife PE - Solo, Galeria Vicente do Rego Monteiro
1989 - São Paulo SP - The Tables, Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1989 - São Paulo SP - Color of Pernambuco, Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1989 - São Paulo SP - Thirty-Three Ways of Seeing the World, Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1989 - São Paulo SP - Vicente do Rego Monteiro, Galeria Vicente do Rego Monteiro
1990 - São Paulo SP - Fruits, Flowers and Colors, Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1990 - São Paulo SP - Painted Cats, Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1991 - São Paulo SP - Music in Painting, Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1991 - São Paulo SP - Chico and the Animals, Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1992 - Paris (France) - Latin American Artists of the Twentieth Century, Centre Georges Pompidou
1992 - Poços de Caldas MG - Brazilian Modern Art: Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo, Casa da Cultura
1992 - Recife PE - Contemporary Art Salon, Museu do Estado de Pernambuco
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Nature: Four Centuries of Art in Brazil, CCBB
1992 - São Paulo SP - 70 Years of the Modern Art Week: Works and Artists of 1922, IEB/SP
1992 - São Paulo SP - Retrospective, Dan Galeria
1992 - Seville (Spain) - Latin American Artists of the Twentieth Century, Estación Plaza de Armas
1992 - Zurich (Switzerland) - Brazil: Discovery and Self-Discovery, Kunsthaus Zürich
1993 - Cologne (Germany) - Latin American Artists of the Twentieth Century, Kunsthalle Cologne
1993 - New York (USA) - Latin American Artists of the Twentieth Century, MoMA
1993 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazil: 100 Years of Modern Art, MNBA
1993 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Emblems of the Body: The Nude in Modern Brazilian Art, CCBB
1993 - São Paulo SP - 100 Masterpieces from the Mário de Andrade Collection: Painting and Sculpture, IEB/USP
1993 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Art in the World: A Trajectory, 24 Brazilian Artists, Dan Galeria
1993 - São Paulo SP - Modern Drawing in Brazil: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, Galeria de Arte do Sesi
1993 - São Paulo SP - Vicente do Rego Monteiro: Retrospective, Espaço Cultural José Duarte Aguiar e Ricardo Camargo
1994 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Modern Drawing in Brazil: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection, MAM/RJ
1994 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Vicente do Rego Monteiro, Galeria Jean Boghici
1994 - São Paulo SP - 20th Century Brazil Biennial, Fundação Bienal
1994 - São Paulo SP - Vicente do Rego Monteiro, Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1994 - São Paulo SP - Vicente Inventor, Ranulpho Galeria de Arte
1995 - Brasília DF - Collections of Brasília, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Palácio do Itamaraty
1995 - São Paulo SP - Parisian Modernism in the 1920s: Experiences and Encounters, MAC/USP
1996 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Art: 50 Years of History in the MAC/USP Collection: 1920-1970, MAC/USP
1997 - Porto Alegre RS - Caixa Collection Exhibition, Conjunto Cultural da Caixa
1997 - Porto Alegre RS - Parallel Exhibition, Museu da Caixa Econômica Federal
1997 - São Paulo SP - Caixa Collection Exhibition, Conjunto Cultural da Caixa
1997 - São Paulo SP - The Revealing Touch: Portraits and Self-Portraits, MAC/USP
1997 - São Paulo SP - Vicente do Rego Monteiro: 1899-1970, MAM/SP
1997 - São Paulo SP - Vicente do Rego Monteiro: 21 Paintings, Ricardo Camargo Galeria
1998 - Curitiba PR - Caixa Collection Exhibition, Conjunto Cultural da Caixa
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Caixa Collection Exhibition, Conjunto Cultural da Caixa
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Negotiated Images: Portraits of the Brazilian Elite, CCBB
1998 - São Paulo SP - 24th São Paulo International Biennial, Fundação Bienal
1998 - São Paulo SP - The Modern and the Contemporary in Brazilian Art: Gilberto Chateaubriand Collection - MAM/RJ, Masp
1999 - Porto Alegre RS - 2nd Mercosur Visual Arts Biennial, Fundação Bienal de Artes Visuais do Mercosul
1999 - Porto Alegre RS - Picasso, Cubism and Latin America, Margs
1999 - Salvador BA - 60 Years of Brazilian Art, Espaço Cultural da Caixa Econômica Federal
2000 - Brasília DF - Brazil-Europe Exhibition: Encounters in the 20th Century, Conjunto Cultural da Caixa
2000 - Lisbon (Portugal) - Brasil-brasis: Notable and Astonishing Things. Modernist Views, Museu do Chiado
2000 - Lisbon (Portugal) - 20th Century: Art from Brazil, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão
2000 - Recife PE - Ateliê Pernambuco: Tribute to Bajado and MAMAM Collection, MAMAM
2000 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - When Brazil Was Modern: Visual Arts in Rio de Janeiro from 1905 to 1960, Paço Imperial
2000 - São Paulo SP - The Human Figure in the Itaú Collection, Itaú Cultural
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brazil + 500: Rediscovery Exhibition, Fundação Bienal
2000 - Valencia (Spain) - From Anthropophagy to Brasília: Brazil 1920-1950, IVAM. Centre Julio González
2001 - Brasília DF - Collections of Brazil, CCBB
2001 - New York (USA) - Brazil: Body and Soul, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
2001 - São Paulo SP - 30 Masters of Painting in Brazil, Masp
2001 - São Paulo SP - 4 Decades, Nova André Galeria
2002 - Brasília DF - JK – An Aesthetic Adventure, Conjunto Cultural da Caixa
2002 - Niterói RJ - Brazilian Art on Paper: 19th and 20th Centuries, Solar do Jambeiro
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Archipelagos: The Plural Universe of MAM, MAM/RJ
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Art in the Fadel Collection: From Modernist Restlessness to Language Autonomy, CCBB
2002 - São Paulo SP - 22 and the Idea of the Modern, MAC/USP
2002 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Art in the Fadel Collection: From Modernist Restlessness to Language Autonomy, CCBB
2002 - São Paulo SP - From Anthropophagy to Brasília: Brazil 1920-1950, MAB/FAAP
2002 - São Paulo SP - Wild Mirror: Modern Art in Brazil during the First Half of the 20th Century, Nemirovsky Collection, MAM/SP
2003 - Belém PA - 22nd Arte Pará Salon, Museu de Arte do Paraná
2003 - Brasília DF - Brazilian Art in the Fadel Collection: From Modernist Restlessness to Language Autonomy, CCBB
2003 - Recife PE - Seeing Again/Seeing the New, MAMAM
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Autonomy of Drawing, MAM/RJ
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Caixa Treasures: Brazilian Modern Art in the Caixa Collection, Conjunto Cultural da Caixa
2003 - São Paulo SP - Artknowledge: 70 Years USP, MAC/USP
2004 - São Paulo SP - Masters of Modernism, Estação Pinacoteca
2004 - São Paulo SP - New Acquisitions: 1995-2003, MAB/FAAP
2004 - São Paulo SP - The Price of Seduction: From Corset to Silicone, Itaú Cultural
2004 - São Paulo SP - Plataforma São Paulo 450 Years, MAC/USP
2004 - São Paulo SP - Collection Room, Ricardo Camargo Galeria

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