José de Freitas

Born in 1930, at Vitória de Santo Antão, PE, he later moved to Rio de Janeiro during the 1950s. Although he took his first steps as an artist in theater and television, his passion for painting began to develop at the same time, gaining greater attention from 1964 onwards. Since the beginning, his art has been inhabited by tiny figures that fill the entire dimension of the plate. His themes vary from illustrations of theatrical plays to representations of the Bible and the circus, always permeated with humor and sensitivity.

Biography:

1935  Born in Vitoria de Santo Antao, Pernambuco, Brazil
1950's Moved to Rio de Janeiro
1976 Resided in London
1977 Moved to Rio de Janeiro
1989 Died in Rio de janeiro

Solo Exhibitions
1967 GEA Gallery, Rio de Janeiro
1969 Picola Gallery, Rio de Janeiro
1972 Elvaston Gallery - London
Galerie Hammer - Amsterdam
Funarte's Macunaima Gallery, Rio de Janeiro
Additional exhibitions in Frankfurt, Vienna, Paris and New York

Group Exhibitions
1971 "20th National Modern Art Salon" Rio de janeiro
1974 "International Competition of Naïve Painting", Kasper Gallery, Switzerland
2003 “The Naïve World", GINA Gallery, Tel Aviv , Israel
2015 - “Brasil Naif, uma aventura na alma brasileira" - MIAN - Museu Internacional de Arte Naif do Brasil - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2016 - “Fantaisies Brésiliennes" - Musée International D'Art Naif Anatole Jakovsky – Nice, France

Bibliography
"Brazilian Art Today: 50 Years Later", Roberto Pontual, 1973
“Naïve Painting", Smeets Offset BV, 1976, Weert, The Netherlands
"“Aspects of Brazilian Primitive Painting", Aquino de Flavio, 1978, Rio de Janeiro
“Naïve Maleriei Heute", Herbert Weisner, 1981, Germany
“World Encyclopedia of Naïve Art", Oto Bihalji-Merin, 1984, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
“Naïve Art in Brazil", Jacques Ardies, 1998, Sao Paulo
“Brasil Naif, Arte Naif: Testemunho e patrimonio da humanidade", Lucien Finkelstien, 2001, Rio de Janeiro
"Naïve Painting", Anatole Jakovsky, Phaidon Press Limited, 1979, Great Britain