Alfredo Da Silva (February 20, 1935 – January 26, 2020) was a painter, graphic artist, and photographer, known for his abstract expressionism. He came to international prominence in 1959 and remained so until his death in 2020.
Biography
Alfredo Da Silva was born February 20, 1935, during the end of an inconclusive Chaco War between Bolivia and Paraguay. In 1938 a peace treaty was signed in Buenos Aires between Paraguay and Bolivia. After Chaco War, Bolivia was struggling to find some form of Democracy for the indigenous Indians that made up a large demographic. Many political parties tried to take power. Violent coups and counter-revolutions followed, but in 1952 Victor Paz Estenssoro left-wing Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario the MNR succeeds in seizing power. "Alfredo Da Silva was almost unknown in his own country until he went abroad and won the highest award for a foreign artist at the 1959 National Salon in Buenos Aires". In 1960 he was discovered by José Gómez-Sicre who at the time was chief of the Division of Visual Arts for the Pan American Union now called the Organization of American States or OAS for short. In 1961 José Gómez-Sicre invited him to have a one-man show at the Pan American Union Gallery in Washington D.C organized by the Organization of American States. He was close friends with a celebrated Bolivian sculptor Marina Núñez del Prado who wrote about him in her book "Eternidad en Los Andes". He is recognized as one of the historical "generation of 52" by The National Art Museum (MNA). The generation of 52 is marked by the Bolivian National Revolution which occurred on April 9, 1952. The generation of 52 had two main artistic trends, the "social painters" and the "abstract painters". Alfredo was part of the movement of abstract painters that did not accept social realism as the only mode for artistic expression. According to Babs Myer from the "Times of Brazil" "Accepting "abstract expressionism" as the label most nearly describing his art, da Silva works from a base of "intuition creation," expressing a world of intuition with rational shapes. He fuses the ancient past with the far distant future and creates a sense of time itself moving to the future or to the past, but always of one continuous whole. The circle, is always evident, and one may recognize ancient Indian building stones, fossilized bones, or structures for man's use in some misty future in space". Later in 1981 his abstract work is recognized by Teresa Gisbert (Director of the institute of Bolivian Studies at the University of San Andres in La Paz, Bolivia), she described his work as "Outstanding for his treatment of surface qualities and his abstractionism".
On Sunday, January 26, 2020, Da Silva was struck and killed by a vehicle while crossing the street near his home in Alexandria, Virginia.
Background and academic career
He studied at the Potosí Academy of Fine Arts University Tomas Frias and the Prilidiano Pueyredon Academy of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires where, in 1958, he obtained his degree as teacher of drawing and painting. In 1962, he won a grant to study graphic Arts at the Pratt Institute of New York.
Art career
Alfredo Da Silva had his first show in 1951 at age 16. In 1959, he won first prize in a competition for foreign artists at the Salon National of Painting in Buenos Aires. In 1961 he was invited to have a one-man show at the Pan American Union in Washington, D.C.; that same year he represented the Pan American Union at the Biennial of São Paulo. In 1962, he won a grant to study graphic Arts at the Pratt Institute of New York. In 1963, the Institute of Spanish Culture in Madrid invited him to participate in the exhibition of "Art of America and Spain ;" that same year he was awarded a fellowship by the Guggenheim Foundation for the period of 1963–1964. In 1964, he was invited to participate at the II American Biennale of Cordoba, Argentina, where he won 3rd prize. In 1977 participated at II Biennale of Bolivia INBO, where he won grand prize. In 1980 he was invited to the II Biennale Iberoamericana of Art in Mexico where he had a show.
Early years 1943 – 1950
At the age eight Alfredo saw his brother Hugo Silva's art who was studying in the local school of fine art and with a competitive spirit was motivated to do better. During this period he drew pencil sketches of still life and landscapes. Pencil was the only utensil he could afford until he went to school in 1951.