Rubem Valentim (9 November 1922 – 30 November 1991) was born in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. A self-taught artist, he started to paint as a child, doing figure and landscapes for Christmas crèches.
Biography
Valentim graduated in dentistry in 1946, and practiced the profession while continuing to paint. In 1948, he left dentistry to devote himself entirely to plastic arts. He went on to study Journalism and received his bachelor's degree from the School of Philosophy of Bahia in 1953. He participated in the renovative movement in the arts, which began in Bahia in 1978–1948.
Career
In 1957, Valentim moved to Rio de Janeiro. He was awarded a fellowship for travel abroad in 1962 by the XI National Salon of Modern Art. He traveled to Europe for 3 years, expressing an interest in the art of primitive peoples. He eventually settled in Rome, working and holding exhibitions there. He visited the Venice Biennials of 1964 and 1966. He traveled to Senegal to participate in the First World Festival of Negro Art in Dakar, Senegal in 1966. He returned to Brazil in 1966, after accepting an invitation from the Central Institute of the Arts of the University of Brasilia. He was awarded a Special Prize for "Contribution to Brazilian Painting"
Valentim's contributions to the art world as writer and essayist are documented in the archives of research institutes and museum libraries across the Americas. He authored and published the Manifesto ainda que tardio (“Manifesto, albeit belated“) in 1976. In the text, he proposes an anticolonial agenda in the arts. Scholarship around his work has been writing in Brazil and abroad.
In 2018, the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) organized a major career survey showcasing 99 artworks by Valentim, who is a key figure in the 20th-century Brazilian art.
Notable artworks in public collections
, 1956-1962
, 1960
Composição 12, 1962. São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), São Paulo
Pintura 1 (Painting 1), 1964. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Emblema logotipo poético de cultura afro-brasileira - No 8, 1976. São Paulo Museum of Art, São Paulo