Vicente do Rego Monteiro, "As Religiosas", 1969

Vicente do Rego Monteiro (Recife, Pernambuco, 1899 – idem, 1970). Painter, sculptor, draughtsman, illustrator, graphic artist. Began his artistic studies in 1908, accompanying his sister, Fedora do Rego Monteiro (1889 – 1975) on courses at the National School of Fine Arts (Enba) in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1911, he travelled with his family to France, where he attended the Academies Colarossi, Julian and de La Grande Chaumière. In 1913, he took part in the Salon des Indépendants, of which he became a member. In Paris, he maintained contact with Amedeo Modigliani (1884 – 1920), Fernand Léger (1881 – 1955), Georges Braque (1882 – 1963), Joán Miró (1893 – 1983), Albert Gleizes (1881 – 1953), Jean Metzinger (1883 – 1956) and Louis Marcoussis (1883 – 1941).

At the start of the First World War (1914-1918), he left France with his family, settling in Rio de Janeiro in 1915. In 1918, he held his first individual exhibition at the Santa Isabel Theatre in Recife, showing his work for the first time two years later, in São Paulo, where he met Di Cavalcanti (1897 – 1976), Anita Malfatti (1889 – 1964), Pedro Alexandrino (1856 – 1942) and Victor Brecheret (1894 – 1955). In 1920, he studied the art of the Marajó culture in the collections of the National Museum of Quinta da Boa Vista. Moved by a passion for dance, in 1921 he staged the spectacle, Lendas, Crenças e Talismãs dos Índios do Amazonas [Legends, Beliefs and Talismans of the Amazonian Indians], at the Trianon Theatre in Rio de Janeiro, which was praised by the poet and critic, Ronald de Carvalho (1893 – 1935). He left for France, leaving behind eight oil paintings and watercolours for exhibition during Semana de Arte Moderna [Modern Art Week] of 1922, in São Paulo.

In 1923, he made drawings of masks and costumes for the ballet, Legendes Indiennes de L’Amazonie [Indian Legends of Amazonia]. He joined the group of artists associated with the gallery and magazine, L’Effort Moderne, of Leonce Rosemberg. He also brought the exhibition A Escola de Paris [The School of Paris] to Brazil, with showings in Recife, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. In 1937, he decorated the Chapel of Brazil in the Vatican Pavilion of the International Exhibition of Paris.

In 1946, he founded the publisher, La Presse à Bras, dedicated to the publication of Brazilian and French poetry. From 1941 onwards, he published his first verses, Poemas de Bolso [Pocket Poems], organising and promoting various poetry salons and congresses in France and Brazil. Returning to Brazil, he gave lectures in painting at the School of Fine Arts of the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), in 1957 and 1966.

In 1960, he received the Guillaume Apollinaire Prize for his sonnets, collected in the book, Broussais – La Charité. From 1966 to 1968, he lectured at the Central Institute of the Arts of the University of Brasília (UnB).

via Monteiro, Vicente do Rego (1899 – 1970).