Francisco da Silva (painter)

Francisco Domingos "Chico" da Silva (1910 – 1985) was a Brazilian painter associated with naïve art and modernist Brazilian painting. Da Silva is considered one of the first Brazilian artists of indigenous heritage to achieve prominence in Brazil and abroad.

Early life and background

Francisco da Silva, widely known as Chico da Silva, was born to an Indigenous Peruvian father and a Brazilian mother from Ceará, northeastern Brazil. His early years were spent in the Amazon forest, where he was exposed to the rich local flora and fauna. After the death of his father, a boatman, from a rattlesnake bite, Chico moved with his mother to Fortaleza.

Artistic career

Chico began his career as a self-taught artist, initially painting birds on fishermen's houses using charcoal, chalk, and natural pigments. His unique style was discovered in 1943 by Jean-Pierre Chabloz, a Swiss art critic and artist, who supplied him with painting materials and canvases. Chabloz played a pivotal role in promoting Chico's art. In 1952, he wrote an article titled “A Brazilian Indian Reinvents Painting” in the French journal Cahiers d’Art, which led to Chico's widespread recognition. Chabloz organized exhibitions of Chico's work in museums across Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paris, and several Swiss cities.

Chico's work, characterized by pointillist depictions of dragons, serpents, fish, and birds, gained popularity. Chabloz played a significant role in promoting Chico's art, selling it to collectors in Rio, São Paulo, and Europe, and featuring it in art journals. Chico's paintings were known for their bright colors and patterns, with a notable work titled “Untitled” from 1972.

From 1961, Chico worked at the Federal University of Ceará’s art museum and was introduced to his first dealer, Henrique Bluhm. His fame grew, leading to exhibitions at prestigious venues, including the Brazilian pavilion of the Venice Biennale in 1966 and the São Paulo Biennial in 1967.

Legacy and reassessment

Chico's work was initially celebrated for its “primitive” vision. However, later in life, he faced skepticism regarding the authenticity of his work. He died in 1985 from alcoholism, at that time largely dismissed by the art world. Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in his work, with exhibitions and scholarly attention reassessing his contributions and the issues of authorship and autonomy in his art. Chico's legacy has recently been reassessed in its contextual relation to Brazilian modernists, including Lygia Pape, Lygia Clark, Hélio Oiticica, and Mira Schendel.

Influence

Chico da Silva is noted as one of the first Brazilian artists of Indigenous descent to achieve international recognition. His style and communal studio practice in the Pirambu neighborhood of Fortaleza have influenced contemporary Indigenous artists in Brazil, such as Denilson Baniwa and Jaider Esbell. His use of assistants and collective production in art was both innovative and controversial, challenging traditional notions of authorship in Brazilian modernism. Da Silva is the subject of a documentary produced by the Pinacoteca de São Paulo.

Collections

His works are part of the permanent collection at the Pinacoteca de São Paulo and have been recently acquired by major institutions such as the Tate in London and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.