Amilcar de Castro

Amilcar de Castro was born in 1920 in Paraisópolis, Brazil. Amilcar graduated in law from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in 1945, as well as the Escola Guignard from 1944 to1950 where he studied design with Alberto Guignard and figurative sculpture with Franz Weissman. After moving to Rio de Janeiro in 1953, de Castro started working as a graphic designer with the magazines Manchete and A Cigarra, as well as the Jornal do Brasil newspaper in 1957-1959. Under the influence of artist Max Bill, Amilcar developed his first concrete sculptures, which were exhibited at the 2nd São Paulo Biennial, in 1953. In 1957, Amilcar de Castro received a grant from the Guggenheim Foundation and the "Foreign Travel" prize at the 15th National Salon for Modern Art; he traveled to the United States and settled briefly in New Jersey. In 1959, after participating in the exhibition of the concrete group in Rio de Janeiro, hesigned the “Neo Concrete Manifesto”. The following year, Amilcar participated in the International Exhibition of Concrete Art, in Zurich, organized by his ex-professor Max Bill. Amilcar worked as a director of the Escola Guignard Foundation from 1974-77 and taught "bidimensional and tridimensional expression, and later on was Professor of Sculpture at the UFMG School of Fine Arts from 1979–90, and of Sculpture at the Art Foundation of Ouro Preto FAOP in 1979. Best known for his large, bold, simple iron forms, and his teaching posts, de Castro is saluted as one of the most influential figures in the world of Brazilian abstract art. His workscan be found in MoMA, MAM Rio, MAM SP, and in an abundance of international private collections.