Biography
Emiliano Augusto Cavalcanti de Albuquerque e Melo (Rio de Janeiro, 1897 - idem, 1976). Painter, illustrator, caricaturist, engraver, muralist, scenographer. Began his artistic career as a caricaturist and illustrator, publishing his first cartoon in the magazine Fon-Fon in 1914. In 1917, he moved to São Paulo, where he attended the course in Law at the Largo São Francisco and the studio of Georg Elpons. He mixed with São Paulo artists and intellectuals such as Oswald de Andrade, Mário de Andrade and Guilherme de Almeida. In 1921, he illustrated The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde, and published the album, Fantoches da Meia-Noite [Midnight Puppets], edited by Monteiro Lobato. He was the conceiver and principal organiser of Semana de Arte Moderna [Modern Art Week] of 1922, in which he exhibited 12 works. In 1923, he visited France for the first time, where he worked as a correspondent for the newspaper, Correio da Manhã. While in Paris, he attended the Academie Ranson, set up a studio and became familiar with the works of European avant-garde writers and painters, such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Fernand Léger, Henri Matisse, Jean Cocteau and Blaise Cendrars. He returned to São Paulo in 1926, where he worked as a journalist and illustrator for the daily newspaper, Diário da Noite. His stay in Paris marked a new direction in his work. Reconciling the influence of the European avant-garde with the formulation of his own language, he adopted a nationalist theme and concerned himself with social issues. In 1928, he joined the Partido Comunista Brasileiro - PCB [Brazilian Communist Party]. In 1931, he took part in the Salão Revolucionário [Revolutionary Salon] and in the following year, founded the Clube dos Artistas Modernos - CAM [Modern Artists' Club], together with Flávio de Carvalho, Antonio Gomide and Carlos Prado. In 1933, he published the album, A Realidade Brasileira [Brazilian Reality], a satire on the militarism of the time. In 1938, he went to Paris, where he worked for the radio station, Diffusion Française, on the Paris Mondial transmissions. Returning to Brazil in 1940, he worked as an illustrator and published poems and travel memoirs. In 1972, his album 7 Xilogravuras de Emiliano Di Cavalcanti [7 Woodcuts by Emiliano Di Cavalcanti] was published by Editora Chile.