Biography

Luiz Sacilotto (Santo André, São Paulo 1924 - São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo 2003). Painter, sculptor and draughtsman. Studied painting at the Escola Profissional Masculina do Brás [Men's Professional School of Brás], between 1938 and 1943, and drawing at the Associação Brasileira de Belas Artes [Brazilian Association of Fine Arts], from 1944 to 1947. His first works show a rejection of academic standards, and a proximity in his aesthetics to the Grupo Santa Helena [Santa Helena Group]. From 1944 onwards, he began to produce work of an  Expressionist character, which he deepened until in 1948, it achieved a vigour strongly marked by intense colours and forms. In 1945, he resumed contacts with his colleagues at the Escola Profissional Masculina, the artists Marcelo Grassmann (1925- ) and Octávio Araújo (1926- ), who introduced him to Andreatini (1921- ). Together, and with the help of Carlos Scliar (1920 - 2001), they staged the exhibition 4 Novíssimos [4 Brand News], at the Brazilian Institute of Architects (IAB/RJ), in Rio de Janeiro, becoming known as the Grupo Expressionista [Expressionist Group]. Sacilotto worked in the architecture practice of Jacob Ruchti around 1946. In the same year, he took part in the exhibition 19 Pintores [19 Painters] held at the Prestes Maia Gallery, in São Paulo. For this event, he made contact with Waldemar Cordeiro (1925 - 1973) and Lothar Charoux (1912 - 1987), with whom he subsequently founded the Grupo Ruptura [Rupture Group] together with Geraldo de Barros (1923 - 1998), Féjer (1923 - 1989), Leopoldo Haar (1910 - 1954) and Anatol Wladyslaw (1913- ). The group experience was important for his technical improvement and the development of his studio work, which since 1948, had already been following an abstract-constructivist line. He was one of the founders of Associação de Artes Visuais Novas Tendências [New Tendencies Visual Arts Association], in 1963. Considered one of the most important artists of Concrete Art in Brazil, with a body of painting that explored optical phenomena, he was one of the precursors of Op Art within the country.