Bravo, Claudio (1936–)

Claudio Bravo (b. 8 November 1936), Chilean artist. A virtuoso of realism in painting, drawing, and lithography, Bravo was born in Valparaíso into a wealthy family. He attended Miguel Venegas Cienfuentes's art school from 1947 to 1948. In 1961, he moved to Spain, where he earned his living painting realistic portraits of the Spanish aristocracy. In the mid-1960s, he turned to trompe l'oeil paintings of isolated objects, such as motorcycle paraphernalia, clothing, folded and crumpled pieces of papers, wrapped canvases (Homage to St. Teresa, 1969; oil on canvas), and packages (Blue Package, 1971). His emphasis on texture, angled lighting, and narrow foreground planes derived from his studies of Francisco de Zurbarán's bodegones. Bravo replaced the Spanish master's empty backgrounds with skyscapes and white walls. The realism of Bravo's painting contrasts with his avoidance of all contextual references. His rendering of commonplace objects, biblical themes, and kneeling figures in undefined places or empty space has been interpreted as a surrealist trait. In 1972 Bravo moved to Tangier, Morocco. In 1981, he had his first show with the Marlborough Gallery in New York, which still represented him as of 2007. In 1994, he had his first show at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Santiago, Chile. As of 2007, he split his time between Chile and Tangier.

See alsoArt: The Twentieth Century .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

William Dyckes, "The New Spanish Realists," in Art International: The Lugano Review 17 (September 1973): 29-33, 45.

Edward J. Sullivan, Claudio Bravo (1985).

Additional Bibliography

Bowles, Paul, Francisco Calvo Serraller, and Edward J. Sullivan. Claudio Bravo: Paintings and Drawings (1964–2004). New York: Rizzoli; Madrid, Lerner & Lerner, 2005.

Bravo, Claudio and Edward J. Sullivan. Claudio Bravo: Painter and Draftsman. Madison: Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1987.

Colle, Marie-Pierre. Latin American Artists in Their Studios. New York: Vendome Press, 1994.

                                             Marta Garsd