Picture Set Of The Month - April - The Paintings Of Chico Da Silva

Francisco Domingos "Chico" da Silva (1910 – 1985)
 was a Brazilian painter associated with primitive art  
and modernist Brazilian painting.

Chico da Silva, was born to an Indigenous Peruvian
 father and a Brazilian mother. His early years
were spent in the Amazon forest. There, he saw first hand
the rich local flora and fauna. His father, a boatman
died from a rattlesnake bite, following this Chico
Chico moved with his mother to Fortaleza.

 

Chico taught himself how to paint, with no clue
that painting would be his career. He initially painted birds
 on outsides of local fishermen's houses, using charcoal, chalk,
and natural pigments. 

From 1961, Chico worked at the Federal University
 of Ceará’s art museum, where he was introduced
to his first dealer, Henrique Bluhm.
His dealer made him famous and got the artist
exhibitions at prestigious venues.
With his fame came the doubt of the critics.
His death in 1985 was from alcoholism,
a cause of death that it is hard to know was cause for regret.