Alceu Ribeiro

ALCEU RIBEIRO (Artigas, Uruguay, 1919 – Palma de Mallorca, 2013).
“Boats in the Harbor.”
Crayons on paper.
Signed in the lower left corner.
Measurements: 23 x 23 cm; 33 x 46 cm (frame).
A painter, sculptor, and muralist associated with the Constructivist movement, Alceu Ribeiro trained under Joaquín Torres-García beginning in 1939, thanks to a scholarship that allowed him to settle in Montevideo with his brother, who was also an artist. He studied under the master for ten years, until the latter’s death in 1949, and even during his time as a student, his work was already recognized with several awards from the Montevideo National Salon in 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, and 1945. The following year, in 1946, he gained recognition in Paris through the Exhibition of Modern Uruguayan Painting held there. In 1949, he founded the El Molino studio, which he transformed into the center of Montevideo’s intellectual life, and that same year he completed his first commissioned mural for the Palacio de la Luz in the Uruguayan capital. Shortly thereafter, in 1953, he held his first solo exhibition at the Faculty of Architecture in Montevideo. He also continued to participate in official exhibitions with great success and to undertake major mural projects, both pictorial and sculptural. In 1962, he was appointed full professor at the Universidad del Trabajo in Montevideo, and the following year he undertook an extended working trip through Europe, which he began after holding several touring exhibitions in South America, including at the Museo de Zea in Medellín, Colombia. In 1964, he returned to Montevideo, and three years later he held his first solo exhibition in the United States, at the Mayfair Gallery in Washington, D.C. From that point on, Ribeiro exhibited his work in museums and galleries throughout South America, the United States, and Europe, eventually settling in Palma de Mallorca in 1979. His work is currently represented in the National Museum of Fine Arts and the Juan Manuel Blanes Museum in Montevideo, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid, the National Museum of São Paulo, and other public and private collections in Europe and the Americas.