A self-taught artist, Rubem Valentim, began to paint in 1946, following an earlier career in dentistry. He was one of the key figures of 20th-century Brazilian art and Afro-Atlantic histories, and among the first generation of artists that were openly inspired by the sacred symbology of Afro-Brazilian religions. Valentim was instrumental in introducing the wider Brazilian population to the visual vocabulary of these religions and the cultural significance of Northeast Brazil. He produced geometric abstractions formed using various elements of Afro-Atlantic symbols, mostly referencing the orishas to create and recreate the form and meaning of the sacred within a symbolic universe.
Politically, Valentim had a strong opposition towards colonialism and servility to international styles, yet he had adesire to produce a visual repertoire that truly expressed Brazil’s cultural complexities and historical miscegenation in a way that could be universally appreciated and understood.
Rubem Valentim b. 1922, Salvador, Brazil; d. 1991, São Paulo, Brazil.