Dionísio Del Santo

Dionísio Del Santo, after studying at São Francisco de Assis Seminary in Santa Teresa, Espírito Santo, from 1932 to 1939, began his early drawings in the 1940s. He moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1946, starting his painting career and attending live model and color theory classes at the Brazilian Association of Drawing (ABD). Del Santo also worked in advertising and graphic arts. In 1952, he began exploring woodcut and screen printing, becoming prolific in the latter. From the late 1950s to the mid-1960s, his works aligned with the principles of the concrete movement, although he remained distant from the concrete and neo-concrete debate. Between 1964 and 1966, he created gouache works that combined geometry and figure. His first solo exhibition took place in 1965 at the Galeria Relevo in Rio de Janeiro. From the mid-1960s, he dedicated himself to abstract art, focusing on screen printing. He received the acquisition award at the 9th São Paulo International Biennial in 1967. In the 1970s, the "Cordéis" series stood out, reflecting influences of kinetic art. In 1975, he was awarded the Best Print Exhibition of the Year by the São Paulo Association of Art Critics (APCA). He held retrospective shows at the Paço Imperial in Rio de Janeiro, at the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art (MAM/SP) between 1989 and 1990, and at the Museum of Art of Espírito Santo (Maes) in 1998. Over 70 works, including serigraphs and woodcuts, by the artist are part of the Maes collection.