Ubirajara Ribeiro

Ubirajara Motta Lima Ribeiro (São Paulo, SP, 1930 - Idem, 2002) was a Brazilian watercolorist, printmaker, painter, professor, and architect. Born in São Paulo, he began his painting studies with Vicente Mecozzi in 1948 and, between 1952 and 1954, honed his artistic skills under the guidance of Pedro Corona, João Rossi, and Waldemar da Costa. In 1954, he graduated in Architecture from Mackenzie University.

In 1956, he moved to Salvador, where he attended a free engraving course at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Bahia, taught by Mario Cravo Júnior. In 1960, he won a scholarship from the French government and interned at the office of renowned architects Guillaume Gillet and Paul Chemetov in Paris.

During the 1960s, Ubirajara was part of the group of five architect-painters, alongside Maurício Nogueira Lima, Flávio Império, Sérgio Ferro, and Samuel Szpigel. His academic career began at the Faculty of Architecture at Mackenzie University and at the Armando Álvares Penteado Foundation (FAAP).

Ubirajara Ribeiro had a prolific career in architecture until the mid-1970s, contributing with significant projects such as the Presbyterian cathedral in Brasília, the Mataripe Refinery in Salvador, and the master plan for Campos do Jordão in São Paulo. In partnership with Walter Maffei, he participated in the assembly project of the 11th São Paulo International Biennial in 1971. The following year, he studied metal engraving with Evandro Carlos Jardim at the School of Communications and Arts at the University of São Paulo (ECA/USP).

In 1976, he decided to leave architecture behind to fully dedicate himself to the visual arts. In 1980, he organized the exhibition "Papéis e Cia." at the Paço das Artes, which led to the creation of the Cooperativa de Artistas Plásticos de São Paulo, although the cooperative was dissolved the same year.

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