Author Description

A ‘Garaginha’ (1949-1951) was a space where artists met to discuss the novelties of art, especially modern art, the new school that was spreading in Europe and the United States. The place represents, therefore, the first association of artists in Paraná, interested on unraveling a less academic and more modern art. The catalog shows the production of the artists who frequented Garaginha, while it presents a journey through the entire artistic trajectory of painter Violeta Franco (Curitiba, 1926-2006). There are about 80 works by the artist, in addition to pieces by Poty Lazzarotto, Nilo Previdi, Miguel Bakun, Paul Garfunkel, Fernando Velloso, Guido Viaro, Alcy Xavier, Domício Pedroso and Emma Koch. Violeta Franco was a painter, engraver and researcher who remained active until her last days. Guido Viaro (1897-1971) and Poty Lazzarotto (1924-1998) were her teachers. With them she learned painting and engraving in the 1940’s. Nine years later, she created a studio in the garage of her grandparents’ house, the “Garaginha”, as the place became to be known. Fernando Velloso (1930), Paul Garfunkel (1900-1981), Alcy Xavier (1933), Loio Pérsio (1927-2004) and Nilo Previdi (1913-1982) were frequent artists of Franco’s Garaginha. They were the same artists who, together with other recognized names, performed in 1957 the ‘Salão dos Pré-julgados’, a landmark of the Modernist Movement in Paraná. In 1953, the Garaginha became the Clube de Gravura, directed by Franco until 1956.