“Mario Cravo Neto managed to pass the physical hardness of Salvador’s light through the filter of spiritual sweetness that gives life to the city.” Caetano Veloso
Mario Cravo Neto, 1947–2009
1947 Cravo Neto is born on April 20 in the city of Salvador, son of sculptor Mario Cravo Junior (1923–2018).
1950s He grows up surrounded by the protagonists of the art scene in the state of Bahia: Jorge Amado (1912–2001), Dorival Caymmi (1914–2008) and Carybé (1911–1997).
1960s
Lives in Berlin (1964–65) with his father. Studies with photographers Hans Mann (1897–1966) and Fulvio Roiter (1926–2016). Meets Dane Eva Christensen (1938). Moves to New York, where he lives until October 1970. Studies at the Art Students League.
1970s
Takes part in four editions of the Bienal de São Paulo: 1971, 1973, 1977 and 1979. In 1972 his first child with Eva, Lua Diana, is born, followed by Christian Cravo in 1974. In 1975 Cravo Neto suffers a car accident and spends almost one year in bed.
The 1971 and 1973 editions of the Bienal
After returning to Brazil in late 1970, Cravo Neto is soon invited to take part in the 11th edition of the Bienal de São Paulo, in 1971, where he presents a set of sculptures made from acrylic, sand and plants. The work is very well received and the artist wins an award from the São Paulo State Government granted to the most outstanding work in the competition. He is once again selected to the following edition of the Bienal, held in 1973, where he shows a huge 25-square-meter installation with earth on the floor, as well as a room with 36 photographs from the fire series (50 x 60 centimeters).
1980s
His first book, Bahia, is published in 1980. In late 1982 he hosts an exhibition in a warehouse in Salvador. In 1983 he takes part in an exhibition organized by Stefania Bril at Centre Georges Pompidou and later as part of the Bienal de São Paulo. In 1984 his second book is published, A cidade da Bahia [The City of Bahia]. In 1987 he starts to live with visual artist Ângela Cunha (1954), with whom he has two children: Lukas (1989) and Akira (1991). The book Mario Cravo Neto is published in 1988 by Idea Books Edizioni, of Venice.
1990s
In 1990 he takes part in exhibitions in Germany, the Netherlands and the United States. In 1991 he travels to Luanda to produce the photographs for the book Angola e a expressão da sua cultura material [Angola and the Expression of Its Material Culture]. The book Mario Cravo Neto is launched during the 1994 edition of the Frankfurt International Book Fair, accompanied by an exhibition held at the Frankfurter Kunstverein. In 1996 he is awarded the National Funarte Prize for Photography. His works become part of the MoMA-NY collection.
2000s
In 2000 he publishes the book Laróyè, by Áries press. In 2004 the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin opens the exhibition Deuses negros nas Américas [Black Gods in the Americas], with photographs by Cravo Neto and Pierre Verger. In 2004 he takes part in the 6th edition of the Bienal de Arte Contemporânea, held in Dakar, Senegal, and in 2005 he is one of the artists at the Mostra pan-africana de arte contemporânea [Pan-African Exhibition of Contemporary Art] held at MAM-Bahia. Cravo Neto dies on August 9, 2009, from the consequences of skin cancer.
Somewhere over the rainbow, 2005 / La Mer, 2007
In 2005 Solange Farkas invited Cravo Neto to take part in the Mostra pan-africana de arte contemporânea [Pan-African Exhibition of Contemporary Art]. He occupied MAM’s entire ground floor and projected images of the sea onto all walls, with two discreet floating orishas, liquefying the space, connecting Brazil and Africa, the sacred and the profane. The predominant sound was “Murder,” performed by John Lee Hooker. A nephew of Cravo Neto’s mixed the song with the sounds of Candomblé. More than anything, the reference to the sea was a tribute to Yemanjá, the Goddess of Water. In 2007, Cravo Neto adapted the work to the Brito Cimino art gallery in São Paulo and retitled it La Mer.
2010s
In 2013, the exhibition Butterflies and Zebras is held at Pinacoteca de São Paulo with Diógenes Moura as the curator. In 2015 Instituto Moreira Salles receives Mario Cravo Neto’s photography collection, on long-term loan. In 2017 his son Christian creates Instituto Mario Cravo Neto (IMCN), and in 2019 the Mario Cravo Neto Photography Award is launched during the opening ceremony of the Festival Transatlântico de Fotografia.