Tracks and Traces

Poty, an artist from Curitiba? No: Poty, artist of the world. The premise of this exhibition is to show one of Curitiba's most essential artists in his universal dimension. We are celebrating the centenary of Poty Lazzarotto's birth by bringing to the public a wide selection of his works, which were recently donated to MON by Mr. Lazzarotto. João Geraldo Lazzarotto, the artist's brother. In this exhibition, the pieces have been organized around nine thematic nuclei present in his work, representative of the different facets of the artist: o Narrador (the Narrator), o Trabalho (the Work), the Xingu, o Sagrado (the Sacred), a Guerra (the War), o Cotidiano (Everyday Life), o Viajante (the Traveller), o Muralista (the Muralist) and o Retratista (the Portraitist). But Poty, the "piá" (kid) from Capanema who loved movies and comic books, is even more than all that. Through drawing, his primary means of expression, he approached the most varied themes, passing through different styles, always seeking to take art to its most important destination: the people. In his constant and obstinate artistic activity, he showed the real world of work and social reality; he recreated, in images, the creative universe of literature; in his murals, he shaped the great adventure of universal history. Always seeking to make art popular, he went from engraving to illustration, from tiny drawings to monumental murals. In the simplicity of his drawing, with his human and poignant vision of the human experience in all its dimensions, Poty created a vast collective imaginary: in his trails and strokes, we travel the world.

Thanks, Poty.

More than celebrating the centenary of this artist from Curitiba, who is one of the main names in the arts in the State and the Country, the exhibition “Trilhos e Traços – Poty 100 anos” (“Tracks and Traces – Poty 100 years”), held by the Oscar Niemeyer Museum (MON), becomes a reference point for Poty Lazzarotto.

From now on, visitors to MON, especially the hundreds of students from public and private schools who visit the Museum daily, will certainly be able to find out more and get to know this brilliant artist better.

It is also an opportunity for the viewer to delve into Poty's life and work. This immersion in such vast content, gathered here, increases the repertoire, instigating a new perspective about the artist.

Recently, the Museum added the largest collection ever donated to the institution to its collection: approximately 4 thousand works of art signed by him. An excerpt of this can now be seen in this exhibition. Thus, the central axis of this building becomes the stage for the largest collections received by MON, alongside Asian and African art exhibitions.

The donation of Poty's work, generously made by the artist's family, brought to the Museum, in 2022, more than 3 thousand drawings and 366 engravings, in addition to tapestries, carvings, silkscreens, and sculptures. These are works that further enrich MON's collection, which in recent years has increased fivefold in size, consolidating the Museum as one of the most important in Latin America. 

Being the institution that preserves Poty's legacy is a source of pride, joy, and responsibility. In this exhibition, we share some of these feelings, translated by the artist's unmistakable traits. Belonging here has a full name: Poty Lazzarotto.

Juliana Vellozo Almeida Vosnika 
Director-President of the Oscar Niemeyer Museum

"A alma se expressa com mais claridade através do rosto [The soul expresses itself most clearly through the face] (Simmel)." We find this depth in Poty's portraits. They are expressive and agitated images: they have an actual existence, and there is no room for impersonality. Icons that surprise natural and social reality, ranging from realism to caricature. They are precise strokes and economic lines that synthesize the subject's personality in small details. The macambúzio (sullen) Bakun contrasts with the artist's energetic self-portraits. Poty, looking at himself, reveals the individuality of a firm and direct man, given to few daydreams - and human, all too human.

Born in a modest wooden house in Capanema, raised on the railroad tracks that passed in front of his home, with a father who was a railroad worker, a mother who was a cook, and a grandfather who was a carpenter, Poty developed a passion for humble workers that he cherished throughout his life, even after living in metropolises such as Rio de Janeiro and Paris. His drawings and engravings reflect his passion for the working man, both the day-to-day hard worker, especially the railway worker, the "polaca's" carts, the street vendors, the drivers of the open streetcars and the pub owners, and the simple man in everyday life: at church parties, workers' societies, the Cine Morgenau, the game of truco, all celebrating life. Poty sees work much more as fulfillment than hardship and alienation. In this poetic work, we find St. Francis's energy, Goya's courageous strokes, and Käthe Kollwitz's tenderness. Delicacy and social character, dignity, and humanity.

Poty celebrates the indigenous wisdom of nature and myths. Amid the countless languages and rich rituals, he gathers the born artist in the basketry, the stools, the bows and arrows, the body painting, the masks, and even the superficial knots and the architecture of the huts. Poty's Upper Xingu drawings in the still extensive Amazon Rainforest of the 1960s (1967/68) are a eulogy to nature, to Rousseau's good savage. They do justice to the overflowing intellectual and intuitive imagination of the locals.

"O mundo profano é o universo das interdições, enquanto o mundo sagrado corresponde ao das transgressões [The profane world is the universe of interdictions, while the sacred world corresponds to that of transgressions] (Bataille)." Poty's saints are well known, especially St. Francis, whom he has drawn, carved, and engraved countless times. The traces of the sacred, the communication with the metaphysical present in Poty's soul, lead him to a religion in the sense of religar, from the Latin religare, which celebrates human understanding. So, you don't necessarily have to be linked to a religion praising the gods to be religious. The aura, if there is one, is the one that involves connecting with others, the practice of humanism. Inspired by Saint Francis, Poty celebrates nature and the human person.

Immersing yourself in Poty's drawings and engravings means traveling through the daily life of provincial Curitiba. From the scenes of the "polacas'" carts, workers going to the trade by bicycle, disasters on the railroad, fights in the bars, the floods in the city center, the children flying kites, the Queirolo Brothers' Circus, and Didi Caillet's glorious return, to the procession of children running after Father Maurício's trolley, which handed out candies to attract the little ones to the Holy Office. He also extended his gaze to other places: his strokes slipped through the maritime scenes of Bahia, the churches and saints of Ouro Preto, and the sculptures of Chartres and Paris cathedrals. An eternal traveler, Poty combines nostalgic Curitiba with the discovery of the world.

Since the beginning of his artistic activity, Poty has always been a narrator, creating images to tell stories. As a child, he made comic strips inspired by American models; as a teenager, he created images of violence and fantasy inspired by authors such as Edgar Allan Poe and William Shakespeare. The cinema, also a form of narration through images, was another decisive influence on his work: as a child, he used to go to the old cinema at the Morgenau Club and then draw the scenes that stuck in his memory. Poty became a book illustrator at a young age: from 1943 until the end of his life, he illustrated more than 170 titles by Brazilian and foreign authors. With his love of cinema, he also produced a masterful series of drawings in the style of classic movie posters - drawing as an extension of the seventh art.

"Na galeria dos nossos grandes (mas muito poucos) ilustradores de nossos livros (numerosos, mas ainda muito poucos), nunca a fusão verbo-ícone atinge tão intrínseca adequação: nunca um ilustrador, entre nós, foi tão ilustrador, tão capaz de dizer o que as palavras não sabiam ou não podiam. [In the gallery of our great (but very few) illustrators of our books (numerous, but still very few), never has the verb-icon fusion reached such an intrinsic adequacy: never has an illustrator, among us, been so illustrative, so capable of saying what words did not know or could not.]" (Antônio Houaiss)

Poty's first public mural was in Praça 19 de Dezembro, on the occasion of the Centenary of the Emancipation of Paraná, in 1953, in a more realistic style. Since then, he has created many public works, which are present in several Brazilian cities, and has also reached Europe, with works in the Algarve, Portugal, and Paris. Public murals were an extension of engraving for the artist due to their ability to bring his art to a broader audience. In his public work, Poty uses sophisticated techniques to assemble and articulate symbolic elements to represent human history, the development of cities, the arts, knowledge, and technology. For those who visit Curitiba, we invite you to find Poty's murals in the city: like the rain and the pine trees, they are part of the Curitiba landscape.

"Cabe a cada menino guardar, para todo o sempre, um instante daquele voo de silêncio e fúria, de ruído e paz... [It is up to each child to keep, forever and ever, an instant of that flight of silence and fury, of noise and peace...]" (Valêncio Xavier)