This was the first press review to be published in Porto Alegre, the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, about a group of local “modernist” artists that became the Grupo de Bagé, later known as the Clube da Gravura [Printmakers’ Club] of Porto Alegre. Danúbio Gonçalves is the first name mentioned in this second issue of Quixote magazine, published in May 1948. In the third issue, published in September 1948, Assumpção writes about another member of the group, the young painter Glauco Rodrigues. In that same issue there is an announcement that “in mid-October the first exhibition of paintings by the young Bagé artists will open in the Correio do Povo auditorium.” Assumpção notes that “Bagé is spawning a generation, a group of visual artists,” and adds that “this fact does not in itself bestow any great quality on each individual member’s work, but it is an excellent sign. It indicates support for modern art at a more general than individual level.”   

The members of the group were Danúbio [Villamil] Gonçalves, Glauco Rodrigues, and Glênio Bianchetti. Alhough they showed their paintings at their first exhibition, the Grupo de Bagé (that originally excluded Carlos Scliar) then began making figurative, realist, and Expressionist prints of “gaúcho” (the patronymic name of that southern state) rural landscapes, people, and customs. The artists generally painted ranch scenes set in the Bagé region.  

José Moraes, who came to Bagé from Rio de Janeiro after winning a travel scholarship at the Salão Nacional, was deeply involved in the founding of the group. Carlos Scliar was another key member who was instrumental in the move to printmaking. He was influenced by the TGP (Taller de Gráfica Popular) in Mexico City, and by the ideas expressed by the PCB (Partido Comunista Brasileiro) during their campaign for World Peace. In 1952, the group published the album of woodcut prints produced by all the members, which won the Pablo Picasso Peace Prize that year. In 1953, the Clube de Gravura published another album featuring the Xarqueadas series [slaughterhouses and preparing cured and salted meat] by Gonçalves. The Clube da Gravura organized a group exhibition in Porto Alegre in 1955; the club finally disbanded in 1956.

[There is another article from Quixote magazine in the ICAA digital archive: see by Silvio Duncan “Quixote; Cruzando campo” (doc. no. 1111020)].