Oswaldo Goeldi research - Better understading of expressionism

 Oswaldo Goeldi was born in 1895 in Brazil, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. His father was Swiss and was a well-known zoologist and naturalist, there is a museum with his name: Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. 

At the age of six, he moved to Switzerland. (Venâncio Filho, 2012) He was small when he went to live in Switzerland until his father died when he dropped out of the course at the Polytechnic School and went to the École des Art et Métiers. 

He did not like the school and has classes with Serge Pahnke and Henri Van Muyden. His mentor was Alfred Kubin. (Oswaldo Goeldi, s.d.)

In 1919, already in Brazil, he did illustration work and in 1923 he dedicated himself to woodcuts. With the sale of his album "Dez Gravadas em Madeira" (1930), he gets money to be able to return to Europe, where he makes several exhibitions. He returned to Brazil in 1932 and tried to use color in woodcuts. (Art office, s.d.) 

He started teaching in 1952 and taught at the National School of Fine Arts and Museum of Modern Art in São Paulo. 

Hundreds of exhibitions of his work have been made in various locations around the world. He received several prizes, such as the National Printmaking Prize at the 1st São Paulo Biennial. (Venâncio Filho, 2012) 

He died in 1961. 

According to Venâncio Filho (2012), Goeldi was an authentic expressionist, realizing human anguish, the world of work, the dark citizenship, among other aspects. For Goeldi even the sun casts a shadow.

From the works I observed, I chose some to inspire my project.

Man with cap, 1935, woodcut, 22.5 x 26.5 cm

I chose one more face, to understand how I can give some expression to my characters. There is a very interesting work between the dark and light tones. The face is expressive and sharp. The idea I have is to keep my characters, but change the way I tend to disdain, trying to give them more expression through the darker strokes.

Poot neighborhood, 1930, woodcut,12.5 x 11 cm

This landscape showed me that it is possible to insert the characters in a scene in which they do not appear very detailed. The outline of the objects is not well understood, containing some disproportion. As I will have three types of scenarios in my animation, it is important to know some examples so that I can then choose something that fits what I want to do.

Men on the Beach, 1950, Woodcut, 21x14cm

In this case, it is only necessary to outline the figures on a black background, being even easier to animate the characters than in scenarios and characters with many details.

Untitled, 1947, woodcut on paper, 19.5 x 26.5 cm

Goeldi's work, in its diversity, gives us ideas so that we can make different types of characters, if we want to translate them into animation. In this example, we can see that there is not much detail on the faces, but we managed to capture their expressiveness.

References:

Escritório da arte (s.d.) Oswaldo Goeldi [online] Available from: Oswaldo Goeldi - Obras, biografia e vida (escritoriodearte.com) [Accessed: 21/01/31]

Oswaldo Goeldi (s.d.) Goeldi. [online] Available from: Oswaldo Goeldi - Site Oficial do Projeto Goeldi - Oswaldo Goeldi - Site Oficial  [Accessed: 21/01/31]

Venâncio Filho, P. and Goeldi, L. (2012) Oswaldo Goeldi: sombra luz. MAM, 14/06. . [online] Available from: Oswaldo Goeldi: Sombria Luz | MAM [Accessed: 21/01/31]