Miguel Freitas | The naive impressions and memories

Miguel Freitas grew up in Lisbon, Portugal, later he moved to Toronto where he continued to study the fine arts exploring ways of expressing his creativity. His artistic diversity and ability to work with various media and styles has proven to be a great asset to his creative career. Starting out as a photographer, and then venturing into the design industry, his success as a designer and illustrator eventually led him to positions working as Art Director for companies both in Canada and Europe. Although he enjoys design, he longed for new challenges and creative freedom and so he ventured on his own and now works from his home studio in the Toronto Beaches. Miguel’s unique technique and style has attracted much attention and created a following where his originals have become sought after by collectors and galleries throughout North America.

Henri Rousseau 1844-1910 | French Post-Impressionist painter

Rousseau was born in Laval, France in the Loire Valley into the family of a tinsmith. He attended Laval High School as a day student and then as a boarder, after his father became a debtor and his parents had to leave the town upon the seizure of their house. He was mediocre in some subjects at the high school but won prizes for drawing and music. He worked for a lawyer and studied law, but "attempted a small perjury and sought refuge in the army", serving for four years, starting in 1863. With his father's death, Rousseau moved to Paris in 1868 to support his widowed mother as a government employee. In 1868, he married Clémence Boitard, his landlord's 15 year-old daughter, with whom he had six children, only one survived. In 1871, he was appointed as a collector of the octroi tax on goods entering Paris. His wife died in 1888 and he married Josephine Noury in 1898. He started painting seriously in his early forties, and by age 49 he retired from his job to work on his art full time. Rousseau claimed he had "no teacher other than nature", although he admitted he had received "some advice" from two established Academic painters, Félix Auguste Clément and Jean-Léon Gérôme. Essentially he was self-taught and is considered to be a naïve or primitive painter.

Yoshiro Tachibana 1941 | Japanese naif painter

1941 - Born in Japan (Sanda, Kobe), son of a painter.

1959 - He is taught to paint by his father. He is interested in Cezanne, Gogh, Matisse and Rouault.

1962 - He goes to Tokyo to study in the School of Arts. He is moved by Klee's work.

1963 - He founds flamenco group "Nana" in Tokyo. He meets there Spanish flamenco artists.

1968 - He takes part in the Japanese painters group "Black Flag" and makes several happenings against  Vietnam war.

1971 - He goes to Hamburg (Germany) where he shows interest in the contemporary German painters.

1972 - He learns about Nolde's work in Kiel (Germany).

1973 - He arrives to Oslo (Norway). He attends drawing classes in the School of Architecture and learns about Munch's work. He draws lots of Nordic landscapes.

1974 - He comes back to Spain and decides to settle down in a little fishing town: Muxia (A Coruña).

1975 - He shows his work in some Galician towns for the first time. He meets Galician artists such as Tomás Barros, Prego, Virxilio, Buciño, Pousa and X. Moreda.

1981 - He travels to Japan to show his work in Tokyo (Ginza Matsu-zaka-ya) and comes back to Spain.

1984 - His work is selected for the "Expo Cultural Japón 84" in A Coruña. He is interested in mystical themes, he learns buddhist mandala.

1985 - He is visited by Laxeiro.

1986 - He goes to Japan again to show in Kobe's Townhall.

1987 - He makes another show in Sanda's Townhall and goes to Sri Lanka to learn about the primitive buddhism world.

1988 - He comes back to Spain and starts his studies on primitive painting and medieval iconography.

1998 - Finishing ten years of solitude, he shows again in Sanda's Towhall (Japan), Galería Obelisco (A Coruña) and Galería Alameda.

2001 - He shows again in Japan, together with the work of his father Nakaba (1902-2000).

Norberto Proietti 1927-2009 | Italian naif painter

Proietti è nato a Spello nel 1927, da padre commerciante di bestiame, poi anche cuoco, mentre la madre con 5 figli aiutava il marito e cuciva abiti; molto rinomata a Spello perché creava modelli particolari e poi li eseguiva. Poco più che dodicenne Norberto andò in Trastevere a Roma, dallo zio per imparare un ‘mestiere’ che potesse dargli la possibilità di mantenersi. Non a caso si scelse un mestiere manuale e creativo. Nel 1942 tornò a Spello, dopo questa esperienza cominciò a guardare le innumerevoli bellezze pittoriche che lo circondavano, con una luce diversa. Dopo un esperienza come sarto a Bergamo, nel 1950, riuscì ad aprirsi un laboratorio nel suo paese. Nel 1951 dipinge il primo quadro, opera che suscita l’ammirazione dei suoi visitatori. La svolta avviene all’improvviso, da dello stucco lasciato per caso da alcuni imbianchini, prepara il fondo di una tavoletta, lo incide e lo colora, iniziando a delineare una forma espressiva del tutto personale. Nel 1962 espone in Lussemburgo, nel 1965-66 in America a Memphis; si era aperto il mercato internazionale. Dal 1967 al 1974 è presente quasi ogni anno al Festival dei due Mondi a Spoleto. Cesare Zavattini convinto estimatore di Norberto, gli fa attribuire nel 1971 il Premio Suzzara, l’Oscar dell’arte ‘ingenua’ nazionale. Da allora la sua storia artistica non ha mai conosciuto interruzioni. Il Medioevo è lo sfondo su cui si svolgono le scene che il pittore dipinge, ci sono quadri, tra i più conosciuti, dove c’è la una parte superiore occupata dal solito borgo turrito e nella parte inferiore ci sono campi lavorati. Qui vi appaiono continuamente frati che pregano e lavorano, vicoli, uliveti. Immagini medievali che raffigurano i mestieri o le opere.