THE BEGINNING: VALPARAÍSO AND THE CHILEAN COUNTRYSIDE
"My son, an artist... no way!"
Tomás Bravo, Claudio Bravo's father, says about the projects of his son.
W
hen Claudio Bravo was about nine years old, he went with his mother and one of his sisters to an old colonial mansion in Viña del Mar.
The house had been turned into a museum, one of the few art museums in Chile in those days. Most of the works on view there were by contemporary local painters, yet there was also a small collection of plaster casts of antique sculptures. While their mother spoke to them about the paintings, their attentions were captured by something else. Coming into a room of life-size copies of Greek statues, they saw a nude Hermes and Venus. They said nothing, staring at the statues in amazement. Their mother, however, hurried them out of the room exclaiming that such things were not for the eyes of children. Neither Claudio nor his sister has ever forgotten this. It was his first introduction to art in museums. His second visit was made several years late •
Claudio Bravo’s art is best known for hyper-realistic execution, but upon studying his paintings, his gift for economy and nuance reveals a greater interest in evoking an emotional response to his subjects, rather than merely documenting them. Born in Valparaiso, Chile in 1936, Claudio had prodigious talent in his early years. His only studies were at the studio of Miguel Venegas Cifuentes in Santiago from age 11 to age 20. In 1954 and 1955, the Artist was highly sought as a portrait painter in Concepcion, where he obtained and completed many commissions. Anxious to explore the world of art, Bravo booked passage to Europe in 1961, and soon arrived in Madrid, where he immediately became a celebrated society portraitist, even painting the oppressive political figures of the time. His portraits attracted the attention of the Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos, who invited Bravo to travel to Manila to paint himself and his wife, Imelda. Bravo did paint them, but the frustration caused by the ultraconservative politics of Franco, Marcos an
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Claudio Bravo (painter)
Chilean hyperrealist painter
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Bravo and the second or maternal family name is Camus.
Claudio Bravo
Born
Claudio Nelson Bravo Camus
(1936-11-08)November 8, 1936
Valparaiso, Chile
Died
June 4, 2011(2011-06-04) (aged 74)
Taroudant, Morocco
Education
Colegio San Ignacio (Santiago de Chile) and Miguel Venegas Cifuentes' studio
Known for
Painting
Movement
Hyperrealism
Awards
Hall of Fame Honoree (from The Pastel Society of America, New York in 1996)
Gran Cruz de Alfonso X El Sabio (from Alfonso X El Sabio, Madrid, Spain in 2000)
International Distinguished Artist Award (from Art Miami, Miami, Florida in 2000)
Gold Medal of Honor (from Casita Maria, Bronx, New York in 2005)
Claudio Nelson Bravo Camus (November 8, 1936 in Valparaiso – June 4, 2011 in Taroudant) was a Chileanhyperrealist painter. He was greatly influenced by Renaissance and Baroque artists, as well as Surrealist painters such as Salvador Dalí. He lived and worked in Tang