Ciccillo Matarazzo

Francisco Antonio Paulo Matarazzo Sobrinho, more known as Ciccillo Matarazzo, (São Paulo, February 20, 1898 - São Paulo, April 16, 1977) was an Brazilian industrialist.

Son of Andrea Matarazzo one of the brothers of Count Francesco Matarazzo.

Life

The creator of the São Paulo Art Biennial and entrepreneur, Matarazzo became the main engine of modern art in Brazil. His name was present in all the events that streamlined the state capital in the 50s, as the Brazilian Comedy Theater and Film Company Vera Cruz. In 1948, he founded the Modern Art Museum of São Paulo and, in 1951, created the Biennial, in a style similar to that of Venice, which he visited several times. With the help of his first wife, Yolanda Penteado, Matarazzo could house a makeshift shed, hundreds of works from different countries she visited and convinced them to participate. In 1954, with the celebration of the fourth centenary of the city, which was also part of its organizing committee, the Biennale was able to gather important works such as Guernica, Picasso's huge mural. It was an absolute success.

Powerful, authoritarian and possessive, until 1975, Ciccillo was solely responsible for the exposure, imposing its determinations and creating numerous areas of friction. However, at his own expense of his own pocket, was admittedly irreplaceable. Ciccillo interrupted his engineering course in Europe at the outbreak of the First World War. Son of millionaire Andrea Matarazzo and cousin of Earl Francisco Matarazzo II, Ciccillo preferred founding, in youth, his own industry rather than pursue the clan business. When he was 74, Matarazzo married for the second time Balbina Martinez de Zayas. A fascinating and controversial figure, the history of art in Brazil is divided into before and after the Biennial, i.e. Francisco (Ciccillo) Matarazzo Sobrinho. He died aged 79 on April 16, 1977.

External links

• http://memorialdafama.com/biografiasCD/CiccilloMatarazzo.html (In Portuguese)