Biography

Manuel Alexandre Filho is Paraiban from the city of Bananeiras, Brejo do Paraiba. He lived for many years in Rio de Janeiro, where he started to paint, as a self-taught artist. In the Eighties, he went back to Paraiba, and currently lives in João Pessoa. His first exhibit was held in 1966, at the 15th National Salon of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, and from then to now around 90 individual and collective exhibits have been held in 15 different countries, such as Belgium, Nigeria, Portugal, France, Germany and Spain. His works are exposed in various museums and collections both in Brazil and abroad, such as: Museum of the city of Rio de Janeiro, International Museum of Naïf Art in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro), Musée d’Art Naïf de Lîle, Paris (France), Museu do Sol, Penápolis (São Paulo), Museu da Pampulha (Belo Horizonte), Modern Art Assis Chateubriand Museum, in Campina Grande (Pernambuco). Alexandre Filho’s name and biography are cited in 21 books that deal with art in Brazil and abroad, like the Brazilian Art Dictionary – Roberto Pontual (Ed. Civilização Brasileira), Aspects of Primitive Brazilian Painting, by Flávio de Aquino and Geraldo de Andrade (Ed. Spalla – Rio de Janeiro), Dictionary of World Naïf Paintings (Anatole Jakvsk – Switzerland), Myth and Magic of Colors – Neo-Primitive Painting (Napoli – Italy), Brazilian Art Dictionary (José Roberto Teixeira Leite) and the Superstock Fine Art Catalog – Florida, United States of America – a catalog with great world painters, in which he is the only Brazilian to be cited. In his 40 year career, Alexandre Filho has already received several prizes. The first one was at the 15th National Modern Art Salon, 1966, in Rio de Janeiro. In 1995, he received the State Culture Council Honor Diploma and was paid homage with a Motion of Applause by the Paraíba Congress. According to this very author, the central themes of his pictures are eclectic and universal, although they reflect the ancestral scenarios and symbols of his land.