Mulheres numa Rua de Mogi das Cruzes, 1938

Mário Zanini was born in São Paulo (SP) in 1907. From 1920, when he was 13 years old, until 1922, he studied art at the Professional Male School of Brás in São Paulo. From 1924 to 1926, he was a student at the School of Arts and Crafts in São Paulo. From 1936, he began to share a studio with Manoel Martins (1911-1979) and Clóvis Graciano (1907-1988), later to form the Santa Helena Group. He won the silver medal in the Modern Division of the 46th National Salon of Fine Arts (1940). He held his first exhibition in 1944, in the gallery of the Brasiliense Bookstore, in São Paulo. He took part in the First São Paulo Biennial (1951). He became professor of the Faculty of Fine Arts and São Paulo from 1968. Most of his works are present in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo. He died in São Paulo (SP) in 1971.