Broadening out

Using the same esthetic ideas as in his painting and architectural work, Athos Bulcão dabbled in other fields of artistic creation and applied arts.

Ilustração para soneto de Diogo Bernardes. (1946-08-18) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo Biblioteca NacionalFundação Athos Bulcão

Story illustrator

Like many other artists, Athos also looked for other ways to earn a living, becoming an illustrator at the Ministry for Education, where he did covers for catalogs, books, and magazines. He also worked at the A Manhã newspaper. 

Ilustração para o conto Caturrinha de Cecília Meireles (1947-02-09) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo Biblioteca NacionalFundação Athos Bulcão

Ilustração para o conto Julita de Francisco Pereira da Silva (1947-02-16) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo Biblioteca NacionalFundação Athos Bulcão

Ilustração para o conto Magia das Pedra Preciosas de Paul Claudel (1947-03-16) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo Biblioteca NacionalFundação Athos Bulcão

Módulo Arquitetura magazine

Capa da Revista Módulo Número 1 (março de 1955) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo particularFundação Athos Bulcão

Shape reinvented

Seeing his work in applied arts is revealing as it shows him rigorously applying the same esthetic ideas as in his painting and architectural work.

Capa da Revista Módulo Número 2 (agosto de 1955) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo particularFundação Athos Bulcão

Módulo Arquitetura magazine

Perhaps one of the best examples of this technique can be seen in the series of covers that he did for the Revista Módulo Arquitetura magazine in the 1950s. 

Capa da Revista Módulo Número 3 (dezembro de 1955) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo particularFundação Athos Bulcão

Research above all else

A meticulous work, revealing how he expresses his research in the palette of colors used in the connection between areas of color and photomontage and in his drawings where the lines never end.

Capa da Revista Módulo Número 4 (março de 1956) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo particularFundação Athos Bulcão

Capa da Revista Módulo Número 5 (setembro de 1956) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo particularFundação Athos Bulcão

Capa da Revista Módulo Número 6 (dezembro de 1956) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo particularFundação Athos Bulcão

Capa da Revista Módulo Número 7 (fevereiro de 1957) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo particularFundação Athos Bulcão

Capa da Revista Módulo Número 8 (julho de 1957) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo particularFundação Athos Bulcão

Books and records

Capa do livro O Encontro Marcado (1956) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo Biblioteca da UnBFundação Athos Bulcão

Encounter with literature

His learning journey can also be seen in his book covers, such as his wonderful creation for The Appointment by Fernando Sabino. 

Capa do disco "Poesias" (1955) by Athos BulcãoFundação Athos Bulcão

Athos in music

And also in the album covers he created for Selo Festa, with their colored, cut-out surfaces.

Capa do disco As Mãos de Eurídice (1956) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo particularFundação Athos Bulcão

Capa do disco Recital de Margarida Lopes de Almeida (1957) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo particularFundação Athos Bulcão

Encounter with the theater

Sketch for costume of the play Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov (1955) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo Memória O TabladoFundação Athos Bulcão

Athos the multidisciplinary artist

This need to broaden out into other areas also led him to the theater …

Sketch for costume of the play Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov (1955) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo Memória O TabladoFundação Athos Bulcão

New characters

 In 1948, he designed the scenery for The Tell-Tale Heart, the Lúcio Cardoso theatrical adaptation of the story by Edgar Allan Poe.    

Sketch for costume of the play Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov (1955) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo Memória O TabladoFundação Athos Bulcão

Set and costume designer

In 1957, he made the costumes for O Tablado's production of Anton Chekhov's play Uncle Vanya, which was directed by Geraldo Queiróz.     

Sketch for costume of the play Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov (1955) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo Memória O TabladoFundação Athos Bulcão

Sketch for costume of the play Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov (1955) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo Memória O TabladoFundação Athos Bulcão

Costume of the play Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov, O Tablado’s production. (1955) by Athos Bulcão/ Acervo Memória O TabladoFundação Athos Bulcão

Scarves

As well as creating costumes for the theater, Athos designed women's scarves during his stay in Paris in 1971. The Fundação Athos Bulcão recently had one of those scarves made.

Study for silk scarves. Paris, France (1971) by Athos BulcãoFundação Athos Bulcão

Scarves

Exemplary work of his thought in relation to the geometric structure of the print, his choice is for high color contrast [...] and grid structure in which movement is given by the rotation of the quadrangular units.

Study for silk scarves. Paris, France (1971) by Athos BulcãoFundação Athos Bulcão

Open forms

Athos resisted closed schematic forms Sheets covered in small shapes made from colored paper, all arranged in an octagonal grid. A trick on the eye that can be worn as an everyday item of clothing.

Credits: Story

Fundação Athos Bulcão
Selection of excerpts and images: Vitor Borysow


Texts taken from: 
PANITZ, Marília. The Imagination of Athos Bulcão. Catalog of the Exhibition ‘100 Years of Athos Bulcão’. Bank of Brazil Cultural Center, 2018-2019.    


Image selection: based on the curation by Marília Panitz and André Severo for the 100 Years of Athos Bulcão exhibition, held at the Banco do Brasil Cultural Center (2018–2019)
    

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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