Iberê Bassani de Camargo (Restinga Seca, RS, 1914 - Porto Alegre, RS, 1994). Painter, engraver, draftsman, writer and teacher. In 1928 he studied painting with Frederico Lobe and Salvador Parlagreco (1871-1953) at Escola de Artes e Ofícios in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul. Between 1936 and 1939, in Porto Alegre, he took a technical course in architecture at the Instituto de Belas Artes de Porto Alegre and studied painting with Fahrion (1898-1970). He moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1942 and, with a scholarship granted by the government of Rio Grande do Sul, he attended the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes (Enba) for a short time. Unsatisfied with the academic proposal, he studied with Guignard (1896-1962) and founded Grupo Guignard in 1943, with other artists. In 1947 he was awarded a prize for a trip abroad and went to Europe the following year. In Rome, he studied with Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978), Carlos Alberto Petrucci, Antonio Achille and Leone Augusto Rosa, and in Paris, with André Lhote (1885-1962). He returned to Brazil in 1950 and, in 1952, became a member of the Comissão Nacional de Artes Plásticas. In 1953, he founded the engraving course at the Instituto Municipal de Belas Artes do Rio de Janeiro, now called Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage - EAV/Parque Lage. In 1954, he participated with Djanira (1914-1979) and Milton Dacosta (1915-1988), in the organization of the Salão Preto e Branco and, in the following year, of the Salão Miniatura, both held in protest of the high import taxes on artistic material. He promoted free painting courses at Theatro São Pedro, in Porto Alegre, in two seasons between 1960 and 1965. In 1966, he executed a 49-square-meter panel offered by Brazil to the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. From 1970, he taught at the School of Fine Arts at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS. In 1980 Iberê Camargo shot and killed a man who had assaulted him in the street. He was acquitted under the argument of self-defense, but the episode left a deep mark on his life and work. In 1986 he received an honorary doctorate from the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM). Among his publications are the article Tratado sobre Gravura em Metal, 1964, the technical book A Gravura, 1992, and the short story book No Andar do Tempo: 9 contos e um esboço autobiográfico, 1988.
IBERÊ Camargo. In: ENCICLOPÉDIA Itaú Cultural de Arte e Cultura Brasileiras. São Paulo: Itaú Cultural, 2021. Available at: <http://enciclopedia.itaucultural.org.br/pessoa1721/ibere-camargo>. Accessed on: 25 Jun. 2021. Encyclopedia entry. ISBN: 978-85-7979-060-7