Thomaz Farkas

1924, Budapest, Hungary – 2011, São Paulo, Brazil.

 

Thomaz Farkas’s first authorial series are associated with his experience with the Foto Cine Clube Bandeirante, where the artist contributed to the advances of Brazilian photography. His practice was concentrated on creative technical resources, rather than on pictorialism or the traditional genres dealt with in painting (portrait, landscape, etc.). In his photographs, Farkas recorded everyday urban scenes, architecture and cityscapes, through geometric compositions and unusual angles. The artist’s work not only gathers everyday scenes, but also composes a rich documentary source concerning Brazil’s history and social scenario.

 

Residing in São Paulo from the age of six onward, Thomaz Farkas was the son of the founder of Fotoptica, a pioneering company in the commercialization of photographic equipment in Brazil. He received his PhD from the School of Communication and Arts of USP (1973). He held solo shows at important institutions including the Museu da Imagem e do Som (2019, São Paulo), the Instituto Moreira Salles (2011, São Paulo), the Pinacoteca de São Paulo (2005), the Centro Português de Fotografia (2000, Lisbon, Portugal), Masp (1949, 1997), and MAM-SP (1949). He participated in many group shows, held at prominent venues including MAM-SP (2023, Brazil), MoMA-NY (2021, USA), Museo Jumex (2018, Mexico), Tate Modern (2018, London, England), the Museum of Contemporary Art (2017, San Diego, USA), Itaú Cultural (2017, São Paulo), The Photographer’s Gallery (2016, New York, USA), the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (2015, Paris, France), and the Museum für Fotografie (2012, Berlin, Germany). Farkas was also elected four times as Brazil’s representative in the Photographic Society of America, and was a key figure in the creation of the departments of photography of Masp and of MAM-SP. His work figures in the collections of MoMA-NY (USA), Masp, MAM-SP/RJ, Instituto Moreira Salles, and Tate Modern (England).