Cravo Neto, Mario

Mário Cravo Neto was the son of sculptor Mário Cravo Júnior and from his early years was immersed in his father's circle of artists, beginning to create art at a very young age. As a teenager, he met photographer Pierre Verger, a friend of his father. In 1968, he studied for two years at the Art Students League in New York. It was this experience in New York that solidified his love for photography. He then returned to Brazil and exhibited the sculptures (Terrarium) created in New York at the 12th São Paulo Art Biennial. Shortly after returning to Brazil, he was involved in a car accident that left him bedridden for a full year. Having worked as a street photographer in New York, he suddenly found himself unable to walk and in need of finding a new way to work. Forced to reassess his photography, he set up lights and began shooting in the studio, a practice he continued throughout his life. In photography, he primarily worked in black and white, documenting the religion of Candomblé. Combining spiritual, mystical, and religious elements with eggs, birds, animals, fish, and bones, along with nude torsos, Cravo Neto created sensual images that merged man and nature, the erotic and the spiritual. His images reveal a psychological portrait of the indigenous, Portuguese, and African communities coexisting in today's Bahia. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States and Europe and is included in numerous monographs. His work is part of several public and private collections such as the Museum of Fine Arts (Houston), the Museum of Photographic Arts (San Diego), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), and the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (Brazil). In 2005, he exhibited at the Rencontres d'Arles festival. He collaborated with magazines Popular Photography and Câmera 35.