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Geny Marcondes

"I was born on May 5, 1916, and I hope to keep on going as strong as I was when I was 12 years old! I was very young when I started playing the piano on Saturdays and Sundays at our local hometown cinema in the Paraiba Valley, State of Sao Paulo. The piano was the basic instrument of a small orchestra that featured a violinist, a flautist and a percussionist. They were silent pictures in those days, in black and white.

"'A precocious child.' That's how my mother would introduce me to our visitors.

"Music has been part of my life for 50 years, as an interpreter, composer, teacher and conductor. I formerly wrote a lot, as a journalist, music critic, and columnist for many newspapers and magazines. I also worked as an editor for radio and TV programs in Rio de Janeiro.

"However, from childhood, I longed to draw and paint. My mother had private students in drawing and painting, and I envied them. Only many years later would I be able to dedicate myself to my lifelong passion - the marvelous world of the Fine Arts.

"I began my painting lessons with Ivan Serpa, a great painter and professor. I took Art History courses at the same time, adding Fine Arts to my knowledge and expertise. Some years later, I created a course called Ver/Ouvir ("Watch/Listen") which incorporated music and other art forms.

"Did I betray my music? Not at all. Music always accompanies me. In the history of art, we find people in similar situations. For example Swiss artist Paul Klee, who also was an excellent violinist - not an amateur, but a professional. The great Henri Rousseau was a violinist and violin professor. Many other famous artists shared these two passions.

"What I paint is in many occasions related to music. In a certain phase of my painting, I was passionate about Indigenous corporal ornamentation. Another passion that I developed was for the exuberant Brazilian flora, and I depicted leaves, flowers and fruits."