Carybé

Héctor Julio Páride Bernabó (7 February 1911 – 2 October 1997) was an Argentine-Brazilian artist, researcher, writer, historian and journalist. His nickname and artistic name, Carybé, a type of piranha, comes from his time in the scouts. He died of heart failure after the meeting of a candomblé community's lay board of directors, the Cruz Santa Opô Afonjá Society, of which he was a member.
He produced thousands of works, including paintings, drawings, sculptures and sketches. He was an Obá de Xangô, an honorary position at Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá.
Some of Carybé's work can be found in the Afro-Brazilian Museum in Salvador: 27 cedar panels representing different orixás or divinities of the Afro-Brazilian religion candomblé. Each panel shows a divinity with their associated implements and animal. The work was commissioned by the former Banco da Bahia S.A., now Banco BBM S.A., which originally installed them in its branch on Avenida Sete de Setembro in 1968.
American Airlines, Odebrecht and the Miami-Dade Aviation Department partnered to install two of Carybé's murals at Miami International Airport. They have been displayed in the American Airlines terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York since 1960. The 16.5 x 53-foot murals were accredited when Carybé won the first and the second prize in a contest of public art pieces for JFK airport.
As its terminal at that airport was due for demolition, American Airlines donated the murals to Miami-Dade County, and Odebrecht invested in a project to remove, restore, transport and install the murals at Miami International Airport.
The mural "Rejoicing and Festival of the Americas" portrays colorful scenes from popular festivals throughout the Americas, and "Discovery and Settlement of the West" depicts the pioneers’ journey into the American West.
Carybé illustrated four books by the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez, including One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Autumn of the Patriarch, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and Love in the Time of Cholera "Carybé: um mestre da cultura baiana". ArqBahia | Arquitetura, design, arte e lifestyle (in Brazilian Portuguese). 26 April 2023.. In particular, the woodcuts in One Hundred Years of Solitude are well-known for providing a visual image of the fictional town of Macondo, where the story takes place. The illustrations depict the colorful and winding houses, the railway bridge, and the hot and humid climate of the region, contributing to the reader's immersion in the story.
Carybé's woodcuts are, therefore, an important part of Gabriel García Márquez's literary legacy, bringing a visual dimension to his stories that further enriches the reader's experience.
"Thanks to choreographers Gerry Maretski and Hector Zaraspe, I was able to watch Nureyev's rehearsals in Rio de Janeiro's Municipal Theater, April 1971.
The dancer was rehearsing Stravinsky's 'Apollon Musagéte'. Patiently meshing with the musicians, he repeated parts, argued with the orchestra leader and perfected his rhythms and movements. Then, he began all over again until music and movement coincided with mathematical precision in such perfect coordination that you could not tell whether a note signaled a step or whether it was Nureyev's body that struck the notes.
During those two days, I too worked exhaustively trying to catch the weightlessness and harmony of this man who seemed to fly. I made dozens of drawings which were assembled in an album as a tribute to Apollo's Muses. For if there was anything mythological about the performance, it was Nureyev himself shot into the air by the triggers of his feet and returned to earth with the lightness of a feather."
In O Capeta Carybé, Jorge Amado tells numerous stories about Carybé, including: survival adventures, marriage, wanderings from Buenos Aires, in his homeland, to Bahia. Throughout his works, Carybé portrayed traditional Brazilian scenes and settings, such as fishing villages, ballerinas, exits from the church and cowboys taking a break. That is why Jorge Amado refers to Carybé as "a remarkable example in his art, who recreates the reality of the country and the popular life that he knew like very few others, for having lived it like no other."