Before departing Rio, Noêmia Guerra participated in the notable 1954 "Black and White Salon" alongside prominent artists such as Portinari, Djanira, Sérgio de Camargo and Antonio Bandeira. This exhibition, a protest against the government's neglect of culture and the arts, was a defining moment in her career. In 1956, Noêmia Guerra also completed a large mural in Copacabana, which remains preserved just a few streets away from a similar work by Lygia Clark from 1951.
In Paris she immersed herself in intellectual life, studying at the Collège de France under Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Pierre Bourdieu, Régis Debray, René Huyghe, and Yves Bonnefoy. She became an active member of the Collège International de Philosophie and engaged with the International Society of Aesthetics. Throughout her time in Europe she exhibited widely in art galleries and participating in Salons and Biennales.
Noêmia Guerra held her first solo exhibition in Rio in 1960 and showcased her work in major events like the São Paulo International Biennial alongside Amílcar de Castro, Abraham Palatnik, Hélio Oiticica, Willys de Castro, and Lygia Pape. By 1967, she had exhibited twice in London and had her first solo show in the French capital at the Jacques Massol Gallery in 1966. At the same time her work was featured in significant exhibitions, such as "Trends in Contemporary Brazilian Painting" in Rio in 1966, alongside Di Cavalcanti, Portinari, Djanira, Burle Marx, and Ivan Serpa. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Noêmia Guerra continued to be a vital presence in exhibitions across Europe.
In the 1970s, Noêmia Guerra acquired a second home and studio in the Algarve, spending extended time there while maintaining a base in Paris. Despite her time in Europe, Brazil remained a constant source of inspiration throughout her life.
As an artist from the second half of the twenties century, Noêmia Guerra displayed immense courage, leaving everything to dedicate herself entirely to her painting and live by her own principles—decision that left a lasting impression on her friends, family and the Brazilian art community. Her life was an ongoing effort to escape banality and societal norms, striving to live a life of purpose and significance.
Known for her intellectual sharpness, her fierce and passionate nature, Noêmia Guerra was unafraid to confront challenges and fiercely defend her ideas. In 2000, at the age of 80, she began studying chinese calligraphy, marking her final intellectual and artistic pursuit. Noêmia Guerra returned to Brazil in 2004 and passed away in Rio de Janeiro on July 26, 2007.
Biography
Noêmia Guerra
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1919, Noêmia Guerra began her artistic journey at the age of fourteen. She later studied painting with French artist André Lhote, who had a significant impact on her development. Lhote, who had also taught Tarsila do Amaral in Paris, encouraged Noêmia Guerra to embrace her unique style rather than conform to any specific artistic vanguard. Reflecting on his influence, she remarked, "Thanks to him, I learned to renounce the vanity of belonging to any specific vanguard and to follow my true calling as a painter." This guidance led her to fully dedicate herself to painting and moved to Paris in 1958.
CHRONOLOGY
1919 February 11: birth of Maria Noemia de Villemor Amaral, daughter of lawyer Hermano de Villemor Amaral and Maria Cacilda Guimarães de Villemor Amaral.
1940 October 26: marries engineer Henrique Christino Cordeiro Guerra; they were divorced on August 4, 1958.
1941 September 1: first child, Ricardo Villemor Cordeiro Guerra, is born.
1943 June 9: their daughter, RosinaVillemor Cordeiro Guerra, is born.
1952 She attends the course given by Andre Lhote for the Cultural Dissemination Department of the General Education and Culture Secretariat of the Federal District Government - Rio de Janeiro.
She takes part in the 17th Beaux Art Salon in Sao Paulo, and wins a Bronze Medal.
1954 She takes part in the 3" Modern Art Salon in Rio de Janeiro and obtains the Jury Exemption Certificate.
1956 She creates a mural made of small glass squares (pastilhas) for the façade of a building in the district of Copacabana,
at Rua Raul Pompeia n° 131 - Rio de Janeiro.
1958 She takes part in the 7th National Modern Art Salon - Rio de Janeiro.
She travels to Europe, and in Spain she meets chemical engineer Julian Luna de Prada, who would later be her partner for over four decades.
She decides to reside in Paris, and lives in Hotel L'Aiglon, in Boulevard Raspail, for the first two years.
1958-1959 She takes the course in Theatrical Scenery at the Martin-Talboutier Atelier. Costumes teacher: Yves Bonnat; Scenography teacher: Bernard Guillaumot - Paris.
She starts attending courses at College de France, which she would carry on for several decades, studying specifically the following: Philosophy, with Maurice Merleau Ponty; Painting, with Rene Huyghe; Studies of image; Mallarme; Baudelaire and his successors, with Yves Bonnefoy; Aesthetics and the Philosophy of knowledge, with Jules Vuillemin.
She also took courses at the College International de Philosophie, namely: Critique ot eternity, with A Anne; The places of real time, with Paul Virilio; About Deleuze, with Manola Antonioli; The cult of nothing, with R P Droit; The metaphysics of color, with Hubert Roche; Theory of aspect and of the art of judging, with Walter Prado; Thinking nature, with Marcel Conche; Style and genius in art, and
The art of living, with Richard Shusterman; Sartre's Philosophy 1939-1954, with Jean-Francois Gaudeaux; Benjamin and Deleuze, with Henning Teschke.
At the Bibliotheque Francois Mitterrand, she studied: Masters and disciples, with George Steiner; Questions in media studies, with Regis Debray.
1960 She moves from Hotel L'Aiglon to a small studio in Montparnasse.
She returns to Brazil, where she stays for afew months and holds her first individual exhibition at Galerie Montmartre - Rio de Janeiro.
She takes part in the 9th National Modern Art Salon - Rio de Janeiro.
She travels to Brasilia in order to attend the inauguration of the country's new capital, and then to Ouro Preto, to study the baroque art of the State of Minas Gerais.
1961 She takes a long car journey in France, in order to get to know well the country in which she had decided to live.
1962 She moves to her new apartment, in the district of Alesia, where she would live and work until her final return to Brazil, in 2004.
Trips to Spain, Switzerland and Italy.
1963 She takes part in the collective exhibition of Contemporary Art at the Grand Palais - Paris.
She takes part in the 7th International Biennial, in Sao Paulo.
Trip to Portugal.
1964 Trip to Portugal.
1965 Individual exhibition at the St. Martin's Gallery - London. Travels to Portugal, when she visits Algarve for the first time.
Visit to Brazil.
1966 Individual exhibition at the Alwyn Gallery - London.
Individual exhibition at the Galerie Jacques Massol - Paris.
She takes part in the Collective Exhibition of Brazilian Artists at Galerie Debret - Paris.
She takes part in the Slovenj Gradec International Exhibition - Yugoslavia (now Slovenia).
Trips to Lebanon and Italy.
1967 Individual exhibition at the Alwyn Gallery - London.
She takes part in the collective exhibition Trends in Brazilian Contemporary Painting at the National Museum of Beaux Arts - Rio de Janeiro.
She takes part in the International Biennial of Sao Paulo. First season in Algarve, at Praia da Rocha - Portugal. Trip to Guadeloupe - French West Indies.
1968 Individual exhibition at the Alwyn Gallery - London.
Trip to Brazil, where she visited, on this occasion, the cities of Recife, Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Ouro Preto, Congonhas do Campo, Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Foz do Iguacu.
1969 Individual exhibition at the Alwyn Gallery - London. Individual exhibition at the Galerie Jacques Massol - Paris. Trip to Italy.
1970 Trips to Belgium and the Netherlands.
1971 Trip to Guadeloupe; and trip to Nuremberg in order to attend the celebrations of the 5th Centenary of the renaissance artist Albrecht Diirer.
1972 She takes part in the International Exhibition at Amiens (France).
Trips to the Netherlands and Portugal.
1973 Individual exhibition at the Alwyn Gallery - London.
Trips to the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
1974 She takes part in the International Exhibition at Amiens (France).
Trip to Brazil.
Trip to Portugal, at the time of the Revolucao dos Cravos (Carnation Revolution).
1975 She takes part in the International Biennial of Sao Paulo. Trip to Portugal.
1976 She takes part in the International Exhibition at Amiens (France).
She visits Brazil.
Trip to Portugal, when she occupies for the first time her local home, the Casa do Cigarra (Cicada House) in Lagos, Algarve.
1977 Individual exhibition at the Stephen Maltz Gallery - London.
Trips to Brazil and Portugal.
1978 She takes part in the May Salon - Paris.
She takes part in the Autumn Salon - Paris. Trip to Portugal.
1979 She takes part in the May Salon - Paris. Individual exhibition at the Galerie Marcel Bernheim - Paris.
Trips to Brazil and Portugal.
1981 Individual exhibition at the Galerie Marcel - Paris.
1982 She takes part in the exhibition at the Societe Francaise "Orchidophilie - Vincennes (France).
1983 May 4 to May 31: She takes part in the exhibition Nova Mulher (New Woman)- 18 Brazilian Women Artists, at -.he Concourse Gallery, Barbican Centre, one of the events comprising the Festival of Brazil - London.
She takes part in the exhibition at the Societe Francaise farchidophilie - Marseilles (France).
Trip to the United States.
1984 She takes part in the Latin American Exhibition =. Monte Carlo.
Trip to Florence - Italy.
1985 Trips to Madrid and Vienna.
1986 She takes part in the Salon des Peintres du Spectacle, organized by the Charles Bassompierre Association at the Maison de Radio-France - Paris.
Trip to Barcelona (Spain) and Monte Carlo.
1987 She takes part in the Salon des Peintres du Spectacle, organized by the Charles Bassompierre Association at the Maison de Radio-France - Paris.
Trip to Seville - Spain.
1988 Individual exhibition at the Galerie Everarts - Paris.
She takes part in the 22ème Prix International d'Art Contemporain = Monte Carlo - Monaco.
She takes part in the Salon des Peintres du Spectacle, organized by the Charles Bassompierre Association at the Maison de Radio-France - Paris.
She takes part in the exhibition 36 Artistes Bresiliens organized by the Union de Banques a Paris.
1989 She takes part in the 23ème Prix International d'Art Contemporain fm Monte Carlo - Monaco.
She takes part in the Salon des Peintres du Spectacle, organized by the Charles Bassompierre Association at the -on de Radio-France - Paris.
She takes part in the International Aesthetics Congress Ljubljana - Yugoslavia (now Slovenia).
Trip to London.
1990 She takes part in the International Aesthetics Congress in Budapest.
She takes part in the Salon des Peintres du Spectacle, organized by the Charles Bassompierre Association at the Maison de Radio-France - Paris.
1991 She takes part in the Salon des Peintres du Spectacle, organized by the Charles Bassompierre Association at the Maison de Radio-France - Paris.
She takes part in the International Aesthetics Congress in Amsterdam.
She takes part in the Maurice Merleau Ponty Symposium in Grenoble - France.
1992 She takes part in the International Exhibition in Seville - Spain.
She takes part in the International Aesthetics Congress - Madrid.
1994 Visit to Brazil.
1995 Trip to Venice - Italy.
1997 Trip to Utrecht - the Netherlands. 1998 Trip to Lisbon.
1999 Trips to Brazil and Bilbao - Spain. 2000 Trip to Florence and Venice - Italy.
2001 Trip to Tokyo, where she presented a work at the Aesthetics Congress.
Visit to Brazil.
2002 Visit to Brazil
2003 Visit to Brazil.
2004 Returns definitively to Brazil, setting up residence in her birthplace, Rio de Janeiro.
2007 July 26: she dies in Rio de Janeiro.