The Importance of Lithography at Escola Guignard

The beginning of lithography at Escola Guignard occurred with the donation of lithographic presses and stones from the Official Press to the school in the 60s, in order to serve the artists. In 1962, Lotus Lobo, still a student at the school, had her first contact with the studio, where she was instigated and interested in learning about and learning the technique of lithography.

Based on his knowledge of the stones in the Official Press workshop in Belo Horizonte, which contained images of labels, tax documents, lottery tickets and policies, and direct contact with the molds and tin plates of the Stamping Company of Juiz de Fora, which contained images of the brands of regional products, the artist got to know the industrial production started at the end of the 19th century. These drawings, created by European lithographers and artists from the region, awakened the artist's interest in researching and preserving the images, as Márcio Sampaio wrote:

The contact with this collection immediately aroused the artist's interest, as it constituted a perfect translation of a taste that was deeply rooted in her unconscious, identified as a residue of our affective and sentimental culture. (SAMPAIO, 2018/2019, p. 13).

Lotus Lobo is an artist and engraver who chose lithography as the poetics of her work, dedicating herself to researching the Lithography Memory of Minas Gerais, its technique and its language, since the 60s.

She was born in Belo Horizonte, on April 1, 1943, graduated in Fine Arts from Escola Guignard at the State University of Minas Gerais (UEMG), Belo Horizonte, in 1965, and studied theoretical subjects at École Superieure des Art et Industries Graphiques Estienne de Paris, in 1971 and 1972, and at the École D'Art Plastiques et Sciences D'Art of L'Université de Paris, also in 1971 and 1972. Her work as a professor of lithography began at the Guignard School, from 1966 to 1993, and at the same institution she was a professor of metal engraving, from 1969 to 1973. From 1974 to 1975, she was a professor of lithography at the School of Fine Arts of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) .

Lotus Lobo was coordinator of Lithography ateliers (workshops) at Casa de Gravura Largo do Ó, in Tiradentes, Minas Gerais (MG), from 1984 to 1990; at the Litographic House, in Belo Horizonte (MG), from 1978 to 1982; and at Grupo Oficina, in Belo Horizonte (MG), in 1964. He also coordinated the following projects: Exhibition Memória da Litografia – Lotus Lobo Collection (2017 – 2018); Lithographic Stamping – Lotus Lobo (2017 -2018); Litographic Stamping DVD – Lotus Lobo (2014 -2015); Marcas de Minas: Industrial Lithograph Memory in Minas Gerais (2014 – 2015); Memory of Industrial Lithography in Minas Gerais (1985 – 1989); The Lithographic Label Design of Estamparia Mineira (1976). The artist held several group and individual exhibitions and she herself highlights as her main individual exhibitions: her first solo exhibition - Lotus Lobo, at Galeria Guignard, in Belo Horizonte, in 1970, which marked the beginning of all the work she was developing with industrial labels, and Litografia Lotus Lobo, at Centro Cultural Minas Tênis Clube, also in Belo Horizonte, in 2018.