Painter and printmaker, José Carlos Gomes Viana was born in Olinda, Brazil on 29 April 1947. At sixteen years of age, he took the artist drawing course under the direction of Luiz Notari at the Federal Technical School of Pernambuco. In 1966, he began an apprenticeship in painting at various artist’s studios in Olinda and three years later he debuted his work at the XXVIII Annual Painting Salon promoted by the Pernambuco State Museum. His first solo exhibition was mounted in Olinda at Galeria 3 Galeras in 1974.

Later in 1974, Viana moved to the United States where he enrolled in the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. to study painting. The following year he had a solo exhibition in Washington, D.C. and soon took part in collective exhibitions.

Viana returned to Brazil in 1977 and participated in exhibitions. He also began the study of lithography with João Cámara at the Campo Grande studio. In 1978, Viana was included in the collective exhibition of artists from Pernambuco at Galeria Paço das Artes in Sāo Paul. He was a founding member of the Oficina Guaianases de Gravura and served as president. He also produced an album of lithographs in 1978 and received an award at the XXXI Salāo Oficial de Arte de Pernambuco.

In 1981, Viana traveled to England and remained there until 1984. He returned to Brazil and, in 1985, he was awarded the Grand Prize at the VIII National Exhibition of Visual Arts in Ceará. Viana became Secretary of the Culture Foundation of the City of Olinda and, in 1997, he became director-president of the Culture Foundation of the City of Recife.

One of his last deeds was participating in the opening of the exhibition, Olinda, the City of Artists, held in August at the Centro Cultural Mercado Eufrásio Barbosa. The exhibition celebrated his work alongside those of other Olindense artists such as Amélia Couto, Antônio Mendes, Antônio Paes and Ismael Caldas. José Carlos Gomes Viana died on 26 August 2019.

[Reference: Rodrigues Galeria De Artes. Without the work of this gallery, it would have been impossible to track this artist.]