Antonio Esteves

1910 - 1989

Antonio Esteves was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1910.  He attended school through the 6th grade.  Esteves was a self-taught artist who painted both religious and imaginary subjects in an original and expressionistic style.  He spent most of his adult working life as a superintendent in various Brooklyn apartment buildings. Around 1970, he was seriously injured in an apartment boiler room explosion.  He received a settlement of $500,000 from the accident, and with the money, he bought a building and opened the Eastern Pet company and became an importer of exotic animals.  After Esteves was injured, his son, George, bought him a “paint by numbers” kit to help take his mind off the pain during his long period of recuperation.  Esteves decided he did not like the numbers and threw away the kit; however, he did like the idea of painting and began to do it on his own, finding that it fulfilled a personal need for expression.  He once referred to his painting as a “hobby got out of hand”.  Esteves expressed the colors of his dreams using inexpensive paints that he purchased or house paints left over from the apartments in his building.  He painted on abandoned furniture, tabletops, or boards that he precoated with white paint to give a base for other colors.  When a work was complete, he would varnish it.   ²