Willys de Castro (February 16, 1926 – June 5, 1988) was a Brazilian visual artist, poet, graphic designer, industrial designer, stage designer and magazine editor. De Castro is best known for his "Active object" series and is considered to be a pioneer and founding contributor of the Neo-Concrete Movement. Early life and education De Castro was born in Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. He was the second of six children born to Henrique de Castro and Cacilda de Souza Castro. His father was a businessman who owned a gas station, a used car dealership, and a perfumery in Uberlândia. De Castro began to show an interest in the arts at a very early age and began to study the piano at the age of four. In the mid 1930s de Castro's family relocated from Uberlândia to Campinas, São Paulo after a fire destroyed the family perfumery. In Campinas de Castro studied music with Salvador Bove. During this time he also studied drawing under André Fort. In 1941, when he was fifteen years old, de Castro moved to São Paulo to study Chemistry and Industrial design. From 1944 to 1945, he worked as a technical draftsman. In 1948, de Castro received a degree in Industrial Chemistry. For a brief period upon graduation de Castro worked as an industrial chemist for Esso but left his position to pursue his artistic interests. Career After leaving Esso to focus on music and graphic arts de Castro began to study dodecaphonic music with Hans-Joachim Koellreutter. De Castro created his first geometric abstract drawings in 1950 and for the rest of the first half of the 1950s continued to create paintings and textiles inspired by abstract art. During this time de Castro signed his music compositions and graphic artworks using the pseudonym "Souza Castro." In 1952 de Castro began to work at the Alfredo Mesquita School of Dramatic Arts where he served as composer, singer, poet, and graphic designer. That same year some of de Castro's original musical compositions were performed at the Institute Caetano de Campos. The following year he composed the musical score for "The Clerk," a mimodrama produced by the students of the Alfredo Mesquita School of Dramatic Arts. That same year de Castro created his first concrete art works. In 1954 together with his life partner and fellow artist Hércules Barsotti, de Castro founded Estúdio de Projectos Gráficos, an advertising design consultancy. While