I go to Sao Paulo

Victor Brecheret (1894-1955)


No, I didn't really go to Sao Paulo,
I've just been following the footsteps
of the "Art Explorer" who lives there
and who has never seen a sculpture
which he did not photograph.

Brecheret seems the most remarkable



Victor Brecheret (1894-1955)


for having developed his own happy world
of fulsome, tropical figures,
but there's so many more.



Alfredo Ceschiatti (1918-1989)

Lacking the political idealism
that motivated so much European sculpture
in the last century,
the Brazilians seem attracted to two principal themes:

RELIGION

(and what a magnificent church that must be)




Alfredo Ceschiatti (1918-1989)


... and SEX

(or -- something like sex,
since these nude figures are embracing
but they seem more like Olympic athletes
hugging after someone has just cleared the high bar)







Edgar Duviver (1916-2001)


Some more nude figures embracing,
but it's not all that erotic, is it?

They seem kind of ... exhausted ?
(maybe it's too darn hot)




Luiz Morrone (1906-1998)


Lots of fine portraiture, too.
This one could have come from the Capitoline hill,
indeed, most of these sculptors came from Italy
as the civic leaders of Sao Paulo actively
recruited Italian immigrants
around the turn of the century



Claude Dunin (active 1960's)


Here's a more modern style of portraiture,
and he is quite a striking character,
isn't he?



Amadeo Zani (1869-1944)

Somehow,
Italian-Brazilians stayed
about 30 years behind
their counterparts back in Europe.
(which is not a bad thing)







Amadeo Zani (1869-1944)

And, yes,
they have their extravagant monuments





But I also like the earlier work.
Since we don't name of the sculptor,
this has to be called "folk art",
but I think he's the equal of
any sculptor shown above.



Valentim da Fonseca e Silva

Mestre Valentim is 18th C.,
but there's certain inner strength in this piece
that was considered quite modern around 1900
as in the work of Joseph Bernard








Sandra Semeghini


Now... we move into the 21st Century.

I've been told that
the figurative tradition in Brazilian art schools
has been thrown out - or marginalized.
(just like in the U.S.)




Cicero Davila


But some people just can't stop
trying to make classical sculpture.

(this guy reminds me a lot of Bruno Lucchesi )



T. C. Carneiro

So... I'm hoping that more such statues
will keep popping up in Sao Paulo,
and that Art Explorer
will be there to broadcast them
to the world.