Brazilian Na?f Sculpture

Brazilian Naïf Sculpture

According to any artist’s dictionary ceramics is simply “the art of making objects such as pottery out of clay” (4). However, when the naïf sculpture movement began in Brazil in the early 1940’s artists took this simple definition to an entirely new level of expression. The small, unglazed clay statues that were created had the ability to portray complete scenes daily life, showcasing not only activity but moments of happiness, sadness, difficulty and strife.

For anthropologists, naïf art is merely an aesthetical record which shows the progressions and failures of a group of people. For the people themselves, however, naïf art allows them to discern the inherent contents of life. “The primitive art manifests the sensibility of its practitioners. It is lively as the life, every one mirrors in it, everyone understands each other. It is not restricted to the transposition of urban or rural popular myths and archetypes.” This quote by João Spinelli, expresses how this art form exists so that all people can see themselves within it. He feels that what matters most for primitive art is “not to tell a story, but to be a history”.

Naïf Brazilian sculpture began in the town on Caruaru, which was the principle center for folklorist’s arts in the early 1940’s. It was from this town that famous folk potters such as Ze Caboclo and Mestre Vitalino originated their craft. Mestre Vitalino, whose first nam...