Brazilian Sculpture - Modern and Contemporary

Modern and Contemporary

The last years of the 19th century witnessed increasing diversity of styles. In the beginning of the 20th century, Brazilian sculpture regained strength and was evolving across Neogothic, Art Nouveau, Symbolism, and Art Deco. Funerary sculpture opened up as a major market, and official art produced some important monuments. Eclectic pieces crowded on many facades, sacred sculptors were active, and a renewed interest in the art became evident. Modestino Kanto, Celso Antônio Silveira de Menezes, Ettore Ximenes, Amadeu Zani, Elio de Giusto, Adolfo Rollo, and Francisco Leopoldo e Silva produced fine pieces in this phase.

Victor Brecheret was the leading name for introducing Modernist taste into Brazilian sculpture, seconded by Quirino da Silva, Lasar Segall, Antônio Gomide, Elisabeth Nobiling, Bruno Giorgi, Julio Guerra, Ernesto de Fiori and Alfredo Ceschiatti. A landmark in this development was the 1951 São Paulo Art Biennial, which lent abstract sculpture official support by granting first prize to a piece by Swiss artist Max Bill.

Thereafter, abstract art flourished, displaying several interpretations of the style, but figurative tendencies did not vanish, combining with, or sometimes not, various grades of abstraction. The Pop Art and Neoexpressionism of the 1960s contributed variety, and in the 1970s, Conceptualism broadened ideas about artistic creation and the significance of art, and the range of materials used for sculpting opened wide. Since the 1980s, Brazilian sculpture has been consistently taught in many universities, and in the beginning of the 21st century, many Brazilian artists enjoy international approval, such as Francisco Brennand, Franz Weissmann, Amílcar de Castro, Lígia Clark, Sergio de Camargo, Sérvulo Esmeraldo, Frans Krajcberg, Sonia Ebling, Iole de Freitas, Willys de Castro, and Waltércio Caldas.