Brazilian Nað"ð‡f Sculpture

Brazilian NaÐ"Їf 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 naÐ"Їf 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, naÐ"Їf art is merely an aesthetical record which shows the progressions and failures of a group of people. For the people themselves, however, naÐ"Їf 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 JoÐ"Јo 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".

NaÐ"Їf 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 name seems to translate into Ð''master', is considered to be the pioneer of this art form. Many would argue however, that were a great many folk potters before Mestre Vitalino and that the only thing he pioneered was the sense to sign his works! Since most of the NaÐ"Їf art sculpture which existed before this time is unsigned, the majority of the credit goes to those whose names we actually know.

The statues themselves are made of an air-drying clay known as adobe. Once dried, the statues could be painted; many however were left in the original brown shading of the clay. These small figurines existed to "depict every aspect of daily life: hunting, fishing, shopping, going to work, school and church." Many of the more famous works even "come to life, blinking, singing and playing musical instruments" (MacKinnon). It is thought that as each sculpture "plastically inscribes human life, pain and pleasure, many times it gets closer to the universal art" (Spinelli).

Brazil's largest collection of folk and naÐ"Їf arts is held in the Museu Casa do Pontal. It is said that the museum has over 5,000 pieces of naÐ"Їf art, and that it may be the largest collection