Artur Pereira

1920, Cachoeira do Brumado | MG - Brazil

2003, Mariana | MG - Brazil

He began working very early in his life to help support his large family (father, mother and seven siblings). He was a land worker, charcoal dealer, stonemason and carpenter, before discovering his talent for sculpture. When a lad he modeled little clay animal for the Nativity Scene and dried them in the sun. He took a much bogger step from the little clay figures to the larger single image, carved in wood, because of the different kind of materials. The characteristics of smoothing and handling clay modeling perhaps gave his figures the rounded appearance of polished smoothness. He continued sculpting single pieces, often painted, until he moved on to groups in 1968. The figures were now carved by the artist directly from blocks of cedar. Animals, men e birds are never treated separately, so that they later fit into the piece, but created one by one from the solid material.

Artur Pereira’s sculptures cover three kinds of elements: those referring to the Catholic liturgy, consisting basically of the Nativity; those concerning rural activities, such as hunting, horsemen, herds of cattle; those representing wild life, such as land (leopard, ox, sheep, dog, lion, snake), aquatic (fish) and winged (birds resting, flying or pecking at fruit) animals. There are very few plants. We only encounter, even as a very stylized plant element, a forest, a magnificent hollowed cylinder, where the main elements are leopards. Often in his creations is the prevailing presence of the leopard, very often placed in hollows under Nativity scenes, emerging from symbolic forests or even looming large at the bottom of large carved tables, on whose top are spread a large herd of feline ambiguity, with its cowboy on horseback. He participated in all major Brazilian popular art exhibitions held abroad, such as Brésil – Arts Populaires ( Paris, 1978) and the Rediscovery Exhibition ( São Paulo Biennial Foundation, 2000). 

Source: Little Dictionary of the Brazilian People’s Art – 20th Century, by anthropologist and poet Lélia Coelho Frota

Individual Exhibitions:

2019 Faith and Fauna, Centro Cultural Popular Cemig, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

2009 Artur Pereira, Moreira Salles Institute, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

2010 Artur Pereira, Moreira Salles Institute, Poços de Caldas, MG, Brazil

2010 Artur Pereira, Instituto Moreira Salles, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2010 Artur Pereira, Instituto Moreira Salles, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

Collective Exhibitions:

2023 Reverses & Transverses, Galeria Estação, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2021 They Were Already Here, Galeria Base, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2021 Earth and Temperature, Almeida e Dale, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2016 Between looks, Museu Afro Brasil, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2016 A certain look - Celma Albuquerque Collection, Galeria Estação, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2012 - 2013 Janete Costa “A Look”, Janete Costa Museum of Popular Art, Niterói, RJ, Brazil

2012 Mineiros’ Sculpture, City Hall - Eduardo Gomes Cultural Space, Itapeva, SP, Brazil

2011 Mineiros’ Sculpture, Museu Paulo Setubal, Tatuí, SP, Brazil

2011 Mineiros’ Sculpture, Galeria Estação, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2010 Pure Mixtures, Pavilion of Brazilian Cultures, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2009 Occupying the Space, Museu de Arte Brasileira (FAAP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2008 - 2009 Imagination of the Brazilian People Exhibition, Antiquarius Restaurant, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2007 The size of Brazil - Popular Art Exhibition, SESC Paulista, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2007 Between two seas: São Paulo-Valencia Biennial, Convento del Carmo, Valencia, Spain

2006 Live Culture Live the Brazilian People, Afro Museum, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2006 SOMOS - The Popular Brazilian Creation, Santander Cultural Center, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

2005 Form, Color and Expression, Galeria Estação, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2005 Year of Brazil in France, Carreau du Temple, Marais district, Paris, France

2002 POP Brazil | Popular art and popular in Art, Banco do Brasil Cultural Center, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2001 Popular Expression, Centro Cultural Light, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

2000 Rediscovery Exhibition, Fundação Bienal São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

1999 Naive Geniuses 70/80, Brasilia, Brazil

1995 The heirs of the night: fragments of the black imaginary, Belo Horizonte Cultural Center, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

1995 - 1994 The heirs of the night: fragments of the black imaginary, Pinacoteca of the state of São Paulo, SP, Brazil

1993 People of the earth, Paço das Artes, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

1994 The heirs of the night: fragments of the imaginary, Espaço Cultural SOS Sul, Brasília, DF, Brazil

1990 Noah's Ark, Gesto Gráfico Galeria de Arte Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil

1987 Brésil, Arts Populaires, Grand Palais, Paris, France

Public Collections:

Fundação de Arte Ouro Preto, (FAOP), Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Edison Carneiro Folklore Museum, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

São Francisco Cultural Center, João Pessoa, PB, Brazil

Casa do Pontal Museum, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

Selected Publications:

2023 Reversos & Transversos, Catálogo, Galeria Estação, São Paulo | SP

2018 Brazilian popular art: contemporary views, publisher WMF Martins Fontes, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2012 Janete Costa “Um Olhar”, Janete Costa Museum of Popular Art, Niterói, RJ, Brazil

2012 Escultores Mineiros, Galeria Estação, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2010 Pavilion of Brazilian Cultures: Puras Misturas, Catalog, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2009 Artur Pereira - Sculptures, Moreira Salles Institute, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2007 Meeting Between Two Seas: São Paulo-Valencia Biennial, Catalog, Valencia, Spain

2007 The size of Brazil - Popular art show, SESC Paulista, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2007 Viva a Cultura Viva do Povo Brasileiro, AfroBrasil Museum, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2005 Espaço Brasil: Catalog, Carreau du Temple, Marais district - Paris, France

2005 Pequeno Dicionário da Arte do Povo Brasileiro - 20th century, Lélia Coelho Frota, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2002 POP Brazil | A Arte popular e o popular na Arte, Banco do Brasil Cultural Center, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

2000 Rediscovery Exhibition - Brazil 500 years | Popular Art, Takano Editora, Brazil

1995 The heirs of the night: fragments of the black imagination: 300 years of Zumbi, Ministry of Culture, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

1988 The Afro-Brazilian hand: Meaning of Artistic and Historical Contribution, Emílio Odebrecht Foundation, São Paulo, SP, Brazil