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

Solo Exhibitions:

2019 Fé e Fauna, Centro Cultural Popular Cemig, Belo Horizonte - MG, Brazil

2010 Artur Pereira, Instituto Moreira Salles, 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

2009 Artur Pereira, Instituto Moreira Salles, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

Collective Exhibitions:

2025 Weaving the Morning: Modern Life and Nocturnal Experience in Brazilian Art, Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2025 In every corner: Casa Fiat de Cultura and Instituto Tomie Ohtake visit Vilma Eid Collection, Belo Horizonte - MG, Brazil

2025 Instituto Tomie Ohtake visits Vilma Eid Collection - In every corner, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2024 Metamorphoses e Distances, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2023 “Reverses and Transverses: artists beyond boundaries (and friends) at the biennials”, Galeria Estação, São Paulo – SP, Brazil

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

2021 Terra and Temperature, Almeida&Dale, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2016 Entreolhares, Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2016 A Certain Look - Celma Albuquerque Collection, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2012 – 2013 Janete Costa “Um Olhar”, Museu Janete Costa de Arte Popular, Niterói - RJ, Brazil

2012 Escultores Mineiros, Câmara Municipal - Espaço Cultural Eduardo Gomes, Itapeva - SP, Brazil

2011 Escultores Mineiros, Museu Paulo Setubal, Tatuí - SP, Brazil

2011 Escultores Mineiros, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2010 Puras Misturas, Pavilhão das Culturas Brasileiras, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2009 Ocupando o Espaço, MAB/FAAP - Museu de Arte Brasileira, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2008 - 2009 Exposição Imaginário do Povo Brasileiro, Restaurante Antiquarius, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2007 Do tamanho do Brasil - Mostra de Arte Popular, Sesc Paulista, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2007 Entre dois mares: Bienal São Paulo-Valencia, Convento del Carmo, Valencia, Spain

2006 Viva Cultura Viva o Povo Brasileiro, Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2006 “SOMOS” - the popular Brazilian creation, Centro Cultural Santander, Porto Alegre - RS, Brazil

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

2004 Form, Color and Expression, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

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

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

2001 Expressão Popular, Centro Cultural Light, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

1999 Gênios Ingênuos 70/80, Brasilia - DF, Brazil

1995 The Heirs of the Night: fragments of the black imaginary, Centro Cultural de Belo Horizonte, Belo Horizonte - MG, Brazil

1994 The Heirs of the Night: fragments of the black imaginary, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1994 The Heirs of the Night: fragments of the black imaginary, Espaço Cultural SOS Sul, Brasília - DF, Brazil

1993 Gente da Terra, Paço das Artes, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

1990 Arca de Noé, Gesto Gráfico Galeria de Arte, Belo Horizonte - MG, Brazil

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

Public Collections:

FAOP - Fundação de Arte Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto - MG, Brazil

Museu de Folclore Edison Carneiro, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

Centro Cultural de São Francisco, João Pessoa - PB, Brazil

Museu Casa do Pontal, Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brazil

Selected Publications:

2024 Metamorphoses e Distances, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2023 “Reverses and Transverses: artists beyond boundaries (and friends) at the biennials”, Galeria Estação, São Paulo – SP, Brazil

2018 Arte popular brasileira: olhares contemporâneos, Editora WMF Martins Fontes, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2016 A Certain Look - Celma Albuquerque Collection, Galeria Estação, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2012 Janete Costa “Um Olhar”, Museu Janete Costa de Arte Popular, Niterói - RJ, Brazil

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

2010 Pavilhão das Culturas Brasileiras: Puras Misturas, São Paulo - SP, Brazil

2009 Artur Pereira – Esculturas, Instituto Moreira Salles, São Paulo - SP, Brasil

2007 Encontro Entre Dois Mares: Bienal São Paulo-Valencia, Valencia, Espanha

2007 Do tamanho do Brasil - Mostra de arte popular, Sesc Paulista, São Paulo - SP, Brasil

2007 Viva a Cultura Viva do Povo Brasileiro, Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araújo, São Paulo - SP, Brasil

2005 Espaço Brasil: Catálogo, Carreau du Temple, bairro de Marais - Paris, França

2005 Pequeno Dicionário da Arte do Povo Brasileiro-século XX, Lélia Coelho Frota, São Paulo - SP, Brasil

2002 POP Brasil | A Arte popular e o popular na Arte, CCBB - Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo - SP, Brasil

2000 Mostra do Redescobrimento- Brasil 500 anos | Arte Popular, Takano Editora, Brasil

1995 Os Herdeiros da Noite: fragmentos do imaginário negro: 300 anos de Zumbi, Ministério da Cultura, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo - SP, Brasil 

1988 A mão Afro-Brasileira: Significado da Contribuição Artística e Histórica, Fundação Emílio Odebrecht, São Paulo - SP, Brasil