Mestre Guarany [Francisco Biquiba dy Lafuente Guarany]
1884, Santa Maria da Vitória | BA - Brazil
1987, Santa Maria da Vitória | BA - Brazil
He was the sixth son of boat-builder Cornelio Biquiba dy Lafuente Guarany, who gave Francisco the nickname Guarany, since he was the great son of an Indian woman. He learned to work with wood when he was assistant carpenter and cabinetmaker in his father’s carpentry shop. After his father died he made statues, and his vast production included figures of saints, altars for churches and small home shrines. Since there were few orders of that kind he would also make water barrels, furniture, wooden frames for roofs. He moved to Bauru, São Paulo State, in 1922 to improve his life, always working as a cabinetmaker, and almost settled there with his family. On his return to Santa Maria, he became the most respected master figurehead maker, with boat owners ordering his work from all over the São Francisco region. The first figurehead he made was in 1901: “a bust of a black man or mulatto”. Paulo Pardal, his biographer and pioneer in studying his work, said that from 1910 to the early 1940s Guarany must have produced eighty figureheads.
When the Sergipe canoe took over from the ferryboats, Guarany spent ten years without carving figureheads. In the first half of 1950s, he was located and his work now became of interest to the art circuit. Clarival do Prado Valladares (Jornal do Brasil, 12.2.1972) quotes advice given by the old master to Agnaldo, who also ordered figureheads from him in 1953, to demonstrate the multi-facial nature, the possibility of perceiving various faces in the same mask: “In the figure, everything on one side must be on the other and everything that is above must be different from below.” Which was reflected in the end result: “A well-made figurehead, when reflected in the water, moves as if it is alive”. The complex elaboration of popular cultural elements, the very concept of which may imply perspectives that include the action of natural elements, is registered in these words of the master. Heir to the São Francisco river figurehead tradition, in which the name of Afrânio was mentioned earlier, from 1954 on he began to carve them for a urban public, in the art market sphere. The eyes of the figureheads at this stage are smaller, since they no longer need to frighten away the water spirits. The teeth are “more numerous and more emphasized, carved one by one in the block”, says Pardal. Since then, Guarany signed and dated his works and is considered to be the sculptor of great force and personality, always maintaining top quality work, knowing how to reconcile in it the meeting of country culture with urban industrial culture. His work is displayed in large national museums, such as Castro Maia.
Source: Little Dictionary of the Brazilian People’s Art – 20th Century, by anthropologist and poet Lélia Coelho Frota
Individual Exhibitions:
1981 Guarany: 80 years of carrancas, Serviço Geral da Marinha, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
1981 Guarany: 80 years of carrancas, Serviço Geral da Marinha, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
1981 Guarany: 80 years of carrancas, Serviço Geral da Marinha, Recife, PE, Brazil
1981 Guarany: 80 years of carrancas, Serviço Geral da Marinha, Salvador, BA, Brazil
1981 Guarany: 80 years of carrancas, Serviço Geral da Marinha, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Collective Exhibitions:
2021 They Were Already Here, Galeria Base, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2021 Earth and Temperature, Almeida e Dale, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2018 Art Week, Pavilion of Brazilian Cultures, Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2016 Live the Brazilian People, Centro Cultural dos Correios (CCC), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
2016 - 2017 The Hand of The Brazilian People, Art Museum of São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand MASP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2015 The voyage of the Carrancas, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2013 CO-LE-CI-O-NA-DOR: Brazilian and international art in the Boghici Collection, Rio Art Museum, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
2010 The Triumph of the Carrancas, Centro Cultural Correios, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
2008 - 2009 Imaginary Exhibition of the Brazilian People, Antiquarius Restaurant, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2006 - 2007 Brazil Imaginary, Galeria Estação, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2006 Live Culture Live the Brazilian People, Afro Brasil Museum, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2004 - 2005 Form, Color and Expression, Galeria Estação, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2002 Wild Mirror: modern art in Brazil in the first half of the 20th century, Nemirovsky Collection, Museum of Modern Art in São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2002 Pop Brasil: popular art and the popular in art, Banco do Brasil Cultural Center (CCBB), São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2000 Rediscovery Exhibition: Brazil + 500 years, Fundação Bienal, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
1995 The Heirs of the Night: fragments of the imaginary, Belo Horizonte Cultural Center, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
1994 The Heirs of the Night: fragments of the imaginary, Espaço Cultural SOS Sul, Brasília, DF, Brazil
1994 The Heirs of the Night: fragments of the imaginary, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
1992 The flight of the White Wing, Festival Veraneio Brasileiro, Zurique, Switterland
1992 Brazil: discovery and self-discovery, Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
1984 - 1985 Tradition and Rupture: synthesis of Brazilian art and culture, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
1982 A Century of Sculpture in Brazil, Art Museum of São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand MASP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
1977 II World Festival of Black Arts and Cultures, Nigéria, Africa
1977 I World Exhibition of Figureheads, Paris, France
1975 The River: carrancas of São Francisco, Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateubriand MASP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
1969 The Hand of the Brazilian People, Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateubriand MASP, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
1954 IV Centenary of the city of São Paulo, Parque do Ibirapuera, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Selected Publications
2015 The Voyage of carrancas (figureheads), publisher WMF Martins Fontes, Instituto Moreira Salles, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
2006 Carrancas de São Francisco, Paulo Pardal, São Paulo
1995 The Heirs of the Night: fragments of the imaginary, Belo Horizonte Cultural Center
1995 The Heirs of the Night: fragments of the imaginary, Brasília Cultural Space, page 28
1981 Guarany: 80 anos de carrancas, Serviço Documentação Geral da Marinha, São Paulo
1974 Carrancas de São Francisco, Serviço Documentação Geral da Marinha, São Paulo