Images of the Aleijadinho is one of the exhibitions opening MASP ’s program in 2018 , a year dedicated to Afro-Atlantic Histories, with exhibitions, seminars, programs of mediation and publications centered on the cultural exchanges between Africa, Europe and the Americas. This is the first monographic exhibition in the museum dedicated to the work of artist Antônio Francisco Lisboa, the Aleijadinho ( 1738 – 1814 ), and it is significant that it occurs in the framework of this year of programs.

he son of a Portuguese master of works and his slave, freed by his father, the figure of the Aleijadinho (meaning in English the little cripple) inaugurates a cultural model of the mestizo that constituted one of the ways of understanding the African contribution to Brazilian culture—a model which, though controversial, is fundamental in the history of Brazilian art over the centuries. Professionally active in Minas Gerais during the Brazilian gold rush, from the mid-1700s to the early 19th century, the artist is the author of a series of works executed in the churches of Minas Gerais commissioned by third orders and which form one of the main ensembles of religious art created in Brazil—including the Church of São Francisco de Assis in Ouro Preto and the Station of the Cross and the 12 Prophets in Congonhas. A central figure in Brazilian art history, his work was influenced by European Baroque and Rococo and also absorbed references of African and popular visual culture. 

The exhibition comprises 37 devotional sculptures whose authorship was attributed to the Aleijadinho or his workshop by different specialists or by tradition at different moments. These works belong to museum collections, churches and private collectors. “Devotional sculptures” are images designated for the direct veneration of the devout, in a public or private context, distinguishing themselves, within the context of Aleijadinho’s body of work, from the monumental sculptures and the images inserted in the ensembles of ornamental carvings. These sculptures were originally executed for altarpieces, oratories and pasos, from most of which they were lost over time. The historical moment in which they were produced was one of rapid urbanization in the mining region, which led to the diversification of cultural activities, with a massive presence of black and mixed-race people, accounting 80% of the total population in 1776. Many of the craftsmen at work were black or of mixed-race, and there was widespread circulation of objects of African origin, as well as an inflow of artisans from Bahia, the main center in Brazil to receive and spread African cultural heritage. 

In addition to Aleijadinho’s sculptures, the exhibition also features a group of works by other authors that reference the figure, the body of work or the context of the master from Minas Gerais. This group includes 18th Century maps of his home state and Vila Rica, prints by traveling artists who visited the region in the early 19th century, images captured by photographers who registered his work in situ and works by other artists influenced by his art and its context.

CURATED BY Rodrigo Moura, Adjunct Curator of Brazilian Art, MASP.