Maria Auxiliadora

As part of the thematic axis dedicated to the Afro Atlantic history, the exhibition rescues 82 artworks of the self-taught artist who painted everyday life in the Afro Brazilian culture, all reproduced in this catalog, also featuring twelve unpublished essays, reprints of five historical essays from the 1960s to the 1980s, documents and photographs related to the artist's life and work, along with color reproductions of 164 paintings by Maria Auxiliadora, located during the research, many reproduced here for the first time ever. This edition is the most complete monograph of the artist published until now. Maria Auxiliadora's last big solo exhibition took place at MASP in 1981, and this presentation aspires to renew interest in this essential Brazilian artist, beyond the prejudiced, paternalistic, and reductive categories of naive art or primitive art.