In August 2023, I had the privilege of staying in the city of Fortaleza in the state of Ceará, Brazil, with two very close friends, Leandro and Washington. I’d been to Brazil before and I have visited many places there including Rio de Janeiro (usually the first stop in Brazil for anyone going from Europe to Brazil) as well as Belo Horizonte (where my friend Luiz Guerra lives), Ouro Preto—perhaps the most beautiful city in Brazil—Montes Claros, and Pelotas (where live my friends Profa. Dani Gallindo and Dr Maurício Albuquerque).

The City of Fortaleza

Though I’d read much about Ceará because of my interest in the Canudos Rebellion this, however, was the first time that I’d been to the northern part of the vast country of Brazil.

My friend Prof. Carlon Washington Pinheiro,[1] was my tour guide for the day. Our first stop was the grand twentieth-century gothic Catedral Metropolitana de Fortaleza. What was interesting to me is how, on the outside the Cathedral is ornate but inside it’s so minimalist that it might as well have been a Protestant church. Barely a stone’s throw from the cathedral was the brilliant indoor market where I indulged myself in buying a sertanejo hat.

Universidade de Fortaleza

But we had another stop to make: Pinheiro was going to take me to the Universidade de Fortaleza (UNIFOR). The campus itself is beautiful—though ensconced in the middle of the city (a city of just over 2.5 million people), the grounds are green and spacious and the noise of the city is barely audible within its grounds.

The buildings themselves are not so old, which means that they’re nice and breezy on the hot days with plenty of trees to shade one’s self under.

It made me not a little envious, knowing that the university campuses of my home city in Leeds, UK, are often poorly ventilated buildings and—speaking from experience—the noise of sirens and city traffic can often disturb one’s lectures!

‘Elas’ Exhibition

In the university’s Espaço Cultural, there was a special exhibition on titled ‘Elas’ (the feminine plural form of ‘they’) which showcased the works of primarily (though not exclusively) Brazilian women artists from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. In the case of some of the anonymous paintings, the possibility must be admitted, according to the gallery’s own explanation, that some may have been produced by a man, and some of the named portraits were done by men as well.

The exhibition ran from 16 March until 10 December 2023, so it’s a privilege to have been able to witness it at all now it’s gone. So, without further ado, I present some of the pictures I took along with translations of the brief biographies of the women whose works appeared therein.

The pictures aren’t perfect, of course, for they were taken with a phone. But they do allow anyone to follow up should they wish. I was sure to take pictures of all the captions accompanying the photographs which I took, so all the information should be correct.

In the Times of the Emperor / Nos Tempos do Imperador

Let us, then, begin in the nineteenth century, in the Times of the Emperor Dom Pedro II, by presenting with the first portrait: Princess Isabel (Dom Pedro’s daughter) as a child, produced in 1851. Note the European style of painting for, in this era in Brazil, anything European was deemed to be high culture and worthy of emulation.

The Twentieth Century

The vast majority of the works featured, however, were from the twentieth century. It is evident that much of the artwork from this period had turned away from nineteenth-century aesthetics.

Some of the works of more prominent artists on display had plaques with short biographies inscribed on them, such as those of Maria Leontina (1917-84). She was a painter, engraver, designer and was born in S. Paulo before travelling on to Europe during the 1960s. Seen below are two of her untitled works with her signature ‘geometric’ signature.

Indeed, the 1950s and 1960s seem to have been an era in which there was a flourishing of artistic works by women in Brazil. Some took the subject of Brazilian life as their theme, capturing its highs and lows. Presented below is a work by Tarsila do Amaral (1886-1973), a major figure in modernist painting and a native of S. Paulo and whose family was a member of the ‘coffee elite’ which rose to prominence after the fall of the Brazilian Empire. Her aim in the below, as well as in many of her works, was to try and recapture the colourful nature of Brazilain life as it had seemed to her when she was a child.

In a similar manner we find works by Djanira da Motta e Silva who sought, through vibrant colours, to represent the fun life of the workers of Brazil–a contrast to their representation as constantly downtrodden and downbeat (which, to be sure, many times they were). The message in Djanjira’a works, then, is that love for life can still be found even in poverty.

Alas! I couldn’t photograph everything I came across. Included here is only a few highlights. All that remained after this day was done was to go out and sample a few drinks at one of Fortaleza’s hottest night spots!

[1] Carlon Washington Pinheiro is a nurse and academic specialist in the area of mental health studies. We aren’t ‘related’ academically, for our two subjects, it will be evident to all, are in completely different areas. Rather, Washington is the husband of my friend Leandro Machado Pinheiro, who has translated some poetry pieces before now for this website.