Maria Auxiliadora da Silva

Maria Auxiliadora da Silva (Brazilian, 1935-1974)

A self-taught artist from Campo Grande in central Brazil, Auxiliadora da Silva used bold contouring and rich colors to capture the rhythms of everyday life for Afro-Brazilians. She developed her own technique of incorporating paint and other materials on her canvases to add depth, and different types of human hair to highlight ethnicity in her works. By 1966, Auxiliadora da Silva dedicated herself to painting, culminating in the first exhibition of her work in São Paulo in 1968.

Important Source Material:

Ardies, Jacques. Naïve Art in Brazil. São Paulo: Galeria Jacques Ardies. 1998.

Bardi, Pietro Maria. Maria Auxiliadora da Silva. Torino: Giulio Bolaffi. 1977.

TAL