Agnaldo Manoel Dos Santos

Agnaldo Manoel dos Santos (Brazilian, 1926-1962)

Born in Bahia, dos Santos apprenticed under abstract sculptor Mario Cravo Jr. in 1953. A journey along the São Francisco River in search of antique carranca (figureheads) with Italian gallerist Franco Terranova led him to study carranca woodcarving with expert Francisco Biquiba Guarany. Included in the 1957 São Paulo Biennial, he received a posthumous award at the first World Festival of Black Arts in Senegal (1966). Influenced by African and Amero-Indian forms, his figural sculptures express Brazil’s multi-cultural history.

Important Source Material:

Samba Sessão: Afro-Brazilian Art and Film. Philadelphia: Arthur Ross Gallery, 2012.

NHS