Francisco Brennand, or Francisco de Paula de Almeida Brennand,, was a Brazilian painter and sculptor, best known for his work in ceramics.
Life
Francisco de Paula de Almeida Brennand was born in Recife, Brazil, to Ricardo Monteiro Brennand and Olímpia Padilha Nunes Coimbra on June 11 1927. He was a descended from an Irish ancestor who migrated to Recife in 1820 and married into a sugar plantation family. His father, Ricardo Brennand, added ceramic tile and brick to the business in 1917, and sent his son Francisco to Europe to study technical ceramic skills. Arriving in Paris in 1949, Brennand discovered the ceramic work of Pable Picasso, Joan Miró and Fernand Léger, and become a ceramic artist. In 1948, he married Déborah de Moura Vasconcelos. In 1971, Brennand returned to the ruins of his father's tile factory and set about turning it into what would become the Oficina Brennand, producing both tiles and his own ceramic sculpture. Brennand died of a respiratory infection on December 19, 2019, at the Real Hospital Português in Recife, at the age of 92. The Governor of the state of Pernambuco declared a three-day period of mourning.
Work
Brennand primarily displayed his work at the Oficina Brennand, the compound encompassing the working tile factory, museum, chapel, and café. The Oficina features around 2,000 of Brennand's pieces in enormous open halls, outdoor monuments, alters, chapels, and gardens, all in the midst of an Atlantic forest reserve in the Varzea neighborhood of Recife. His work often returns to themes of the human body, eggs, animals, and fruit. At times, he was forced to defend his work against charges that it was too provocative or erotic. The New York Times called Brennand "the foremost artist in the city" and the Oficina Brennand "a metaphor for the city of Recife itself, consumed in simultaneous growth and decay." He has also been called "Brazil's greatest ceramicist." More than 90 of his works, including the 32-meter Crystal Tower, can be seen at the Parque das esculturas, located in the Recife Antigoport district in Recife. The city commissioned this park in 2000 in celebration of the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Europeans in Brazil.
