Art and artists

Mestre Vitalino: everyday scenes in clay

See how Mestre Vitalino tells stories with clay figures: a barber, a surveyor, a nurse giving an injection and a group returning from the fields.

A barber supports his customer’s head as he brings a razor towards the man’s face. A surveyor works under a parasol with two assistants. In a line, five people carry tools and loads as they return from the fields. In Mestre Vitalino’s sculptures, the position of each body helps tell the story of what is happening.¹²³

Vitalino Pereira dos Santos (1909–1963) lived in the Caruaru region of Pernambuco and sold his pieces at the town’s market. His subjects include work, festivities and events in family life. Four groups in the Museu do Homem do Nordeste show how he brings these stories together in a space just a few centimetres across.⁴⁵

From household pottery to groups of figures

Vitalino began modelling as a child, using leftover clay from his mother’s work making household utensils. Small animals and toys went to the Caruaru market. He learned in this setting of pottery production, before his sculptures entered exhibitions and collections.⁴⁵

In 1947, Augusto Rodrigues took some of his pieces to an exhibition in Rio de Janeiro. Vitalino became known beyond Pernambuco and took part in other exhibitions. In Alto do Moura, he taught modelling to relatives and neighbours. The Museu do Pontal connects his title of mestre (master) both to his command of the craft and to his teaching of other ceramic artists.⁵

In the four works reproduced here, a base supports the people and objects needed for the action. The number of figures changes with the story: two for an injection, three for surveying land, five for the walk back from the fields. The narrow strip of ground brings the bodies close together and makes their relationships easy to follow.

Enfermeiro aplicando injeção (Nurse giving an injection)

The nurse stands on the left, his hands close to the patient’s arm and a thin instrument near the shoulder. The man in yellow trousers lets his arms hang down and turns his face towards the nurse. Both stand upright, almost the same height, attached to the same strip of ground.⁶

The gesture is visible in the small gap between their bodies. The nurse’s outstretched arm and the thin line of the instrument cross this empty space. Vitalino combines the white clothing that identifies the profession with the precise moment of the procedure. The circular eyes and small mouths remain easy to read, even with just a few marks.

Losses in the paint expose the clay in parts of the uniform. On the patient, a pale band at the waist separates the bare torso from the yellow trousers. The difference between clothing and skin helps locate the point where the two figures meet. The subject fits into a pair of figures, with no furniture or other characters around them.

Agrimensor (Surveyor)

Three men occupy the long base. On the left, the surveyor brings his face up to an instrument mounted on a tripod. The man in blue holds the parasol over him; at the other end, an assistant keeps a staff upright. The museum’s text identifies the instrument as a theodolite and the rod used for measurement as a surveying staff.²⁷

The distance between the men is part of their work. The open space in the centre lets the eye follow the instrument’s direction towards the assistant. The parasol brings the two figures on the left together beneath a large, pale, slanting shape. On the other side, the slender staff rises almost alone, in front of the body in the grey shirt.

The clothes also distinguish their roles. The surveyor’s pale outfit is close in colour to the instrument and parasol. The blue shirt makes the man working behind him visible, even though his body is partly hidden. Feet and tripod legs spread across the same grey ground, whose blue edge marks the boundary of the scene.

There is little scenery to suggest land surveying. The relationship between the three men and their instruments makes the occupation recognisable. The gap between the two sides of the group contains part of the action: looking from one point towards another.

Barbeiro (Barber)

The customer reclines with his head resting in the barber’s hand. A white area covers part of his face and chest; the razor comes close to his chin. The barber leans over from behind the chair, wearing a green jacket and red tie. Their bodies meet at a small point, beside the seated man’s face.¹

On the left, the yellow counter supports an oval mirror and the instruments. Small objects sit on its surface, including scissors and bottles, which are also identified in the museum’s text. The chair has curved arms and a pale base. The chair, counter and figures occupy almost the entire slab of ground.⁷

Compared with the injection scene, this one has a more enclosed arrangement. The barber’s arm curves around the head, the customer fits into the chair and the counter closes off the space in front. The reclining body leads the eye upwards, towards the gesture at the face. Vitalino builds an interior with a few pieces of furniture, close enough for each to play a part in the barber’s work.

Volta da roça (Return from the fields)

Five people line up in profile, facing left. The smallest is at the front; the tallest is at the back. Two women in dresses occupy the middle of the group. Tools rest on shoulders, and two figures balance loads on their heads. The narrow slab beneath their feet follows the direction of their walk.³

The increasing size of the bodies gives the line a rising outline. The tool handles repeat similar diagonals near the necks; small gaps of white background remain between the figures. The black of the central dress and the red of the dress beside it form two large vertical areas. At the ends, the hat brims project beyond the bodies.

Repetition with small differences gives the scene movement. The heads face the same way, but the hands change position according to the load. One holds a tool, another reaches towards a container beside the body. The title places the scene on the return from the fields; the objects being carried help connect the walk to the work just finished.

Learning in Alto do Moura

Vitalino’s work continued in the hands of his children and other ceramic artists who learned from him. Manuel Vitalino, for example, began modelling toys in childhood and accompanied his father to the market. According to the Museu do Pontal, he took up the subjects created by Vitalino and refined the Família de retirantes (Family of migrants).⁸

This teaching helps explain why the same subject appears in pieces by different artists and from different periods. In a collection, the maker’s name and the identification of the work make it possible to distinguish them. For the four sculptures in this article, the Museu do Homem do Nordeste records Vitalino Pereira dos Santos as the artist.⁶²¹³

The artist’s former home in Alto do Moura is now the Casa-Museu Mestre Vitalino. The Museu do Homem do Nordeste offers more images of his groups, with scenes of surgery, people gathered around a table and domestic work.⁹⁷

To compare the distribution of tasks in sculpture and painting, Casa de farinha (Flour mill) by Djanira offers another example. There, a curved workbench brings the workers close together. In Agrimensor, the distance between the figures helps us recognise what they are doing.