Christ

Maria Martins

1941

A nearly eight‑foot figure carved from jacaranda wood in which Maria Martins pares Christ down to a tall, ritualized presence, using simplified shapes to evoke spirituality rather than a literal scene.

What hits you is the work’s vertical monumentality and rough-hewn surface: an elongated, columnar body with a stern, carved face and arms raised above the head, the grain and chisel marks giving it a raw, totemic immediacy.

Created in 1941, the sculpture fuses modernist abstraction, Surrealist interest in myth, and Brazilian wood‑carving traditions, helping to reframe religious iconography and to broaden the expressive possibilities of tactile, monumental sculpture.

Palette

Art Terms

Sculpture Surrealism Abstraction Figurative Modern art Ritual

Exhibitions

Brazil Builds

1943

Sculpture from the Collection

1972

Sculptors' Drawings

1986

Children's Holiday Carnival of Modern Art

1949