Christ
Maria Martins
Brazilian, 1894–1973
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.
Medium
Jacaranda wood
Dimensions
7' 10 1/2" x 19" x 19 1/2" (240 x 48.2 x 49.5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller
Accession
558.1941
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
