Maria Lira Brasil (Araçuaí, 1945) is an artist, researcher, and cultural activist from Vale do Jequitinhonha, Minas Gerais. Since childhood, she has been interested in ceramics, following the work of her mother and other artisans in the region. Her first exhibition took place in 1975 at SESC Pompeia, in São Paulo, and since then she has presented works at institutions in Brazil and abroad. Her production integrates natural pigments into the sertanejo landscape and, since the 1990s, includes the Bichos do Sertão cycle, a vast bestiary of imaginary animals. At the same time, she has played an important role in defending the artists and artisans of the Vale, in collaboration with Frei Xico, with whom she created the Araçuaí Museum in 2010 and led the Trovadores do Vale choir, dedicated to the region's popular songbook.

Public collections

Instituto Inhotim, em Brumadinho
Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo
Museu do Pontal, no Rio de Janeiro
Museu de Araçuaí, em Minas Gerais
Pinacoteca de São Paulo
Nationalmuseet, em Copenhagen

Major Past Exhibitions

Programa Sala do Artista Popular e no Museu Casa do Pontal, no Rio de Janeiro, e no Centro de Arte Popular, em Belo Horizonte.
1975 - Coletiva de Maria Lira Marques - Sesc Pompéia
1990 - “Lira Marques e as faces do Jequitinhonha” - Galeria Mão do Povo
1994 - A Lira do Vale: ceramista e musa do Jequitinhonha
2012 - Cores da terra – a arte de Maria Lira - Galeria Candido Portinari
2015 - Bichos do Sertão - Centro de Arte Popular – Cemig, em Belo Horizonte
2021 - Maria Lira Marques: Obras recentes, Bergamin & Gomide, atual Gomide&Co.
2021 - Maria Lira Marques: obras recentes
2021 - Meus Bichos do Sertão
2022 - Coleção Brasileira – de Alberto e Priscila Freire
2023 - Dos Brasis - Arte e pensamento negro - Sesc Sao Paulo
2023 - Pedra Viva: Serra da Capivara – O Legado de Niède Guidon - Museu Brasileiro da Escultura e Ecologia, São Paulo
2024 - Roda dos Bichos, Instituto Tomie Ohtake
2024 - Integrou o 38º Panorama da Arte Brasileira, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo - MAM-SP.
2025 - Terra

Auction Record

Maria Lira MARQUES (1945)
Untitled

Lot # 177
Painting
Pigment (natural)/canvas
40 x 30 cm
Hammer price: € 6,939 (BRR 37,000 )
Starting price: € 1,875 (BRR 10,000 )

31 oct 2023Spiti.Auction
São Paulo, Brazil

Details
Illustrated on page 95 of the catalog