ESPACE FRANS KRAJCBERG
Centre d'art contemporain
Art & Nature

Less well-known than his sculptural work, Frans Krajcberg also produced significant paintings and ceramic creations. He first painted the nature surrounding him and was part of the Osir Arte studio, where he executed azulejos commissioned by Portinari for major Modernist architectural projects.

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Painting already allowed him to work in close communion with nature. Unfortunately, his ceramics and early paintings were destroyed in a fire at his Paraná studio in 1955. Between 1956 and 1958, immersed in the virgin forest of southern São Paulo, he created a series of abstract landscapes called “Samanbaias” (ferns), reminiscent of Paraná. Against blue-toned backgrounds, he worked with linear networks enhanced by earth pigments, evoking a dense vegetation pierced by light. In 1957, this series earned him the prize for best Brazilian painter at the São Paulo Biennale, which also honored Frans Weissmann as best sculptor.

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By the late 1950s, intoxicated by turpentine fumes, Krajcberg preferred a more “direct” approach, free from the restrictive confines of the canvas. Collage, engraving, imprints, assemblages, and sculpture gradually led him toward other, freer and also more intense forms of expression…