Izabel Mendes da Cunha

The Fondation Cartier holds six of her ceramic works in its collection. Her works were exhibited in 2001 in the Un Art Populaire exhibition, in 2012 in Histoires de Voir, and then in 2021 in Milan, in Les Citoyens.

In the Jequitinhonha Valley, the production of pottery enables women to survive in a rural area that has been hit by drought and deserted by its men, who have left in search of work. The figures of Mendes da Cunha stand out for their technical virtuosity and their unique aesthetic, with sculpted and chiselled details on their faces. From the late 1970s, they sold for increasingly high amounts at craft fairs in Brazil. Her unique style found a following, particularly through the application of engobe, a painting method with a coating of a coloured clay slip to finish the pieces, which has become the hallmark of the valley’s pottery.  In 2004, Isabel Mendes da Cunha was awarded the UNESCO Craft Prize for Latin America and the Caribbean.