Wall Tapestry
Created by Francisco Brennand
Brazil, 1974
Cotton tapestry with wooden support

Measurements
140 cm x 120h cm
55,1 in x 47,2h in

Provenance
Private collection, Brazil

Edition
Unique piece

Literature
Ferreira Gullar, Francisco Brennand, Salamandra Editorial, Rio de Janeiro, 1992
Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, Oficina Brennand, Recife, 2003

About
Executed in 1974, this tapestry by Francisco Brennand merges ornamental complexity with a disarming visual clarity. A central vase blooms with oversized stylized flowers, surrounded by a border of geometric bands and vibrant color blocks. The composition showcases Brennand’s instinct for rhythm and symmetry while drawing from folk-inspired motifs and decorative tradition.
Tapestry, though less common in Brennand’s vast oeuvre, provided a complementary surface for his symbolic vocabulary. As with his ceramic works, this piece bridges the ritualistic and the pictorial—where the everyday object (a vase of flowers) becomes a carrier of metaphysical resonance. Its chromatic richness and patterned framing speak to his engagement with both regional craft and universal archetypes.

Biography
Francisco Brennand (1927–2019) was a Brazilian artist known for his prolific work in sculpture, ceramics, painting, and drawing. Born in Recife, Pernambuco, he developed a distinctive symbolic and organic visual language, often rooted in mythological and sacred themes. Trained initially as a painter in Europe, Brennand later turned to ceramics, transforming his family’s tile factory into the Oficina Brennand—a sprawling, fantastical studio complex and sculpture park.
His work defies strict categorization, merging modernist abstraction with primal symbolism and elements of Afro-Brazilian and indigenous cosmologies. Over decades, he created a universe of recurring motifs—ovoid forms, hybrid creatures, solar emblems—that explore ideas of fertility, memory, and spiritual transformation. Brennand's legacy is deeply entwined with the cultural identity of northeastern Brazil and occupies a central place in 20th-century Latin American art.