Wall Tapestry
Created by Genaro de Carvalho
Brazil, n.d.
Wool tapestry

Measurements
118,5 cm x 91h cm
46,7 in x 35,8h in

Provenance
Private collection, Brazil

Edition
Unique piece

About
This untitled tapestry by Genaro de Carvalho exemplifies the artist’s bold graphic sensibility and his deep fascination with the richness of Brazilian flora. With its intense red background and stylized vegetal motifs—fruits, seeds, leaves—outlined in assertive black contours, the composition merges modernist abstraction with ornamental exuberance.
A pioneer of Brazilian textile art, de Carvalho transformed tapestry into a medium of fine art in mid-20th-century Brazil. His compositions often evoke a tropical iconography filtered through a language of flattened forms and rhythmic patterning, reflecting both modernist experimentation and popular visual culture. This piece likely dates from the late 1950s to 1960s, when his work gained international recognition and was featured in major exhibitions across Europe and the Americas.

Biography
Genaro de Carvalho (1926–1971) was a Brazilian artist celebrated for elevating textile art to new expressive heights. Born in Salvador, Bahia, he studied at the Escola de Belas Artes and later became one of the key figures of the modernist movement in northeastern Brazil. While he was trained as a painter, it was through his work in tapestry that he achieved international acclaim, blending vibrant chromatic compositions with regional themes. De Carvalho’s textiles are known for their exuberant motifs and refined formal balance, often inspired by tropical flora, folklore, and the rhythms of Brazilian popular culture. His works were widely exhibited and collected, with major commissions for public and private spaces throughout Brazil and abroad.