Chasing Teixeira in Salavador, Bahia

In preparation for a recent trip to Brazil, I had been reading works by Jorge Amado - one of Brazil's most beloved writers. When I reached the city of Salvador I discovered that the original Portuguese editions of his books, unlike the English versions, included illustrations rendered by artists known well in Brazil, like Carybé, Floriano Teixeira and others.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find a sketch that Teixeira did for Amado's brother's book called Chamado do Mar (roughly translated - calling from the sea) in an art gallery. The sketch had this little girl trying to catch a crab by the beach, all in black and white, about the size of a 8.5 x 11 inch page. It was so cool looking - I just wanted to buy it right there!! Asking price R$2500 (1470 USD at 1.7 exchange rate )... eeehhh... painfully beyond my budget... so a bit disappointed, I left the gallery telling them, I'll come back, next day or something...

I strolled over to the Salvador Tourism office at top of the Lacerda Elevator and mentioned to this guy, who had provided very helpful tips to do fun things in the city, about my experience with Teixeira sketch and he said his friend works at an art gallery in the old part of the town and might know if the price is in the right range or not. After a quick phone conversation with his friend he suggested that I go over to this art gallery run by a French woman. Trudging through tiny cobble stone streets, walking past churches with side-walks full of cafezinho vendors and Bahian women selling acaraje, when I get to this second gallery, the lady tells me she has no Teixeira but she thinks price is right. She has Carybe' for R$ 3000 and more. Thinking there was nowhere else to go with this, I just hang around in her gallery looking at other works and chit chatting until suddenly she recalls that she thinks Teixeira's grand-daughter works as a cashier at a big bookstore "Livraria Saraiva" in one of the shopping malls in the suburbs - Bara Shopping. She also suggests to check with the biggest art dealers in town - Paulo Darze'.

So I hop on to a bus, struggling with language to head in the right direction, get off too early and walk 20 blocks to get to Paulo Darze'. You walk into this gallery and you already know this is way beyond your league... Teixeira paintings start at R$10,000, the sketches start R$ 3000, no room for negotiation - take it or leave it. As you walk around admiring different works and expressing preferences, the lady prepares a personalized folder with colored print outs of all the works that you liked and you walk out with a personal portfolio of works you would like to own one day but most probably will not... she talks about different insurance options, and special FedEx delivery arrangements in New York and LA... I quickly take leave!!

I take another bus and to get to the shopping mall. The first girl behind the cash-register at the bookstore I speak with turns out to be to Teixeira's grand-daughter - Isabella, daughter of Monique - one Teixeira's seven children. Isabella is greatly baffled and in her pequeno English manages to blurt out - "Who are you?" I think she might have also meant - what are you? what is this? After a not-so-lengthy explanation she understands and very kindly agrees to talk to her mother to see if she still might have some of her father's works that she might be interested in selling to this stranger who just walked into her daughter's workplace and that too for a "reasonable price" - a tall order of things to pull off, but my accidental discovery had turned into a quest!! By the time I walk out of the shopping mall with the correct telefone celular, the sun had set and the Salvadorans were out and about in the pracas enjoying their customary chopp. I find another bus to head back to the hotel and grab some food at Acaraje da Dinha in the Rio Vermelho neighborhood along the way.

Next day I call Monique's phone but it is picked by Sylvana the other Teixeira daughter who speaks English very well. She agrees to see me two days later at her father's house - in fact in Floriano Teixeira's studio - woohooooo!!!

When I get to the studio it is absolutely amazing - even though Floriano Teixeira passsed away 9 years ago his studio has been kept by the family in more or less the same condition when he was alive - it seems like he has just stepped out for a smoke or something while a few incomplete sketches on the canvasses await their fate... After going through many of his works, now carefully preserved by Sylvana, she agrees to sell a few pieces to me. Here are pictures of two of them -

Brazil: Salvador Drum Choirs

Here is a video (about 3.5 minutes) of a band playing drums in the streets of Pelourinho, Salvador, that I stumbled on late night on Nov 20th, the day of Consciência Negra. The most famous of the drum choirs from Salvador is Olodum, who have played with Paul Simon, Michael Jackson and others.