Otávio Bahia. Untitled. n.d.
Wood sculpture
About the artist
The sculptor Otávio Francisco dos Santos, known as Otávio Bahia, lived in Fazenda Coutos, in the railway suburb of Salvador, and his work travelled the world. A carver of African masks and of Black men and women in the finest millenary tradition of African sculpture, Otávio Bahia died without the recognition he deserved — neither the financial return nor the critical attention his work merited.
A sculptor since the 1970s, his work was shown on television in June 2010 on the programme Bahia Revista, on TV Bahia. He ended that year with his swan song and entered history. Otávio Bahia left a symbolic legacy of thousands of pieces scattered across Brazil and the world.