Illustrated Chronicle of a Childhood

Eurydice Bressane is a Brazilian naif artist, born in 1906, who began drawing at 52 years of age, evoking images of her childhood. As cinema and photography of the period were not interested in trivial matters, the artist's work is one of the few records of a family dynamics in the early twentieth century in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. More than that, Euridyce’s images do not report a generic past, but one particular, which materialized in poetic catharsis, reaching the universal language. In Euridyce, each drawing tells a story and their ensemble. They are like an illustrated chronicle of a childhood in Rio de Janeiro. They are evocations of private scenes of affection, that took place in the first years of her life. Fleeting memories as in a dream, reverie or burst of poetry. Her work is based on the transformation of ephemeral memories in images. That is why the artist’s creative process fits the words of the painter James McNeill when he says “art happens”. Euridyce’s art touches because it exposes what cannot be controlled. This book was written for people who love art, memories and history of private life.