The Casa do Pontal is the largest and most important Museum
of Folk Art in Brazil. The collection contains over 8000 sculptures and models
made by approximately 200 folk artists from all over Brazil. Include in the
collection are works produced throughout the second half of the twentieth
century. The entire collection, the building, the gardens and the exhibit
itself were conceived and executed by French designer Jacques Van de Beuque,
He is also responsible for amassing the collection in which he invested his
own financial resources as well as fifty years of research and travel.
The permanent collection contains over 8000 works representative of the different urban and rural cultures of Brazil, 5,000 of which are on display in the Museum's 1500 m2 of galleries. Organized thematically, they reflect every day activities, celebrations and festivals and the real in the fantasy lives of the people. Scattered throughout the galleries are explanatory texts in Portuguese, English and French.
Marked for preservation by the Rio de Janeiro Committee to Protect the Artistic and Cultural Heritage in 1989, the Museum received the Rodrigo Melo Franco de Andrade award in 1996 from the Institute for Historical and Artistic Heritage in recognition of its work. It was considered "the best initiative (in Brazil) for the preservation of artistic and historic buildings and other goods"..
According to the International Council of Museums (ICOM), associated with Unesco, "the Casa do Pontal is not only a complete Museum of Brazilian folk Art, but a Museum of Anthropology as well, the only one in the country that has a broad vision of the life and culture of the Brazilian People".
The permanent collection contains over 8000 works representative of the different urban and rural cultures of Brazil, 5,000 of which are on display in the Museum's 1500 m2 of galleries. Organized thematically, they reflect every day activities, celebrations and festivals and the real in the fantasy lives of the people. Scattered throughout the galleries are explanatory texts in Portuguese, English and French.
Marked for preservation by the Rio de Janeiro Committee to Protect the Artistic and Cultural Heritage in 1989, the Museum received the Rodrigo Melo Franco de Andrade award in 1996 from the Institute for Historical and Artistic Heritage in recognition of its work. It was considered "the best initiative (in Brazil) for the preservation of artistic and historic buildings and other goods"..
According to the International Council of Museums (ICOM), associated with Unesco, "the Casa do Pontal is not only a complete Museum of Brazilian folk Art, but a Museum of Anthropology as well, the only one in the country that has a broad vision of the life and culture of the Brazilian People".