Written in 1966, the essay “Raimundo Cela: um pioneiro esquecido” [Raimundo Cela: A Forgotten Pioneer] refers to the “oblivion” into which the artist’s work has fallen, and discusses the artistic qualities of his work, particularly the prints that he produced for thirty years during a career that is still largely unknown to the general public. According to the author, Teixeira Leite, the artist’s remarkable etchings are still the victims of prejudice, while the conservative nature of his painting tends toward an academic style. Teixeira Leite therefore chooses to talk about his work from two distinct periods: the prints Cela produced in Europe—influenced by artists such as the French engraver Charles Méryon and the North American painter James Whistler—and his “northeastern” prints whose overwhelming sensitivity and vitality give them a surreal look. When comparing Cela’s work to other contemporary artists, the critic agrees that he remained on the fringes of the modern movement, and never managed to create a school of engravers. His work is far more traditional than any of the more modern versions; so much so that Teixeira Leite sees no difference between Cela’s earliest and latest prints—the twenty prints in the collections at the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes and the Biblioteca Nacional (both of which are in Rio de Janeiro) are all rendered in the same style. As examples of the surreal quality mentioned above, Teixeira Leite identifies two works: Anúncio de Circo and/or Bumbá-meu-boi (known in Latin America as Torotumbo or Danza del Torito). According to the author, the few prints available are impressive because of their admirable technique, economy, and sensitivity, which does not mean that the artist has turned his back on the school of engraving.      

In this essay, the journalist, professor, and art critic José Roberto Teixeira Leite (b. 1930) discusses certain aspects of the prints produced by Raimundo Cela (1890–1954), the artist from the state of Ceará who was among those who never embraced the modern movement in Brazil. Cela was, however, known for his paintings. Teixeira Leite’s essay is therefore unique in that it addresses Cela’s engraving work, which was considered secondary to his pictorial production.

Cela was a painter, printmaker, and professor who was educated in his home state, Ceará, in the “northeast” of Brazil. He moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1910 and enrolled at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes, taking classes from a number of teachers, including Eliseu Visconti (1866–1944). He spent many years in the engineering field, and returned to the visual arts in 1940 when he was living in Niterói. He taught engraving classes at the ENBA and had his first solo exhibition in 1945, where he showed his prints of traditional landscapes and scenes of the cowboys and fishermen of his home state, rendered in a careful chiaroscuro style.  

In reference to this matter, see by Estrigas, Raimundo Cela: 1890–1954 (Fortaleza: Editora Pinakotheke, 2004); by Heloísa Juaçaba “Raimundo Cela: a sua mensagem e a sua ‘casa’,” Catálogo Raimundo Cela (Fortaleza: Secretaria de Cultura do Estado do Ceará, 1970); and by Otacílio Azevedo, “Raimundo Cela,” Fortaleza descalça reminiscências (Fortaleza: Universidade Federal do Ceará, 1980), pp. 290-93.