Embu das Artes, previously and commonly known simply as Embu, is a Brazilian

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the State of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

. It is part of the

Metropolitan Region of São Paulo Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a ...

. The population is 276,535 (2020 est.) in an area of 70.40 km².Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística
/ref> Its history brought it an unexpected specialization as a city for artists. This has paid tourism dividends to the city.

History

The history of Embu began in 1554, with the arrival of a group of Jesuits of the aldeamento or settlement of Bohi, later M'Boy, halfway between the sea and the São Paulo hinterlands. As the Jesuit missions in the interior of Brazil, the primary objective was to convert the native population to Roman Catholicism, in an attempt to use them as farm workers in the region. In 1607 the lands of the village passed to the hands of

Fernão Dias Fernão Dias Pais Leme (1608–1681) or was a frontiersman from São Paulo. He was known as the "Emerald Hunter" and was one of the most prominent bandeirantes together with Antônio Raposo Tavares. He is the great-great-grandfather of the Saint ...

(uncle of the bandeirante Fernão Dias, the emerald hunter), In 1690, the priest Belchior de Pontes initiated the construction of the Igreja do Rosário (the Church of the Rosary), when it transferred at the same time to the nucleus of the original village. In 1760, by order of the

Portuguese Crown This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution. Through the nea ...

, the Jesuits were expelled from Brazil because of their interference in colonist affairs, such as protecting converted natives from the Bandeiras, which sought to enslave them. The artistic vocation of the city started to project itself in 1937, when Cássio M'Boy, "santeiro" – sculptor of religious images – in Embu, gained first prize on the Exposition Internationel d'Arts Techniques du Paris. Before that, Cássio had been the professor of some renowned artists and received illustrious representatives of the Modernismo movement of 1922, including

Anita Malfatti Anita Catarina Malfatti (December 2, 1889 – November 6, 1964) is heralded as the first Brazilian artist to introduce European and American forms of Modernism to Brazil. Her solo exhibition in Sao Paulo, from 1917–1918, was controversial ...

Tarsila do Amaral Tarsila de Aguiar do Amaral (; 1 September 1886 – 17 January 1973) was a Brazilian painter, draftswoman, and translator. She is considered one of the leading Latin American modernist artists, and is regarded as the painter who best achieved Bra ...

Oswald de Andrade José Oswald de Souza Andrade (January 11, 1890 – October 22, 1954) was a Brazilian poet, novelist and cultural critic. He was born, spent most of his life and died in São Paulo. Andrade was one of the founders of Brazilian modernism and a m ...

Menotti Del Picchia Paulo Menotti Del Picchia (São Paulo, March 20, 1892 – São Paulo, August 23, 1988) was a Brazilian poet, journalist, and painter. He is associated with the Generation of 1922, the first generation of Brazilian modernism artists. Del Picc ...

, Volpi and Yoshio Takaoka. One of Cássio M'Boy's most successful disciples was Sakai do Embu, internationally known and one of the greatest Brazilian ceramist-sculptors. In 1962, Sakai formed the Solano Trindade group of plastic artists, highly influenced by African-Brazilian art and the religious tradition of the

Yoruba The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...

orishahs. The artistic tradition of Embu is an institution with projects and events done both in Brazil and abroad since 1964. The Feira de Artes and Artesanato do Embu (''Arts and Handicraft of Embu'') was launched in the late 1960s and it has been attracting tourists and revenues to the city ever since. One of the top

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

torturers,

Josef Mengele , allegiance = , branch = Schutzstaffel , serviceyears = 1938–1945 , rank = '' SS''-'' Hauptsturmführer'' (Captain) , servicenumber = , battles = , unit = , awards = , commands = , ...

was buried in the Nossa Senhora do Rosario cemetery in Embu under his false identity, Wolfgang Gerhard, as the southern region of the city of São Paulo and its borders are known for a sizable German-Brazilian population.

References

External links

*
City of Embu das Artes Home Page
*
Embu das Artes Tourism Office home page
*
Brazil Tourism Office Home Page
*
Encontra Embu – Find everything about Embu das Artes city
{{Authority control Municipalities in São Paulo (state) Populated places established in 1554 1554 establishments in the Portuguese Empire