Art Museum of the Federal University of Ceará

About this place

The Art Museum of the Federal University of Ceará, known as MAUC, is a university museum on the Benfica campus in Fortaleza. It opened on 18 June 1961 and was the first museum in Ceará devoted to preserving the state's visual arts. The driving force behind it was Antônio Martins Filho, founder and first rector of the university. The museum keeps some eight thousand works, with a strong presence of traditional folk art, from basketry and featherwork to sculpture in ceramic, wood and clay, alongside the visual arts: paintings, gouaches, watercolours, prints, drawings and sculptures. Its best-known holding is its woodcut collection, with original blocks and prints, an art tied to the «cordel» popular literature of north-eastern Brazil. The museum also has a specialist art library and temporary exhibitions showing both great and emerging Ceará artists. It is a quiet visit for anyone wanting to discover the state's artistic identity away from the beaches.