Celeida Tostes
Celeida Tostes (May 26, 1929, in Rio de Janeiro – January 3, 1995, in Rio de Janeiro was a Brazilian female drawing teacher and artist, specifically a sculptor and ceramist, that focused on Postwar and Contemporary Art.
Also recorded as Celeida Moraes Tostes
Celeida Tostes

Rael2007 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Born
- Celeida Tostes was born on 26 May 1929. · Rio de Janeiro.
- Died
- Celeida Tostes died on 3 January 1995. · Rio de Janeiro.
- Nationality
- Brazil
- Occupation
- artist · teacher · ceramicist · sculptor
- Education
- Escola Nacional de Belas Artes · University of Southern California · Cardiff School of Art & Design
- Languages
- Portuguese
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Celeida Tostes (May 26, 1929, in Rio de Janeiro – January 3, 1995, in Rio de Janeiro was a Brazilian female drawing teacher and artist, specifically a sculptor and ceramist, that focused on Postwar and Contemporary Art.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Celeida Tostes. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q42571815 · wikipedia · Celeida Tostes
In this article
Education
Education
• 1955, University of Brazil (Universidade do Brasil): At this university she studied printmaking under Oswaldo Goeldi. • 1957, University of Brazil (Universidade do Brasil): Drawing teacher training completed. • 1958-59, University of Southern California, Los Angeles: She continued her studies here. • 1960, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas: Also continued her studies here. • 1975, Cardiff School of Art and Design in Wales: The British Council offered her a scholarship so she can continue on her journey of improving her divine ceramics artistry.
Work
Work
• 1959: First solo exhibition in University of Southern California, Los Angeles. • Once she was introduced with working with clay with Maria Martinez, she incorporated it into different forms varying from small to large pieces. • She arranged many art projects that were available to the communities that were not as privileged with the advantages and open resources she had as a teacher. • She taught and furthered her research in ceramics and metalworks in the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage. • 1980: Morro do Chapeau Mangueira started and continued for the following fifteen years. This program was to teach ceramics and it targeted the low income group. Celeida Tostes was very fond on helping the low income community. • 1982: Gustavo Capanema Award received.
Individual artworks
Individual artworks
• Passagem (Passage), 1979: This was a series of twenty-one black and white photographs. In the past, Celeida Tostes had done small, clay eggs (supposed to resemble a womb) with an item inside. For this art, it was a more extravagant approach to her previous small spheres. Two female assistants helped in this project which took place in her own home. She slathered her nude body in wet, liquid clay and put herself into a large "womb". The assistants then covered the hole in which Tostes had climbed in from. After a while, she began to smash the clay "womb" from inside until she broke free. In her words it was "an attempt to return to the womb of a mother she never knew." Henry Stahl was the one who took the photographs of this breaking free from the vessel and "symbolically giving birth to herself." This work of art became a statement since it solidified her commitment to clay. • A Grande Batata Gravida, 1984 • Guardiao, 1984 • Mo, 1986 • Roda, 1986 • Guardioes, 1986 • Amassadinhos, 1991 • Aldeia Funanius Rofus, 1992
Exhibitions
Exhibitions
• 1959: Celeida Tostes, University of Southern California, Los Angeles • 1979: Celeida Tostes: Cerâmicas, Galeria Rodrigo Mello Franco de Andrade, Rio de Janeiro • 1987: Celeida Tostes, Galeria César Aché, Rio de Janeiro • 1994: Celeida Tostes, Sala Ismael Nery, Centro de Artes Calouste Gulbenkian, Rio de Janeiro • 2003: Celeida Tostes: Artes do fogo, do sal e da paixão, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro

Monumento na cidade do Rio de Janeiro
Rael2007

Monumento na cidade do Rio de Janeiro
Rael2007
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1929
Celeida Tostes was born in 1929 at Rio de Janeiro.
1995
Celeida Tostes died in 1995 at Rio de Janeiro.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Celeida Tostes was born in Rio de Janeiro.
Birthplace
Celeida Tostes died in Rio de Janeiro.
Deathplace
Rio de Janeiro.
Birth place
Influences
• Oswaldo Goeldi (October 31, 1895- February 16, 1961): Brazilian artist and engraver who basically mentored Celeida Tostes during her time in Universidade do Brasil. • Maria Martinez (1887- July 20, 1980): Native American clay artist that Celeida Tostes worked alongside as an intern in New Mexico Highlands University. The experience and relationship she gained from this impacted her future career in art. She had a profound focus on clay from then on. • Angelo Venosa (b.1954): Brazilian sculptor, Luiz Pizarro (b.1958), Mauricio Bentes (1958-2003) and herself were the ones who established Casarão da Lapa, a workshop for art design and exhibition.
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
reference work
- “Celeida Tostes”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q42571815: Celeida Tostes
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Celeida Tostes Hammer Museum. hammer.ucla.edu.
- 2.Passagem (Passage) - Celeida Tostes - Radical Women digital archive. Hammer Museum.
- 3.Finkel, Jori. The 10 Most Powerful Artworks on Motherhood from the 20th century. KCET. 19 April 2018.
- 4.Cultural, Instituto Itaú. Celeida Tostes. Enciclopédia Itaú Cultural.
- 5.Celeida Tostes - Radical Women digital archive. Hammer Museum.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witnessauthority record
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Formation and teaching. Tostes studied at Escola Nacional de Belas Artes, University of Southern California and Cardiff School of Art & Design. Recorded as having studied at Escola Nacional de Belas Artes, University of Southern California and Cardiff School of Art & Design. Connected to 1 other published record in the VALÉORINE Encyclopedia.
Activity and practice
Within the Encyclopedia
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Ceramics
1,104 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Carolus Magnus HutschenreutherArtist
- Catherine YarrowArtist
- Cayetano Corona GasparianoArtist
- Cecil BaughArtist
- Celso Camacho QuirozArtist
- Cesar Torres RamírezArtist
- Charles CatteauArtist
- Charles Fergus BinnsArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Celeida Tostes?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.