Water for the Hill

A black woman carrying a can of water on her head goes up the hill. Perhaps a commonplace scene in Rio de Janeiro in the 1940s, where the artist Erbo Stenzel studied sculpture. It was at the National School of Fine Arts where he met Anita (Emerenciana Cardoso Neves), the girl who served as a model for the sculpture “Água pro Morro” ("Water for the Hill"). Anita was then 25 years old and, as a simple coffee shop attendant, she became a model and later a school student. Erbo Stenzel presented the work at the National Salon of Fine Arts in 1944, craving the prize for travel abroad, but “Água pro Morro” was considered hors concours, that is, out of competition, given its superior quality. Back in Curitiba, where the artist was born in 1911, he brought the sculpture with him, which was awarded the Gold Medal at the III Hall of Fine Arts of Clube Concórdia, in 1950. In 1995, its bronze replica was installed, installed in 1996 at Fonte Maria Lata d’Água, nearby in the old pillory of Curitiba. The bronze replica of the MON collection was made in 2008. Erbo Stenzel was born in Curitiba (PR), in 1911. He was a student of painting by Lange de Morretes (1892-1954) and sculpture by João Turin (1878-1949). He graduated in Sculpture at the National School of Fine Arts, in Rio de Janeiro (RJ), city where he lived for 11 years. He returned to Curitiba in 1949 to take the place left by João Turin at the School of Music and Fine Arts of Paraná, where he served as professor of Anatomy and Artistic Physiology. Several sculptures made by him are scattered throughout Curitiba, usually busts of political personalities. He is the author of the project at Dezenove de Dezembro Square, in Curitiba, together with the sculptures of Homem Nu (Naked Man) and Mulher Nua (Naked Woman), both executed by Humberto Cozzo. He was also a great chess player, awarded in several tournaments. He died in Curitiba, in 1980.