Worker's Torso

The “Worker's Torso” represents a man wearing only a loincloth holding a work instrument. It was made in plaster by the artist Erbo Stenzel in 1941, as an academic work when he was in the third year of the Sculpture course at the National School of Fine Arts. The plaster work, which belongs to the artist's family, received two bronze copies in 1995, sponsored by the Curitiba City Hall, one of which was placed inside the greenhouse of the Curitiba Botanical Garden and the other was donated to the Paraná Art Museum, and was later transferred to the Oscar Niemeyer Museum in 2003. 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.