Ana Maria Pacheco

(b. 1943)

Ana Maria Pacheco is a Brazilian sculptor, printmaker, and painter known for powerful figurative works exploring mythology, religion, politics, and human conflict. In Brazil, she she studied sculpture and music before moving to Britain in the 1970s. She later studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, where she was taught lithography by Stanley Jones, establishing an early connection with the Curwen Studio and collaborative printmaking. Pacheco is particularly recognised for large-scale polychromed wood sculptures and immersive installations populated by psychologically charged figures. Alongside sculpture, printmaking has formed an important part of her practice, especially through woodcut and lithography, often reflecting the same dramatic narrative intensity found in her sculptural work. From 1985-1989 Pacheco served as Head of Fine Art at Norwich School of Art, becoming the first woman to lead a fine art department in Britain. In the late 1990s she was the first sculptor to be an Associate Artist in Residence at the National Gallery, London.