Odette Eid

Odette Haidar Eid (March 7, 1922 in Zahlé, Lebanon – July 13, 2019 in São Paulo, Brazil) was a Brazilian sculptor.

When she was three years old, Eid emigrated with her family to São Paulo in Brazil.

Eid's mother, a self-taught painter, specialized in copies of great masters.

Odette had to postpone her dream of pursuing artistic studies due to her family's financial difficulties and her father's opposition.

Odette finished her studies at Colégio Oriental which at the time was a school attended by the Lebanese community children.

Decades later, already married and with four children, Eid started taking courses such as: Art History at IADÊ-Art and Design Institute, with Paulo Ramos Machado; Brazilian Art at Espade, with Loy Cox Vilela; Brazilian Folklore Theory and Research at Escola de Folclore, with Rossini Tavares de Lima and Julieta de Andrade; Myths and Magic, Art History, with Fábio Magalhães; Contemporary Art, with Alice Brill and Avancini.

At the age of 52, Eid was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to undergo a mastectomy that left her right arm with a chronic deficiency.

As a result, between 1974 and 1982, Eid traveled to many different places including Lebanon, Middle East, Europe, United States, Japan and China.

Eid visited many museums and international collections, which contributed to widen the repertoire for her future creations.

Odette's talent bloomed in 1982 when she created dolls with heads made of epoxy and fabric, using her “savoir faire” in sewing, which she had also learned from her mother.

The small dolls created during her first phase (1982) are playful, colorful, surrealistic characters full of humor.

They have mouths with heads instead of teeth and ball-shaped bodies with multiple heads and legs.

On the other hand, the dolls created during her second and last phase of work, preserve the humor of the first phase with a touch of insolence and debauchery very close to Brazilian folklore.

In 1983, these first works resulted in her first exhibition as an artist at Chelsea Art Gallery – São Paulo.

Two years after starting her work as an artist, Odette Eid refined her techniques and knowledge with the Italian sculptors Domenico Calabrone and Elvio Becheroni, at Studio Artescultura2, and took drawing classes with Odetto Guersoni.

After that, Eid started her renowned work in bronze sculptures which started to be displayed in solo and group exhibitions.

In 1995, a decade later, dozens of her works were shown at a solo exhibition at the Museum of Sculpture and Ecology in São Paulo.

At the same time, the book Odette, Escultura – a retrospective of her works was also published.

The book featured graphic design by Emilie Chamie, photos by Romulo Fialdini and texts by Paulo Klein, Radha Abramo and Emanoel Araújo.

In 2000, Eid started to teach sculpture at Studio Amarilis, located on the avenue of the same name, in the district Cidade Jardim, São Paulo.

This period marks the beginning of her digital art.

In December 2002 at São Bento Metro station, the artist built a nativity scene with dolls measuring 2.40 meters high representing the main characters in the story of the birth of Jesus.

It was built out of recycled fabric, old newspapers, construction materials, and the dolls were assembled and decorated with custom jewelry.

During her life, Odette Eid had two studios, one in São Paulo, Studio Amarilis, where she gave classes and where there are still some of her works, and another in Santo Antônio do Pinhal – Studio Riacho Doce, an outdoor private museum, that holds most of her collection.

Various works by Odette Eid can be seen in many spaces in the city of São Paulo, such as museums and public places.

The themes of her aluminum works are of stylized or imaginary flowers and birds, as the ones exhibited in 2005 for the first time in the exhibition Aluminagem, at SESC Ipiranga, in São Paulo–SP.

They are currently on display at Parque da Luz Open Air Museum, part of Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo.

An animated video "YouTube: Botão de Rosa (Pink Rose) – Odette Haidar Eid" produced with an avatar that communicates through Brazilian sign language, available online, tells a little about the artist's life and work.

In 2007, Odette dared to use flowers, silk, sequin and hats in her exhibition Cabeças e Reminiscências (Heads and Reminiscences), at Espaço Cultural V Centenário, in São Paulo-SP, during the Folklore Month.

These works were exhibited for the first time in August 2007, in Cabeças e Reminiscências (Heads and Reminiscences), exhibition held at Espaço Cultural V Centenário, Legislative Assembly of the State of São Paulo, celebrating Folklore Month.

In the following year, the collection travelled to the Art Museum of Bahia Museu de Arte da Bahia and to Galeria Estação, this time under the title Minhas Cabeças (My Heads).

Her irreverent creations resulted in her book Minhas Cabeças (My Heads), published in 2008.

It also gained her other exhibitions in Brazil, including one at the Art Museum of Bahia and another at Galeria Estação, in São Paulo-SP, Brazil.

The artist won clients around the world and her works gained space in private and official collections in Germany, Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, Egypt, Spain, United States, France, Greece (Sultan Lines), Israel, Italy (Enzo Ferrari), Lebanon, Norway, Syria and Sweden (Queen Silvia).

In the year 2017, Eid received an honor from CONSCRE – Parliamentary State Council of Communities of Foreign Roots and Cultures, awarded by the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo – a recognition from the Lebanese community.

Despite the chronic difficulty in her right arm because of the mastectomy, Eid never stopped creating.

However, in the last years of her life, with declining health she dedicated herself to digital art and collage works, which remain unpublished.

On March 26, 2022, Santo Antônio do Pinhal-SP opened an Open Air Museum of Eid's work, as part of the artist's centenary celebrations, which became a permanent public exhibition.

Odette Eid produced more than 1200 works comprising sculptures, multiples and utilitarians, using materials such as bronze, aluminum, acrylic, paper, plaster and fabric.

Her famous bronze sculptures comprise many themes: love, family, maternity, dance, sport, saints and animals.