Pierre Verger's photos
M WALDEMAR'S HUT
around 1955
Information about the photos
Pierre Verger's collection of capoeira photos of M Waldemar's hut in Liberdade consists of at least 32 high quality photos.
The Pierre Verger Foundation has not yet published these photos on their site. Lühning, 2012, counts 32 photos, writing:
Scenes in the place called Mestre Waldemar's Hut, in Corta Braço, in the Liberdade neighborhood (showing capoeiristas like Traíra, Bugalho, the sculptor Mario Cravo, among other non-identified players) - 32 photos.
The dating of the photos by the Foundation is a little problematic. For what we know there is no exact information about the dating of the photos. Lühning's, 2012, dating positions them between 1948 and 1950. However Velhosmestres.com is proposing, that all the photos were made after year 1953, probably in 1955 (or after).
What we know for certain is that Verger started to take pictures of capoeira right after he arrived in Bahia in 1946. In 1947 and 1948 his photos already appeared in a magazine called O Cruzeiro.
But analizing Brill's photos from 1953, we can see that in 1953 the mestre's hut had a less advanced construction and a smaller space than what we can see on Verger's photos. On Verger's photos we can also observe an upside-down banner hung over the entrance of the hut. We can read the following words: DEPUTADO FED[ERAL], ALBUQUERQUE. This takes us to Carlos Albuquerque in Bahia's state elections in 1954. In 1955 perhaps the banner had already served its purpose.
Among the participants we indentify M Traíra and Bugalho. Lühning, 2009, adds Bom Cabelo and in 2012 Mário Cravo Júnior.
* Carlos de Faria Albuquerque was elected substitute to congressman in Bahia as a member of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) in 1950, having the mandate from 3rd September to 13th November 1954. In the 1954 elections, in the same party, he conquered a seat in the Congress Hall, that he occupied from 2nd February 1955 until his death on 21st October 1958.
The hut's plan
Photo gallery
M Waldemar, 1955
