The editorial categories are research topics that have guided researchers during the recovery phase and continue to be the impetus behind the Documents Project’s digital archive and the Critical Documents book series. Developed by the project’s Editorial Board, each of the teams analyzed this framework and adapted it to their local contexts in developing their research objectives and work plans during the Recovery Phase. Learn more on the Editorial Framework page.
Hide
This text is an introduction to the catalogue of the individual exhibition by the Brazilian sculptor Maria Martins at the Valentine Gallery (New York, 1943). Using poetic language, Jorge Zarur outlines certain characteristics (both physical and cultural) of the Amazon region, centered on the Amazon River, itself. The writer is convinced that the Native legends of that northern part of Brazil are the source of inspiration for Martins’s sculpture.
Apresentação do catálogo da exposição individual da escultora brasileira Maria Martins na Galeria Valentine, Nova York, em 1943. Em linguagem poética, o geógrafo Jorge Zarur descreve características físicas e culturais da Amazônia, com destaque para o rio Amazonas. Afirma que as lendas indígenas da região são fonte de inspiração para Maria Martins.
The exhibition Amazonia by Maria marked the key moment when the work of Maria Martins (1894–1973) came to be accepted in the New York art world. At the show, the Brazilian artist presented organic forms cast in bronze, expressing a theme based on Amazon mythology. Having lived away from Brazil for many years—since her husband, Carlos Martins, was a key player in Getúlio Vargas’s diplomatic corps—the sculptor formed ties with the international Surrealist movement. It was a bond that developed through personal contact with some of the great public figures working in that trend, such as the writer André Breton and a few artists: Marcel Duchamp, Yves Tanguy and Max Ernst. This text establishes the links between Martins’s sculptural approach and the Native legends of the Amazon region, thus emphasizing the primitivism displayed in the artist’s version of Surrealism.
A exposição 'Amazonia by' Maria marca o momento em que a obra de Maria Martins passa a ser bem aceita por parte do meio artístico nova-iorquino. Nela, a artista apresentou esculturas de formas orgânicas fundidas em bronze, cujo tema são mitos amazônicos. Tendo vivido por muitos anos fora do Brasil, Martins é uma das poucas artistas brasileiras a estabelecer vínculos com o movimento surrealista. Nos anos quarenta, quando viveu em Nova York, manteve contato com expoentes do surrealismo como o escritor André Breton e os artistas Marcel Duchamp, Yves Tanguy e Max Ernest. O documento apresenta a relação entre a obra de Martins e os mitos amazônicos, revelando o caráter primitivista do surrealismo abordado pela artista.
Ver também: [Amazonia. Every year...]. Nova York, Valentine Gallery, 22 mar. 1943; BRETON, André. [L'esprit, durant ces dernières années...]. Nova York: Julien Levy Gallery, 1947; GREENBERG, Clement. Review of a Group Exhibition at the Art of This Century Gallery, and the Exhibitions of Maria Martins and Luis Quintanilla. The Nation, 03 jun. 1944; MENDES, Murilo. [A ação de Maria como escultora consistiu...]. Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, 1956; PÉRET, Benjamin. [Nada evoca tanto quanto a obra de Maria ...]. Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, 1956.
f- Inconsciente mítico