There is an article by Mário Schenberg about Propostas 65—the exhibition he describes as being “O ponto alto” [see doc. no. 1090461]—in which he claims that contemporary Realism is a dialectical synthesis of the major movements and trends of the twentieth century that represents a new humanism. Schenberg had written about an odd development in the Concrete art produced by Waldemar Cordeiro [doc. no. 1087320], who had also grasped the concept of a “proposal” that was introduced in Propostas 65 [doc. no. 1090623]; a radical idea involving a group rather than an individual expression,
Propostas 65—the exhibition that shed light on one of the characteristics of the Brazilian avant-garde during that important decade—took place in December 1965 at the FAAP (Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado) in São Paulo, and included the works of 48 artists. As in the case of the exhibition Opinião 65, it was one of the first group presentations of the “new Figuration” in Brazil. At both of these events, “Realism” and “awareness of national reality” began to emerge as the subjects of an ongoing discussion, and there was a proliferation of debates among artists and critics.
The visual artist and graphic designer Ruben Martins (1929–68) had two visual art pieces in the exhibition. After working as a painter in the mid-1950s, he became one of the pioneers of graphic design in Brazil and, in 1958, founded Forminform—the first advertising agency in São Paulo—with Alexandre Wollner and Geraldo de Barros.
A complementary view on what Martins wrote can be found in the essay by Waldemar Cordeiro “Realismo ao nível da cultura de massa” [doc. no. 1090748].