This brief but illuminating article about the various phases and facets in the evolution of the arts in the state of Ceará in northeastern Brazil includes references to the institutions and events that contributed to the development of local artists, as well as to the creation of an art market culture in Fortaleza, the state capital. The article clarifies the art movements and groups in the 1930s and 1940s, and identifies the cultural associations, alliances, and organizations that existed at the time.
Roberto Galvão (b. 1950) is a visual artist, professor, and Brazilian art historian. As an artist, he works in several fields, including painting, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture. In one of his most recent exhibitions—Mato branco [a bush called caatinga in tupí-guaraní]—he portrayed the desert shrub that grows in the northeastern part of Brazil in a variety of forms and expressive media. Since 1984, Galvão has published his thoughts about art in books and in Fortaleza magazines and newspapers. He has written more than ten books about this region, with a focus on the history of art, including, Chico da Silva e a Escola do Pirambu (1985), Uma Visão da Arte no Ceará (1986), and A Escola Invisível: Artes plásticas em Fortaleza 1928–1958 (2008). This article covers the period from 1994 to 2000, when he published a column called “Vida & Arte” in the O Povo [The People] newspaper in Fortaleza.