This essay underscores the importance of a key element in any artistic work involving sketches, drafts, and diagrams for everything from painting to sculpture—that is namely—drawing.
In a predominantly figurative and nationalist milieu, Flávio de Carvalho (1899–1973) is one of the few Brazilian artists to express certain affinities with Dadaism and Surrealism, and, undeniably, abstraction. In addition to being a painter, he was an architect, theatrical set designer, illustrator, writer, and playwright; he was one of the most inventive creators of his generation, as well as a radical. His provocative acts, such as his 1930 Experiência n.2, when he put on a broad-brimmed hat and paraded against the flow of a Catholic procession in downtown São Paulo, expressed his desire to destabilize the social and moral status quo. He scandalized the audience when he presented his urban planning thesis “Uma tese curiosa: a cidade do homem nu,” [see ICAA digital archive, doc. no. 783858] at the IV Congresso Panamericano de Arquitetos in Rio de Janeiro in 1930. There is another similar essay, also by de Carvalho; see “A única arte que presta é a arte anormal” (doc. no. 1084943). This essay demonstrates his ample theoretical knowledge when he focuses on the essential aspects of art, referring to drawing as a means of universal expression. He gained this knowledge during his studies in Europe (1916–1922), and his subsequent European trip in 1934 when he interviewed some well-known figures, such as Man Ray, Tristan Tzara (doc. no. 1110387), Herbert Read, Roger Callois (doc. no. 1110390), and Tommaso Filippo Marinetti. The following year, de Carvalho published the results of his project in the São Paulo newspaper, Diário de S. Paulo.