This essay, by the Brazilian curator and art historian Aracy Amaral, appeared in the catalogue for the exhibition Modernidade: arte brasileira do século XX (Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, 1988). Amaral discusses the origins of the Brazilian modernist movement and recalls the exhibition of paintings by Anita Malfatti in 1917 (which was openly criticized by the popular writer Monteiro Lobato), an event that generated a wave of solidarity among a particular group of Brazilian artists and writers. Most of them, like Malfatti, had been educated in Europe and had come home with any number of unconventional ideas. That solidarity morphed into the country’s modernist movement, which attracted artists and promoters such as Mário de Andrade, Oswald de Andrade, Menotti del Picchia, Tarsila do Amaral, Doña Olívia Guedes Penteado, Paulo Prado, and Gofredo Silva Telles. Amaral refers to events that took place in the 1920s—a politically volatile period when Brazil was celebrating the centenary of its independence—that were of great importance to the movement, including, most significantly, the Semana de Arte Moderna (1922); the exploratory journeys into the interior of the country led by modernist artists and the Swiss poet Blaise Cendrars; and Oswald de Andrade’s “Manifesto Pau-Brasil” (1924) and, some years later, his “Manifesto Antropófago” (1928).          

This essay appeared in the catalogue for Modernidade: arte brasileira do século XX, the exhibition organized by the MAM-SP (Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo) in 1988. [Regarding other essays in that exhibition catalogue that were written by Amaral, see the ICAA digital archive: “Abstração I: Concretismo e Neo-concretismo” (1319206); “Abstração II: Abstracionismo informal” (1315823); “Anos 30 e 40: Da arte como ofício ao longo percurso sensível de Volpi” (1315783); and “Contemporaneidade: Das vanguardas à redescoberta da pintura” (1315839).]

The art historian, critic, and curator Aracy Amaral (b. 1930) held several senior administrative positions at the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo (1975–79) and the MAC-USP (Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo, 1982–86). She is currently an art history professor at the FAU-USP (Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo). She is the author of a number of books about Brazilian art, including: Tarsila sua obra e seu tempo (2010); Textos do Trópico de Capricórnio – artigos e ensaios (1980–2005) in three volumes; Arte para quê? A preocupação social na arte brasileira 1930–1970 (2003); and Artes plásticas na Semana de 22 (1970). 

Oswald de Andrade (1890–1954) was the creative pillar and foundation of what was known as the “movimiento antropófago” (anthropophagus movement). He contributed the ideas and theories about the Brazilian modernist movement that were presented in the “Manifesto Antropófago,” which was written in 1928, four years after its forerunner, the “Manifesto Pau-Brasil.” The Pau-Brasil movement was an integral part of early Brazilian modernism (1922–26); its members, including Oswald, Mário de Andrade, and the painter Tarsila do Amaral, traveled around the country with the Swiss poet Blaise Cendrars in 1924. The journey, which provided the background for Cendrars’s book Feuilles de route (Travel Folios, 1924), was described as a “caravan organized to discover Brazil.” This trip and the Semana de 22 were sponsored by the millionairess Doña Olívia Guedes Penteado. During Holy Week the group visited the baroque cities of Minas Gerais (São João del Rei, Tiradentes, Ouro Preto, Congonhas do Campo), and Belo Horizonte, the state capital. The experience spawned the Pau-Brasil movement, whose search for original sources embraced indigenous cultures as well as the rural landscape and the “caipira” (rural, rancher) style they sought to express in their work. [For complementary reading, see the following texts: “Manifesto Pau-Brasil” (781051) and “‘Pau-Brasil’, marca de fábrica (…),” both by Oswald de Andrade; “Pintura Pau-Brasil e antropofagia” (784978) by Tarsila do Amaral; and Cendrars’s letter to Oswald written in 1926 (780570).]