This document records that, before the Pau-Brasil movement was founded, Tarsila do Amaral (1886–1973) wanted to add a certain “caipira” (rustic) flair to her work, to incorporate some of the bright shrillness she saw in works by rural painters. This account was therefore written before the modernist group (led by the writer Mário de Andrade and his patron, Mrs. Olivia Guedes Penteado) took a tour of some of the baroque historic cities in the state of Minas Gerais. During this remarkable journey the idea for the movement mentioned above was suggested, prompted by Oswald de Andrade’s Poesia Pau Brasil. The Swiss poet Blaise Cendrars joined the movement in 1924. At that early stage of Brazilian modernism’s search for a primitive, local “voice” there was a great deal of interest in identifying with the indigenous culture and exploring the history and landscape of Minas Gerais and the state of São Paulo, Tarsila do Amaral’s home state. That is where she developed what she calls her “caipira style.”
[For additional information, see in ICAA digital archive the artist’s illustrations in the books by Blaise Cendrars Feuilles de route I. Le formose (doc. no. 780879), and by Oswald de Andrade et al. Pau Brasil (doc. no. 784909). As complementary reading, see also the article by the artist “Pintura Pau-Brasil e antropofagia” (doc. no. 784978); and the exhibitions catalogues “Tarsila” (doc. no. 782543), and “Tarsila: Rio-1929” (doc. no. 785011)].