Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

After spending many years in Paris, the artist Cícero Dias returned to his native city, Recife, in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. There at the Faculdade de Direito, he exhibited his work, which was of a distinctly abstract nature. In his review [...]

An architectural project by Henrique Mindlin for an American bank in Recife, Brazil, presents Gilberto Freyre with an opportunity to analyze the idea of “nationalism.” Mindlin was an important theorist on Brazilian architectural modernism, and [...]

The artist Paulo Bruscky refers to the remarkable graphic arts tradition in Recife—in the state of Pernambuco, in northeastern Brazil—as he describes in great detail the drawings produced in this area during the twentieth century. He takes a [...]

This is a speech given by Gilberto Freyre in Recife, the capital of the state of Pernambuco, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of theEscola de Belas Artes. In the speech, the author equates the economy and culture in importance, from which art and [...]

This essay is an analysis by Gilberto Freyre on what he felt was a “lack of common sense” with regard to the work of Cícero Dias, declaring that there was no “conventionalism” in his paintings. At times, their titles brought contradictory [...]

In this text, author Gilberto Freyre recognized the integrative potential of art for its ability to gather disagreements. He points to the constant fusion of antagonistic elements in the music of Heitor Villa-Lobos, in which the erudite and the [...]

Written by French art critic Géo-Charles, the text traces the life and work career of Joaquim do Rêgo Monteiro. He emphasizes the sure instinct that characterized his work, which reflects Brazilian culture. The author organizes his arguments [...]

In 1951, precisely twenty-five years after reading his “Regionalist Manifesto of 1926” for the first time, the sociologist Gilberto Freyre still deemed the effects of regionalist expression to be visible. This was particularly true in journals [...]

This article by Carlos Duarte analyzes the graphic work of caricaturist Nestor Silva. It explains the originality of his drawings and his interest in the details of everyday life, pointing out his sharp and pronounced lines, which are characterized [...]

In his article about the exhibition of paintings by Cícero Dias at the Faculdade de Direito (Recife), the art critic Mário Pedrosa notes that “no other Brazilian painter evolved as radically” as Dias, thus explaining the controversial reaction [...]

In this newspaper article, Gilberto Freyre reviews the work of Candido Portinari, whom he considers to be a “genuine representative of Brazilian culture.” According to Freyre, Portinari’s painting expresses a true image of Brazil that should be [...]

After the death of Flávio de Carvalho, Gilberto Freyre looks back on the ties he had with the visual artist, a relationship that began with his preface to the book Os Ossos do Mundo [The Bones of the World]. It was during the time when they both [...]

This essay by author Gilberto Freyre is dedicated to the work of the artist Cícero Dias; the text compares the work to the highly renowned Brazilian painter Candido Portinari. In his opinion, despite being the most nationally famous visual artist, [...]

Walter Zanini offers a retrospective vision of the work of Vicente do Rêgo Monteiro, an artist from the state of Pernambuco, one year after his death. Professor Zanini’s far-reaching analysis provides context for a chronological understanding of a [...]