Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In this text critic Mário Pedrosa discusses the Tiradentes mural by Candido Portinari, commissioned by the Colégio dos Cataguases (in the state of Minas Gerais) to be created in a building by architect Oscar Niemeyer. The mural represents the key [...]

As President of the Artistic Solidarity Committee with Chile, Mário Pedrosa addresses then President Salvador Allende Gossens during the reception ceremony for the works that would make up the collection of the Museo de la Solidaridad in Santiago. [...]

This letter from Mario Pedrosa, the Brazilian critic, stresses the importance of the gesture made by artists who donated their works to the Museo de la Solidaridad in a spirit of soladarity with the people of Chile, who were at that time on the road [...]

In the judgment of the author, Mário Pedrosa, Brasilia is not “a synthesis of the arts,” it is a simple promise. For him, synthesis cannot be achieved through occasional collaborations but rather through a prominent practice that creates a “ [...]

This speech by Mário Pedrosa regards the city of Brasilia, which he examines as a work of collective art, believing it presents an experimental and practical problem. He defends the connection it represents between utopia and planning, a profound ( [...]

Critic Mário Pedrosa analyzes the work of Ruben Valentim and defines his “authentic Brazilian painting.” His work is removed from the well-known, anecdotal, and picturesque regionalism that abounds in the art of the state of Bahia, where [...]

Mário Pedrosa analyzes the relationship that the works of Alexander Calder and other modern artists (especially Fernand Léger) have with industrial production. In his judgment, for Léger, machines are like an incomprehensible and frightening god; [...]

This is a critique by Mário Pedrosa’s of the Primeira Missa no Brasil by Candido Portinari. Pedrosa compares this work to one by Victor Meirelles painted nearly one century earlier on the same topic. He writes that Portinari opts for a visual [...]

Mário Pedrosa analyzes Lygia Clark’s artistic career beginning with the elimination of frames for her canvases (during the 1950s) through to the incorporation of the viewer’s action into her work (see her Bichos series) and the full integration [...]

In this newspaper article Mário Pedrosa challenges the definition of “Abstract art” provided by the French avant-garde theoretician and artist Michel Seuphor in his Dictionnaire de la peinture abstraite (Paris: Hazan, 1957). According to the [...]

According to the author of this text, Mário Pedrosa, at the onset of the modern architecture movement restriction to the strictly functional was necessary in order to combat the aesthetic or visual approach that predominated in others styles and in [...]

Critic Mário Pedrosa terms Hélio Oiticica’s recent work “post-modern,” given that he no longer relies on criteria established by Cubism, but rather on other innovative stimuli. In his judgment, this “post-modern” work begins a new cycle [...]

Art critic Mário Pedrosa wrote this text for the catalogue of the Exposição Infantil held at the MAM-RJ (Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro) in 1952, which he based on the work regarding the creative potential of children conducted at the end [...]

Mário Pedrosa establishes his position on non-geometric abstract trends in this text. Specifically, he is in favor of what he calls “arte signográfica” [art using graphic symbols], and he openly opposes the informal(ist) trend. In his judgment [...]

Among the triumphs of modern art were the rediscovery of an emotional dimension and artistic sentiment in all their purity; something which becomes evident in the work of anonymous “primitive” artists and of the people who still live on a tribal [...]

This address by Mário Pedrosa was entitled “Käthe Kollwitz e seu modo vermelho de perceber a vida” [Käthe Kollwitz and her red perception of life]; it was delivered at the CAM (Clube dos Artistas Modernos) in June 1933 during the show [...]

This commentary by Mário Pedrosa centers on the large audiences that admired and interacted with the works exhibited at the IX São Paulo Biennial (1969). He states that: “art has ceased to be that distant and humorless thing, that terribly [...]

In this text, Mário Pedrosa reflects on the artist’s place in the life of society, explaining the shift from autonomous producer of crafts to producer of new cultural objects for consumption. He underscores the end of styles, which have been [...]

In this text, Mário Pedrosa remarks on the crisis different art forms are experiencing, a topic that surfaced in the debates at the “Congresso dos Críticos” in 1959. In Pedrosa’s view, the only disciplines deeply affected by that crisis are [...]

According to Mário Pedrosa contemporary art is characterized by “objectivism” or by a rejection of self-expression. In this essay he refers to the symbolic objects suggested by Salvador Dalí and to “the crisis of the object” identified in [...]

In this essay the noted Brazilian art critic Mário Pedrosa discusses the Informalist Abstraction, also known as “voga tachista” [Tachisme vogue or fashion], of the late 1950s. The critic deplores this style, complaining that tachist painters [...]

In this text, critic Mário Pedrosa asserts that contemporary artistic production must be understood in relation to notions like “plane” and “space” developed after the disintegration of naturalist vision, notions that operate in a more [...]

In this text, art critic Mário Pedrosa argues that reason and logic can interfere with appreciation of a work of art or, even, a work of architecture. Citing architecture critic Geoffrey Scott, Pedrosa advocates “simple and immediate perception [...]

This debate was organized by the journal Módulo, bringing together critics in different fields (visual arts, music, literature, film, etc.) from the major communications media in Brazil. As representative of the visual arts, critic Frederico Morais [...]

Brazilian art critic Mário Pedrosa writes this article in response to a text published in the press by Jaime Maurício, another critic who had expressed his “dislike” for the term “informal(ist),” which was used to designate some non- [...]

In this text, Mário Pedrosa discusses the change in critical values in relation to the rapid transformation in artistic production in the late 20th century. He points out that critics often act as advocates of a given movement rather than heeding [...]

The text proposes an axiological re-evaluation of architecture based on spatial values using the theories of Geoffrey Scott. In Mário Pedrosa’s judgment, awareness of space depends on movement, which generates an organic relationship of [...]

In his critique, Mário Pedrosa states there has been a “deepening of meaning” since the forms of expression belonging to children and primitive peoples have been incorporated into modern art. In his words, he affirms that through this inclusion [...]

In this text critic Mário Pedrosa presents the second Grupo Frente exhibition at the MAM-RJ (Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro), calling the reader’s attention to the distinctive characteristics of each artist. He praises the integration of [...]

As artistic director of the sixth biennial, Mário Pedrosa presents his general idea about the exhibition, commenting on the practice started in the second biennial (1953−54) to hold exhibitions “with a historical and curatorial stamp.” As this [...]

Mário Pedrosa cites Brasilia (the new capital of Brazil) as the supreme example of man’s ability to control his environment and build new cities anywhere, regardless of physical and climatic conditions. He considers this project, which was a huge [...]

In this text, critic Mário Pedrosa discusses Abraham Palatnik’s participation in the first edition of the São Paulo Biennial (1951), describing the artist’s work and its historical context. At the biennial, Palatnik exhibited a semi-transparent [...]

In this text, critic Mário Pedrosa analyzes the show of collages by painter Ivan Serpa held in Washington, D. C. in 1954. He remarks on Serpa’s career and on his choice of abstraction. Pedrosa also comments on the impact on Serpa’s work of [...]

In this study, Mário Pedrosa sketches a history of Brazilian architecture which he affirms did not appear spontaneously, but rather through the influence of Europe and Swiss architect Le Corbusier in particular. He compares this with a similar [...]

In this text, critic Mário Pedrosa takes stock of the activities that occurred in the framework of the “Congresso dos Críticos” in 1959. He defends that event’s organizational structure and states that praising the government’s “Nova Cap [...]

This account of the celebrated Congresso Extraordinário Internacional de Críticos de Arte (1959) by Mário Pedrosa considers what he deems the most fruitful and brilliant works produced in the fifties. He describes the ideas of the critics who [...]

This volume, which forms part of the Arte Brasileira Contemporânea (ABC) collection, discusses Brazilian artist Lygia Clark. It includes texts by the artist herself—indeed, the book is a sort of anthology of her writings—and by [...]

“Lygia Clark at Signals London, 27th May to 3rd July” is a special edition of Newsbulletin of Signals London devoted to Lygia Clark (1920−1988) on the occasion of the Brazilian artist’s first solo exhibition in England, which [...]

After the fire that destroyed the majority of the collection at the MAM-RJ (Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro) in 1978, critic Mário Pedrosa presents a proposal for the institution’s reconstruction, one that advocates for the building of a [...]

In this text art critic Mário Pedrosa comments on the paintings by patients at the psychiatric center of the Engenho de Dentro, exhibited in an art gallery in Rio de Janeiro. He takes the opportunity to analyze the works of the following residents: [...]

In this text, art critic Mário Pedrosa remarks on an article written by architect Oscar Niemeyer for the magazine Módulo in which he describes his process of creation and discusses the question of visual control. Pedrosa sees the text by Niemeyer [...]

The aim of this text by Mário Pedrosa is to discuss the situation of the artist in a modern society oriented to mass production—an essential consideration in current artistic expression. Pedrosa provides a historical overview that begins with the [...]

In Mário Pedrosa’s view, Oscar Niemeyer’s stance on architecture and its eventual recovery was shaken to the core when his social consciousness was awakened. Niemeyer was initially a staunch believer in the idea of “originality,” though he [...]

In this article the critic Mário Pedrosa discusses the proposed reconstruction of the MAM-RJ (Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro) after it was partly destroyed by a fire in 1978. Pedrosa suggests that the original institution should be replaced [...]

In this text, Mário Pedrosa offers a critique of the Tiradentes mural by Candido Portinari, commenting on the event represented and the monumental nature of the work. He analyzes the form and composition of the mural, concluding that it lacks unity [...]

Mário Pedrosa discusses the exhibitions Opinião 65 and Opinião 66, explaining that these (“opinion”) events were not simply opportunities to showcase the latest thing in contemporary art. Pedrosa notes that the selection—based on the popular [...]

This article is about the construction of a plaza designed for cultural activities at the new USP (Universidade de São Paulo) campus. The article is in three parts: the first part describes the plaza that has been built in front of the Rectory; the [...]

In this article Mário Pedrosa discusses the differences between the São Paulo and the Rio de Janeiro versions of concrete art. In his (rather Manichaeisticly oversimplified) view, the former are a more theoretical, rigid response to the dogmatic [...]

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 [...]