Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In this text, originally published in 1943 in a portfolio of drawings and prints entitled Mangue, by Lasar Segall, Mário de Andrade defines the drawing in its calligraphic, lyrical and “extra-visual” properties, coming to consider it as “ [...]

According to Mário de Andrade, the author of this text on Jorge de Castro’s work—specifically on his show at the Palace Hotel do Rio de Janeiro in late 1939—which was published in the “Suplemento em Rotogravura,” de Castro has finally [...]

In this text, Mário de Andrade critically reflects on the French influence on Brazil, which was hegemonic in the second half of the 19th century, but mitigated, de Andrade argues, by the maturation of Brazilian culture. The author opposes the [...]

This critical article on the work of the Japanese artist Tsuguharu Fujita was published during his stay in Brazil, in 1931–32. The writer Mário de Andrade explores the links between Fujita’s work (painted in France) and the European pictorial [...]

This is an album of drawings and prints by Lasar Segall depicting the red light district in Rio de Janeiro known as “Mangue.” The album includes essays by the writers and poets Jorge de Lima, Mário de Andrade, and Manuel Bandeira. The first of [...]

This article is about the painter from Minas Gerais, Alberto da Veiga Guignard’s early years as an art professor in the city of Belo Horizonte. He taught a free course on painting and drawing, originally at the Parque Municipal and later at the [...]

In this article, the writer and critic Mário de Andrade discusses the painter Ismael Nery’s creative process, mentioning aspects such as the unfinished look of his works, his compositional work in a Figurative vein, and his desire to build an [...]

This is a letter from the critic Mário de Andrade to the writer Prudente de Moraes Neto. Adopting a brotherly tone, de Andrade criticizes the Surrealist nature of Moraes Neto’s article in the modernist magazine VERDE, published in Cataguazes (in [...]

While researching feminine strokes in Anita Malfatti’s painting, Mário de Andrade discerns her impetuous nature, the masculine strength of her colors, and the tragic energy of her subjects, though he also glimpses hints of humor and sadness. He [...]

In this letter, the writer Mário de Andrade critiques the researcher Luiz da Câmara Cascudo’s articles about folklore. He notes, however, the latter’s rigorous, scientific approach to the subject. The letter mentions (though not explicitly) [...]

Mário de Andrade begins this text by questioning the term “architecture” and its meaning. In his view, architectural laws obey both the laws of nature and the laws of humans that lead to arbitrary personal impulses. He establishes a difference [...]

Mário de Andrade reviews Amérique Latine, the book by the French sociologist André Siegfried, criticizing the author’s method which, in de Andrade’s view, takes a far too general approach that fails to grasp the complexities of this particular [...]

Mário de Andrade notes the nuances in the style of this Brazilian author who lives in Argentina—where he was forced into exile by the Estado Novo—and recognizes his ability to discuss a wide range of subjects with admirable self-possession and [...]

This is an interview with Mário de Andrade, who is referred to here as the “Daddy” of the new art movement that the newspaper calls “futuristic,” and that the São Paulo writer calls “modernist.” De Andrade prefers to reply to the [...]

In this article, Mário de Andrade discusses Cândido Portinari’s painting, and explains that his heterogeneity of styles, aesthetic and technical concepts and, of course, virtuosity are integral components of the drama of being a contemporary [...]

This article is about the Salão Nacional de Belas Artes that was organized by the architect Lúcio Costa; it explains that the organizing committee decided that no submission would be rejected. This prompted the “old guard” artists to boycott [...]

Mário de Andrade addresses this open letter to the writer Alberto de Oliveira, and in principle, defends the literature produced by Brazilian Romanticism, a group associated with a primitive approach to art combined with social, religious, sexual, [...]

This [document] by Mário de Andrade is a reply, dated May 20, 1928, to the letter in which Augusto Meyer discussed the former’s controversial activity, conscience, and references to national subject matter. De Andrade outlines his intellectual [...]

In this letter to the painter Tarsila do Amaral, the writer Mário de Andrade urges her, Sérgio Milliet, and Oswald de Andrade—the “country folk” who have become futurists during their stay in Paris—to return to the “virgin jungle,” to [...]

This is Mário de Andrade’s critical review of Hugo Adami’s exhibition at the Casa das Arcadas (São Paulo, 1928). This was Adami’s first solo show following his return from Europe. De Andrade discusses the artist’s virtuoso technique and his [...]

SPAM (Sociedade Pró-Arte Moderna) was founded in December 1932 in São Paulo. Its stated goals were to create closer artistic ties, and relationships between artists and the public. The catalogue for the SPAM 1ª Exposição de Arte Moderna includes [...]

The exhibition of works by the painter Lasar Segall at the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes in Rio de Janeiro (1943), under the auspices of the recently-opened Ministério da Educação e Saúde, was the largest show the Lithuanian-born artist had ever [...]

The writer and art critic Mário de Andrade makes an extremely interesting comment about printmaking, noting that prints are not among “collectors’ favorite items.” In his opinion, this is why Brazilian art production suffers, a situation that [...]

This document is a reply by Mário de Andrade to the poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade, dated November 22, 1924. In it, de Andrade voices his opposition to what he considers to be the false binomial that distinguishes national from universal criteria, [...]

The Brazilian art critic Mário de Andrade reviews São Paulo and Morro da Favela [Shanty Town Hill], two of the paintings that were presented at the first solo exhibition of work by Tarsila do Amaral (in São Paulo, 1929). In de Andrade’s opinion [...]

Mário de Andrade, the writer and member of the Brazilian “modernist” movement—[this version of “modernism” had nothing to do with the literary movement headed by Rubén Darío that followed European avant-garde ideas]—described Tarsila [...]

Mário de Andrade authored the draft for the internal structuring of SPAN [National Artistic Heritage Service], the entity that oversees eight categories of artistic activities: archeological art, Amerindian art, popular art, historical art, national [...]

In this essay, the writer and researcher in the field of Brazilian music and folklore Mário de Andrade discusses the confusion surrounding the term “primitive” which, in his opinion, is being incorrectly used by art critics. He therefore “only [...]

Writing in a declarative style, Mário de Andrade launches into his “prefacio interesantísimo” [extremely interesting preface] by referring to the so-called “fundação do desvairismo” [Foundation of Delirium]. Alternately joking and [...]

The noted Brazilian intellectual, Mário de Andrade presents Candido Portinari’s drawings for the Ministério da Educação e Saúde building in Rio de Janeiro, the signature project of Brazilian modern architecture. De Andrade explains that the [...]

In this article, the writer Mário de Andrade discusses the photomontages of poet Jorge de Lima. In the opinion of de Andrade, photomontage can be considered a new medium for lyrical expression and an introduction to modern art. He thinks that those [...]

In this letter to the intellectual Paulo Duarte, Mário de Andrade discusses the need for a policy governing the protection of the cultural heritage of Brazil in order to prevent the scourge of contraband and the sale of artwork of historical or [...]

In April 1942, in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Semana de Arte Moderna [Modern Art Week] at the Teatro Municipal in São Paulo in 1922, Mário de Andrade gave a talk at the library of the Ministério das Relações [...]

The writer Mário de Andrade reviews Feuilles de route [Leaves of the Road], the book by the Swiss poet Blaise Cendrars, illustrated by Tarsila do Amaral. The reviewer refers to the Brazilian countryside, which he compares with Cendrars’ writing [...]

After criticizing the selection made in the United States to represent Brazil at the Latin American Exhibition of Visual Arts that was held in New York during the 1939 World’s Fair, the great Brazilian polymath, Mário de Andrade continues by [...]