INTRODUCING BRAZIL - Brazil - page 24

Brazilian Artists & Writers
Brazil's first artists and writers were religious, and a
tradition of uniquely Brazilian ecclesiastical art
continued into the 20th century. Secular art in Brazil
ceased to derive from Europe only in the 1920s after
the emergence of the antropofagismo movement,
which appropriated western themes into specifically
Brazilian contexts. Brazil's writers found a voice in
the work of 19th-century writers such as Joaquim
Maria Machado de Assis and Euclides da Cunha. The
explosion of Modernism in the early 20th century has
left Brazil with a diverse literary output which remains
largely unexplored by English-language publishers.

pastoral idylls of the Dutch
artist Frans Post (1612-80)
and the formal portraits of
the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste
Debret (1768-1848).
The first painting to make
use of Brazil's rich tropical
light was Caipira Picando
Fumo by José Ferraz de
Almeida Júnior (1850-99).
However, a truly Brazilian
style emerged only in the
1920s with antropofagismo ,
a movement propagating
“cultural cannibalism,” which
adapts ideas from European
art and literature and
reworks them in Brazilian
terms. Tarsila do Amaral
(1886-1973) produced the
movement's most repre-
sentative paintings, and was
followed by Lasar Segall
(1891-1957) and Anita
Malfatti (1896-1964).
Other artists pursued
Modernism according to
their own ideas. Emiliano
Di Cavalcanti (1897-1976)
turned to the masses for
inspiration, producing
impressionistic, erotic icons
of black Brazilian women.
Candido Portinari (1903-62),
with a far more obvious
social conscience, produced
O Mestiço that showed the
dignity of Brazilian workers,
while his Os Retirantes
portrayed their misery. The
sculptor Victor Brecheret
(1894-1955) offered a
Brazilian take on Art Deco,
while Alfredo Volpi (1896-
1988) brought Brazilian
colors to abstract
impressionism. São Paulo's
large ethnic Japanese com-
munity continues to produce
artists, such as Tomie Ohtake
(b.1913), who pay Brazilian
homage to the styles and
techniques of Japan.
Brazil's contemporary art
scene is lively and diverse.
Most prominently, the works
of photographer Sebastião
Salgado (b.1944) are rooted
in the ideas of Liberation
Theology (see p34) . Artist
Siron Franco (b.1947) uses
naive, surreal forms to
highlight social and
environmental issues.

Ceiling painted by Dom Adelbert Gresnicht, Mosteiro São Bento, São Paulo

and José Joaquim da Veiga
Valle (1806-74) in Goiás.
In the 19th and 20th centu-
ries, illusionism was largely
lost but for the work of
Benedito Calixto (1853-1927)
in Santos and São Paulo, and
the Dutch artist Adelbert
Gresnicht, who painted the
Beuronese interior of São
Paulo's Mosteiro São Bento.

CHURCH ART

Brazil's first great artists
were European priests. Frei
Domingos da Conceição
(1643-1718) was responsible
for the interiors of the São
Bento monasteries in Rio and
Olinda. Father Agostinho de
Piedade (1580-1661) and
18th-century Francisco Xavier
Brito, whose works can be
found in Rio de Janeiro and
Minas Gerais, introduced the
Baroque style, developing it
as uniquely Brazilian.
Brito almost certainly taught
the great artist, Aleijadinho
(see p131) , whose statuary
mocks the racist Portuguese
colonists, most notably at the
basilica in Congonhas and the
Igreja São Francisco in Ouro
Preto. The latter also
preserves the finest paintings
by another subtle satiricist,
Mestre (Manuel da Costa)
Athayde (1762-1830).
Illusionism in religious art
was developed by José
Joaquim da Rocha (1737-
1807) in Salvador, Mestre
Valentim (1750-1813) in Rio,

SECULAR ART
Brazil's first secular art was
European in theme and
technique, best seen in the

Alfredo Volpi, painter known for
his signature Brazilian palette