This is a summary of the accusations that Joaquim Inojosa leveled against Gilberto Freyre following the 1952 republication of the “Manifesto Regionalista” [1926]. According to Inojosa, the author changed the date of the manifesto in order to gain legitimacy for himself as the harbinger of a systematic approach to thinking in the state of Pernambuco in northeastern Brazil. Inojosa alleges that in so doing, Freyre tried to cover up his role, which he had performed since 1923, as “ambassador” of modern art in that region after having witnessed the events at the famous Semana de Arte Moderna in São Paulo in 1922. According to him, he (Inojosa) had already written a letter entitled “A Arte Moderna,” which was published in the Revista Era Nova (state of Paraíba) in 1924, prior to which he edited the magazine Mauricéia—a reference to Mauricio de Nassau, the Dutch governor of the region—that was inspired by the emergence of the Modernist Movement. Inojosa admits that it was a call to the artists of the northeastern region to join forces with the São Paulo movement inspired by modern European ideas. He therefore considers himself to be a pioneer of modern art in that area, and especially, in Pernambuco. He notes in passing the conservative and traditionalist nature of the “Manifesto Regionalista” published by Freyre, who has fought tooth and nail trying to hide his association with Vicente do Rêgo Monteiro, a key figure in the avant-garde who spent decades in Paris.

In spite of being thoroughly documented and based on his previous book, O Movimento Modernista em Pernambuco (1968 and 1969), the writer Joaquim Inojosa concentrates on accusations against Gilberto Freyre but presents no substantial arguments. Although he contributed to the spread of modernist ideas and ideals in his home state of Pernambuco in the 1920s and 1930s, the author lacks any analytical or critical works to shore up modern thinking. Notwithstanding doubts concerning the date of the “Manifesto Regionalista” [see the ICAA digital archive (doc. no. 1074787)], Freyre’s work continues to be considered the first modern theoretical statement on the socioeconomic structure of the Brazilian northeast, an undisputed contribution to our understanding of Brazilian culture in the twentieth century.  

The Brazilian sociologist and Congressman Gilberto Freyre (1900–87) was one of the country’s most influential thinkers, particularly in terms of race, during the first half of the twentieth century. In 1933, Freyre achieved international recognition for his great work, Casa-Grande & Senzala,the first in a series of three volumes that included Sobrados e mucambos (1938) and Ordem e Progresso (1957) [on this subject, see the following articles in the ICAA digital archive: “Interamericanismo” (doc. no. 807911) and “A propósito da política cultural do Brasil na América” (doc. no. 807856)]. Freyre was the leader of a group of writers who endorsed his Regionalist Manifesto and his retrospective review twenty-five years later in “Manifesto Regionalista de 1926: vinte e cinco anos depois” (doc. no. 1110808), and again fifty years later in “Regionalismo brasileiro” (doc. no. 1110810).