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 development: Brazilian modernist literature, which writers living in Paris intuited, discovering “primitivism” (ingenuous, savage, anti-intellectual) by fusing culture and instinct. Pedrosa explains the socio-economic and political forces of the 1930s and how they helped foster the new Brazilian architecture that resulted, like it or not, from the then-dominant dictatorial power: the authoritarian government of Getúlio Vargas during the Estado Novo (1930–45). In contrast to Mexican muralism, in Brazil, architecture came before murals with regard to socially-engaged art; and since it received support from the dictatorship, this architecture resulted in sumptuous buildings characterized by freedom of form, rather than focusing on the everyday home. [This is the case with the historical hallmark of the era, the MAS (Ministério de Educação e Saúde, 1936) building, whose creation was driven from start to finish by Minister Gustavo Capanema]. Pedrosa discusses the important place it holds within public projects, highlighting its features such as the brise-soleil along the facades, and the artistic inventiveness (curves and horizontal lines) of Brazilian architecture. In mentioning Roberto Burle Marx, he exalts the importance of gardens and praises the integration of the arts. 

Lecture presented by art critic Mário Pedrosa in France in 1953, and later published in Architecture d’Aujourd’hui magazine. It should be noted that the Brazilian critic credits the architectural field for its leadership in bringing new elements to society, thanks to mass production processes that foster new materials and techniques. Pedrosa believes that young artists follow constructivist trends because of their intrinsic commitment to the artistic manipulation of space; in his judgment, this is fundamental to achieving a “synthesis of the arts.”

Mário Pedrosa (1900–81) was an intellectual and politician, and undoubtedly the key theoretician and critic on Brazilian art of the 20th century. He began as an international politics correspondent for the Diário da Noite, and beginning in the 1920s he was affiliated with the PCB (Communist Party of Brazil). He was imprisoned in 1932 because of his political militancy (Trotskyism). During the Estado Novo of Getúlio Vargas, he lived in exile in France and New York, and only returned to Brazil after the Second World War, when he worked for the Correio da Manhã. His stance against Stalinism led him to found the Vanguarda Socialista, a weekly publication. He presented a thesis on aesthetics called “Da natureza afetiva da forma na obra de arte” (1949) at the School of Architecture (Rio) that made use of his philosophical background, and his knowledge of Gestalt psychology; during that time he was also one of the founders of the AICA (1948) and also organized the International Conference of Art Critics (Brasilia, 1959). He wrote an arts column for the Tribuna da Imprensa (1950–54) and was an organizing member of the II and III São Paulo Biennials (1953 and 1955), later becoming director of the MAM-SP (1961–63). He served as secretary for the National Council of Culture during the brief government of Jânio Quadros. During the military dictatorship he took refuge in Chile, where he became director of the Museo de la Solidaridad in Santiago; after the Pinochet coup (1973), he left for Havana, where he served as secretary for the Museo de la Resistencia Salvador Allende. He only returned to Brazil in 1977 (at the beginning of the amnesty) and was the first to sign the manifesto creating the PT (Party of Workers, 1980). His vast library (which included eight thousand volumes) is partially available at the national library in Rio de Janeiro.

[As complementary reading, see the following texts by Mário Pedrosa in the ICAA digital archive: “Abstração ou figuração ou realismo?” (doc. no. 1085648); “Arquitetura e crítica de arte” (doc. no. 1086553); “Crise nas artes individuais” (doc. no. 1110406); “Da abstração a auto-expressão” (doc. no. 1085707); “Da lógica na apreciação artística” (doc. no. 1086587); “Debate: o artista e a crítica” (doc. no. 1110951); “Lições do Congresso de Críticos” (doc. no. 1110410); “Paulistas e cariocas” (doc. no. 1085056); “Pintura brasileira e moda internacional” (doc. no. 1126469); and “Problemas da pintura brasileira” (doc. no. 1075171)].