Frederico Morais reviews Opinião 66, the exhibition presented at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro in 1966. He compares the exhibited works and the state of art in Brazil to the art being produced in France at the time, arguing that the Brazilian version is superior because it is not burdened by the weight of tradition. This unique Brazilian quality benefits its ability to challenge artistic languages. Morais is convinced that the works by Waldemar Cordeiro (in São Paulo), Hélio Oiticica, Antonio Dias, and Rubens Gerchman (in Rio de Janeiro) represent the true “Brazilian point of view,” and are not mere Dada pastiches.

Opinião 66 was the second in a series of three exhibitions organized by MAM-Rio to show the art produced in Rio de Janeiro in the 1960s. The other two exhibitions were Opinião 65 (1965) and Nova Objetividade Brasileira (1967).

Frederico Morais (b. 1936) is one of the key figures in Brazilian art criticism. He was a newspaper art critic for many years, at Diário de Notícias and at O Globo, both of which were in Rio de Janeiro. He was one of the most active of the “committed” critics of the 1960s and 1970s, having supported a number of avant-garde movements of the period and worked as a curator. During the blanket military censorship imposed by AI-5 (Acto Institucional no. 5, 1969), Morais saw the emergence of a new type of Brazilian art that he called “counter-art” or “guerrilla art.” He began to question the critic’s role as a judge of values and works of art, proposing instead a “new criticism” that he embodied by operating from within the source of art production and in direct contact with the artist.

In reference to this matter, see by Ferreira Gullar, “Opinião 65” [doc. no. 1090530]; in addition to the above-mentioned exhibition catalogues: Opinião 65 (1965) and Nova Objetividade Brasileira (1967).