This is a review of Poemas Negros, the book written by Jorge de Lima and illustrated by the painter Lasar Segall. The reviewer, Rubén Navarra, flatly considers Poemas Negros to be a “transcendental step” in modern Brazilian literature. He discusses the graphic design of the book and, especially, Segall’s illustrations. He thinks the reproductions of the drawings are too small and the images lack uniformity. Navarra praises the Abstract qualities of Segall’s drawings for their somber look and use of line. He sees links between the drawings for this book and other works by the Lithuanian illustrator.   

This review notes the importance of the Poemas Negros, the writer Jorge de Lima, and the painter Lasar Segall. The critic Rubén Navarra regrets that it has taken so long to publish this book, since many of the poems were written in the 1920s and 1930s. African culture and the social circumstances experienced by black Brazilians were, in those days, the major themes of Brazilian modernism’s search for the country’s cultural identity—slavery had only just been abolished in 1888 [see Macunaíma (1928) by Mário de Andrade and Cobra Norato (1931) by Raúl Bopp]. Jorge de Lima’s text underscores the importance of exploring the black experience and culture in Brazilian literature. In the visual arts, the subject has been addressed by both Emiliano di Cavalcanti and Segall in their work. Lasar Segall (1891–1957) was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, where his family was part of the Jewish community. He enrolled in the School of Applied Arts in Berlin and, in the early years of the century, spent time at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1912 he traveled to Brazil, where his siblings were already living. The Centro de Ciências e Artes de Campinas (SP) bought one of his paintings: Cabeça de menina russa (1908). He returned to Europe during the First World War. Joining forces with a group of German painters (such as Otto Dix) he co-founded the Dresdner Sezession – Gruppe 1919. After an exhibition of Russian art in Hanover in 1921 he was in touch with Kandinsky. In 1923 Segall returned to Brazil. He painted a mural at the Pavilhão de Arte Moderna, a meeting place for artists and intellectuals at the home of the great promoter of the Semana de Arte Moderna of 1922, Mrs. Olivia Guedes Penteado. The noted critic, poet, musicologist, and cultural promoter, Mário de Andrade (1893–1945), closely followed Segall’s career in Brazil, writing several articles outlining what he described as the painter’s “visual art biography” during the time he lived in Brazil, essay included in 1943 in the Catálogo da exposição promovida pelo Ministério da Educação [see the ICAA digital archive (doc. no. 783296)]. Regarding the project promoted by the Sociedade Pró-Arte Moderna de São Paulo (SPAM, 1934), which Segall cofounded, see the statute written by Mário de Andrade (doc. no. 783393).