The Brazilian sociologist and congressman Gilberto Freyre (1900−87) was one of the intellectuals who exerted the greatest influence on his country during the first half of the twentieth century, especially regarding racial issues. Around 1933, Freyre received international recognition for his major work Casa-Grande e Senzala, published in English as The Masters and the Slaves, the first of a series of three works that included Sobrados e mucambos (The Mansions and the Shanties), 1936, and, finally, Ordem e Progresso, 1957 [see in the ICAA digital archive the following texts on the subject, respectively: “Interamericanismo” (doc. no. 807911) and “A propósito da política cultural do Brasil na América” (doc. no. 807856)].
It was Freyre who led a group of writers who aligned themselves with his “Manifesto Regionalista” [see in the archive “Manifesto Regionalista de 1926” (doc. no. 1074787), his twenty-five year retrospective in “Manifesto Regionalista de 1926: vinte e cinco anos depois” (doc. no. 1110808), and fifty years later in “Regionalismo brasileiro” (doc. no. 1110810)].
In Recife (the capital of the state of Pernambuco), beyond the pictorial research on abstraction begun by the brothers Vicente and Joaquim do Rêgo Monteiro in the third decade of the twentieth century, it was the work of Cícero Dias in the mid-1940s that brought visibility to abstract art in Brazil. After his exhibition at the Faculdade de Direito do Recife, and the completion in 1948 of a large abstract mural at the Secretaria Estadual da Fazenda, there was a realization in the northeastern state of Brazil of what abstract art was. Faced with varied reactions and controversy, the magazine Região published a series of articles and interviews to clarify to the readers the fundamentals of abstraction, including this text written by Freyre.
Published in Recife from 1945 to approximately December 1948, the magazine Região (issue number ten) was initially under the editorial direction of Flávio Guerra. From 1946, its “new phase” was under the editorial direction of Edson Regis. It programmatically proposed the dissemination of “all literary and artistic modernity movements” in Pernambuco. The journal had many contributors, but Vicente do Rego Monteiro was without doubt the most outstanding advocate of modern trends in Brazil.
[For further reading, see in the archive the following texts on the subject: “Conversa com Cícero Dias: ‘No abstrato está o futuro da pintura’” (unattributed) (doc. no. 1111000); and “A exposição de Cícero Dias,” by Olívio Montenegro (doc. no. 1110796)].