Here, José Valladares comments on the launching of his book Dominicais [Sunday Essays], which is a collection of his texts published  between 1948 and 1950 in the Diário de Notícias, a daily newspaper in the city of Salvador (state of Bahia). He is convinced that the “acceptance” of Modern art in Salvador is a somewhat relative matter, because there are so few people with in-depth knowledge of artwork that embodies that trend. Under these circumstances, Valladares believes that, ultimately, the recognition of Modern art will depend on the quality of the work shown by local artists.

In this document, the critic José Valladares explains the acceptance of Modern art in the conservative state of Bahia. At the same time, he sounds an alert about the dangers and risks attendant upon a possible “easy acceptance” of his approaches and work. In the 1940s and 1950s, the artists who represented a revival of art in that part of northeastern Brazil were Carlos Bastos, Genaro de Carvalho, Mário Cravo Jr. and Jenner Augusto.

With his background in the study of museum organization, the journalist/critic José [Antonio do Prado] Valladares (1917–59) was named director of the Museu do Estado da Bahia (1939–43). He also taught Aesthetics courses at the Universidade da Bahia (founded in 1946), subsequently renamed the Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBa). At the same time, he wrote art criticism in the local press; in some cases, he was the first to consider the work of young artists who were the ones to introduce Modernist values into the art world of that region. 

[In the ICAA digital archive, see the following writings by José Valladares: “Movimento artístico bahiano” (doc. no. 1110700), “O salão bahiano I: visitantes e instalação” (doc. no. 1110847), “O anjo azul”  (doc. no. 1110844), “Realismo e abstracionismo” (doc. no. 1110848), “A exposição de Carlos Bastos” (doc. no. 1110695), regarding Mário Cravo Jr., “Surge um escultor” (doc. no. 1110701), and on Poty Lazzarotto, “As gravuras de Poty” (doc. no. 1110846)].