This essay, published in 1996, attempts to systematize some dead ends that resulted from the modernization of Brazil in the field of art. Specifically, it analyzes the artwork created in the 1950s and 1960s. The writer states that both Concrete and Neo-Concrete artists started from the same constructive ideology, although they took opposite positions on modernization. This focus is similar to that of Ronaldo Brito in 1976, when he discussed the Neo-Concrete movement (see “Neoconcretismo” [doc. no. 1091308]). In turn, Salzstein makes the case that the dilemmas of modernization persist in contemporary modern art, pointing out the ongoing danger of conservative forms and art in service of ideology. When she analyzes the contemporary art scene, she is convinced that the systematic appearance of Brazilian artists on the international scene is indicative of a new wave of original contemporary thinking. The regular coexistence of art with the mainstream and the internal consolidation process must also be a part of the very same phenomenon. Brazilian art has accumulated a repertoire of various and varied poetics along with its own cultural references as points of attachment for the repertoire derived from its experience with modernity. Finally, Salzstein ponders whether such integration of Brazilian art into the international art world may have lasting repercussions beyond the simple accommodation that is a reaction to the cultural exigencies of globalization.
The writer, Sônia Salzstein, who is also an art critic and researcher, is distinguished by her incisive actions on the art and art history circuit. From 1989 to 1992, she was in charge of the visual arts department at the Centro Cultural São Paulo, where she implemented an interesting program oriented toward presenting the work of young artists. She is currently a professor of postgraduate and graduate level art courses in the Visual Arts Department at the Escola de Comunicações e Artes da Universidade de São Paulo (ECA-USP).
For another reading by Salzstein that complements this document on the issue of the integration of Brazilian art into the international art scene, see “Uma dinâmica da arte brasileira: modernidade, instituições e instância pública” [doc. no. 1111338].