In this poetic essay, which was included in the brochure produced for the Prêmio Leirner de Arte Contemporânea (Leirner Prize for Contemporary Art) in 1960, Décio Pignatari discusses the concept of “avant-garde” and related ideas. Rather than describing its discursive and linear evolution, he explores the term through the lens of a constellation of periods, individuals, groups, and associations that discerned a concrete sense of the avant-garde even though it was being continually reinvented. By claiming that the Concrete artists in São Paulo were the pivotal point on the axis of Brazilian painting, he tries to show how the group’s highly complex energy lost its consistency, creating an entropy that, ultimately, weakened that definition. If, therefore, the notion of an “avant-garde group” becomes somewhat unstable, the idea then emerges somewhere else. Pignatari suggests that the artists in Campinas are the latest ones to embrace that kind of work: “Raúl Porto and Thomaz Perina,” he writes, “represent the idea of avant-garde.” He uses his poetic language to reflect the dialectical tensions in Porto’s work: all/nothing, positive/negative, light/dark, figure/background, white/black, symmetry/asymmetry, as well as the “special environment.”

The Concrete poet and semiologist Décio Pignatari (1927–2012) and Raúl Porto (see doc. no. 1233093) were close friends. In 1952 Pignatari helped to launch the magazine Noigandres before moving to Europe where he lived for a few years. On his return, he and the Noigandres group started the Concrete poetry movement during the Exposição Nacional de Arte Concreta in 1956 at the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM-SP). In 1965 he contributed Teoria da Poesia Concreta (Theory of Concrete Poetry). Pignatari’s interest in the fields of theory and semiotics is made clear in this essay, which was included in the publication produced for the 1960 Prêmio Leirner de Arte Contemporânea along with articles by Oswaldo de Andrade Filho (1914–1972), Waldemar Cordeiro (1925–1973), and Wolfgang Pfeiffer (1912–2003). The document includes a brief chronological review of the artist’s experience and a list of exhibited works.  

This exhibition sparked an alternative to the Bienal de São Paulo and, one way or another, Leirner opened a space intended for that very purpose: the place that became known as Galeria de Arte das Folhas. This space hosted exhibitions, debates, and lectures that catered to a wide range of trends. Galeria de Arte das Folhas was established in 1958 by Isaí Leirner (1903–1962), one of the directors of the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, with the assistance of the Grupo Folha that, among other things, published the newspaper Folha de São Paulo. The idea for the creation of the gallery arose out of a disagreement that flared up during the fourth Bienal de São Paulo held in 1957. Flávio de Carvalho (1899–1973), an eccentric poète maudit and controversial artist during the 1930s, who had been excluded from the biennial, accused the organizing committee of prejudice, claiming that it had shown favoritism toward Concrete art, thus dismissing any kind of figurative art. As a result of this incident, Isaí Leirner organized the exhibition 12 Artistas de São Paulo in the lobby of the newspaper’s offices in the Alameda Barão de Limeira—which was adjacent to the public thoroughfare in the historic Campos Elísios neighborhood. It was a space devoted to the visual arts that was in clear violation of the biennial’s rules. Ironically, the exhibition referred to in the article—which was organized a year after the gallery opened—was all about Concrete art. In other words, another disaster for Carvalho. The gallery was open from 1958 to 1962, the year when Isaí Leirner, the exhibition space’s main champion, passed away. During its four-year lifespan, the gallery showed works by several emerging artists, including Franz Weissmann, Regina Silveira, Maria Helena Andrés, Mário Silésio, Di Cavalcanti, Willys de Castro, and Hermelindo Fiaminghi. [Regarding the complete catalogue, see the following in the ICAA digital archive: “Prêmio Leirner de Arte Contemporânea, 1960” (doc. no. 1232976).]

One of those chosen for the Prêmio Leirner in 1960 was Raúl Porto, who showed an early interest in painting and graphic design. His work was included in the Primeira exposição de arte contemporânea de Campinas in 1957. A year later he joined the Grupo Vanguarda and became the group’s “spokesman.” In time, Porto achieved a certain measure of fame. He took part in the fifth, seventh, eighth, and ninth editions of the Bienal de São Paulo. (Regarding Pignatari’s critique of Porto, see doc. 1233071">1233071.) Though the Prêmio Leirner was created as a way to recognize the work of figurative artists who were shunted aside by the biennial, the fact that Pignatari was involved and Raúl Porto was included in the exhibition suggests that Concrete works were also recognized. Somewhat in line with the Manifesto ruptura (see doc. no. 771349), the Grupo Vanguarda believed that art from the past risked becoming outdated and that art must be constantly and progressively renewed. The Grupo Vanguarda presented more than twenty exhibitions from 1957 to 1966.    

[As complementary reading, see: “Pignatari: Vanguarda e Raúl Porto” (doc. no. 1233071">1233071) and “A arte concreta brasileira” (doc. no. 1110350) by Décio Pignatari.]