This essay by the Brazilian art critic Wilson Coutinho appeared in the catalogue for the exhibition Ciclo de exposições sobre arte no Rio de Janeiro: 1. Neoconcretismo (Rio de Janeiro: Galeria de Arte BANERJ, 1984). The essay outlines the origins and evolution of the Neo-Concrete art movement, underscoring the importance of the paradigmatic 1977 exhibition Projeto Construtivo Brasileiro na Arte organized by Aracy Amaral at the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo. Coutinho also makes a couple of critical points: he identifies the major figures in the Rio de Janeiro movement (such as Ferreira Gullar, Hélio Oiticica, and Lygia Clark) and draws attention to its phenomenological approach as expressed by Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s ideas, which provided the philosophical backdrop for the group. 

This essay was published in the catalogue for the exhibition Ciclo de exposições sobre arte no Rio de Janeiro: 1. Neoconcretismo (1984). The essay “Arte neoconcreta: uma experiência radical” by the art theorist and critic [José Ribamar] Ferreira Gullar (1930–2016) that can be found in the ICAA digital archive (doc. no. 1315414), appeared in the same catalogue. [For more information about the basics of the Brazilian Neo-Concrete movement written by the critic, see the following documents: “Manifesto Neoconcreto” (doc. no. 1110328); “Do quadro ao não-objeto” (doc. no. 1091272); “Cor e estrutura-cor” (doc. no. 1091219); “Arte Concreta” (doc. no. 1315020), and “Da arte concreta à arte neoconcreta” (doc. no. 1315036).]

The paradigmatic exhibition Projeto Construtivo Brasileiro na Arte (1977) was hugely influential in Brazil, elbowing aside an innovative reading on the meaning of rationalist movements in Brazilian art. The event took place in 1977 at the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, and later at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM-RJ).

[For more information about this exhibition, see: “Projeto construtivo brasileiro na arte” (doc. no. 1110680) by Lygia Pape; “A arquitetura é a grande arte de nosso tempo—1948: Romero Brest em São Paulo” (doc. no. 1314972) by Ferreira Gullar; “Concretismo/ Neoconcretismo” by Frederico Morais (doc. no. 1315134); and “O problema da educação artística depois da Bauhaus” (doc. no. 1315069) by Tomás Maldonado.]

Wilson Coutinho (1947−2003) was a profesor of philosophy, a journalist, and an art critic; he was a graduate of the Université de Louvain, Belgium. In one of his journalistic stints he was the editor of the Segundo Caderno O Globo. For a brief period he was the curator at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM-RJ), and played a key role in arranging for an exhibition of works by Camille Claudel at the museum. He worked at RioArte, Rio de Janeiro, and at the Ministério Estadoal de Cultura, where he published three series of books: Perfis do Rio, Cantos do Rio, and Areias do Rio.