This essay by the curator and art historian Frederico [de] Morais (born 1936) was printed on the back of the poster that was published by the Galeria de Arte BANERJ, Rio de Janeiro, in 1984 to promote the three-part exhibition Ciclo de exposições sobre arte no Rio de Janeiro: 1. Neoconcretismo/1959–1961, 2. Grupo frente/1954–1956, 3. I Exposição Nacional de Arte Abstrata Hotel Quintandinha/1953. The essays “Neoconcretismo e Merleau-Ponty” (doc. no. 1315430) by Wilson Coutinho and “Arte neoconcreta: uma experiência radical” (doc. no. 1315414) by Ferreira Gullar, which can be found in the ICAA digital archive, were both printed in the catalogue that was produced for the exhibitions.
The critic Frederico [de] Morais was a regular contributor to Rio de Janeiro newspapers such as Diário de Notícias and O Globo for many years. In addition to being an art curator and professor in Brazil during the 1960s and 1970s, Morais was quite a committed art critic; he threw his support behind several avant-garde movements during that period. As director of the Museu de Arte Moderna de Rio de Janeiro (MAM-RJ) from 1967 to 1973, he was responsible for class scheduling, and continued to give lectures at various universities, including the Faculdade de Arquitectura de la Pontifícia Universidad Católica. He has published thirty-six books on Brazilian and Latin American art, and has curated exhibitions in Brazil and elsewhere, including the retrospective Vanguarda Brasileira (Belo Horizonte, 1966) and the Ia. Bienal de Artes Visuais do Mercosul (Porto Alegre, 1989).
[Regarding the various issues that Morais mentions in his essay, see the following in the ICAA digital archive: “Declaração de princípios básicos da vanguarda” (doc. no. 1110371) and “A vocação construtiva da arte latino-americana” (doc. no. 808244), both of which address his thoughts on the background of Concrete art; see also: “Da crítica como produtora de teorias à socialização da atividade crítica” (doc. no. 777169) and “Contra a arte culta. A liderança dos ‘velhos’. O público de volta” (doc. no. 1110553) for musings concerning the origins of Neo-Concrete art.]
