Frederico [de] Morais (b.1936) is one of the key figures in Brazilian art criticism. He was a newspaper art critic for many years, at Diário de Notícias and at O Globo, both of which were in Rio de Janeiro. He was one of the most active of the “committed” critics of the 1960s and 1970s, having supported a number of avant-garde movements of the period and worked as a curator.
In this document—as in others in which he specifically advocates a “Revisão do método crítico” [doc. no. 1110473]—the author’s intention to take a methodological approach is evident. In this particular case, having noticed an “increased theoretical activity” among some of his colleagues in Latin American countries, Morais defends criticism as a “producer of theories,” and goes as far as to propose the “socialization” of critical activity. Implying no “disparagement of the creative act,” he suggests that reflection about art should focus on the fact that “a work of art exists in a social environment, under the control of society’s means of distribution and consumption.” He goes on to mention the work of art critics such as Raquel Tibol and Ida Rodríguez Prampolini (Mexico), Aldo Pellegrini and Jorge Romero Brest (Argentina), and the Brazilians Mário Pedrosa, Ferreira Gullar, and Aracy Amaral.