In this paean to modern urban life, written by the well-known modernist poet Menotti del Picchia, the highways, the media, and the industrial sector all work together in perfect harmony to consolidate “new values.” He bemoans “our obsolete artistic mindset” which, in his opinion, is not keeping up with the rapid pace of cultural and socioeconomic change at the dawn of the twentieth century. He urges the reader to “patriotically and courageously” create a national aesthetic.   

Novíssima was a literary and political magazine with a nationalist slant that was published in São Paulo in 1923–24, under the direction of Cassiano Ricardo and Francisco Pati. 

The well-known poet, journalist, and painter Menotti del Picchia (1892–1988) was a beneficiary of, but not always in step with, the boost to Brazilian art and literature provided by the so-called Brazilian “modernism” of the 1920s.

From the opening line, the text introduces the reader to the rhythm of modern life, as del Picchia writes: “Dr. Washington Luís [who was president of Brazil at the time] builds highways (…) The mechanical heart of the engine sets the pace for the new economic speed. We are in a hurry, there is much to be done.” By calling for the creation of “our language” and “our aesthetic,” the author pays homage to the origins of Brazilian society when he brashly suggests that an African idol or fetish is worth more than three hundred copies of the Venus de Milo and, still wearing his pamphleteer’s hat, adds “Let us be Brazilians through and through.”   

[See the following articles by the author in the ICAA digital archive: “Brecheret” (doc. no 784176); “Os intelectuais brasileiros respondem ao apêlo de Gabriela Mistral” (doc. no. 807597); and “Nhengaçu Verde-Amarelo (Manifesto do Verde Amarelismo ou a Escola da Anta)” (doc. no. 781033)].