The collection of prints by Lívio Abramo (1903–1993) featured in this eleventh issue of Clima, the avant-garde magazine, reveals the profound interest in social issues that defined this key period in the artist’s life: his expulsion from the PCB (Brazilian Communist Party) in 1932 for his undisguised Trotskyist sympathies.
Clima (1941–44) was known as the first truly modern magazine devoted to art and culture. A leftist publication, it gave pride of place to the essays written by its contributors. It was run by the noted intellectual (and curator of the first biennials) Lourival Gomes Machado. Its most regular contributors were the writer Décio de Almeida Prado, the renowned literary critic Antonio Candido, and Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes, who handled film reviews, among others.
[As complementary reading see the ICAA digital archive for the following articles published in Clima: “Construtivismo,” by Jacob Ruchti (doc. no. 780261); “Explicação dêste número,” by Antônio Girão Barroso, Aluízio Medeiros, and João Climaco Bezerra (doc. no. 1110789); and “O outro cavalo de Troia” (doc. no. 1110724) and “Rebolo” (doc. no. 1091476), both by Lourival Gomes Machado]. [See also, in the ICAA digital archive, the following articles about Lívio Abramo’s work: by Geraldo Ferraz, (untitled) [Insere-se nossa primeira recordação de Livio Abramo num pequeno desenho] (doc. no. 1110574), (untitled) [No Brasil, nos primeiros salões nacionais de belas artes] (doc. no. 1110610), and (untitled) [Indiscutivelmente, em nossas artes do desenho] (doc. no. 1110611); and by José Neistein, “Madeira, pedra e metal: os gravadores” (doc. no. 1110575) and “Livio Abramo: forty years of engraving and drawings” (doc. no. 1110608)].
