Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In this essay about Frans Krajcberg—the Polish-born artist who lives in Brazil—the critic Roberto Pontual notes that an essential element in the artist’s work is the connection he makes between nature and art. Pontual, who wrote this essay on [...]

The well-known Brazilian art critic Frederico Morais comments on the atmosphere evident at the exhibition Como vai você, Geração 80?, which opened at the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro. The article was published one month [...]

Brazil-based art critic and curator Sheila Leirner wrote this text for the catalogue to the show 3x4 Grandes formatos held at the Centro Empresarial Rio in 1983. The author discusses the scale of the works exhibited as well as the resurgence of [...]

The art historian and critic Aracy Amaral wrote this analysis of the painting produced in the 1980s, with a focus on the art scene in São Paulo. In addition to naming the predecessors of the artists who made up that generation, the critic gives a [...]

In this text, Ronaldo Brito emphasizes the modern themes in the sculpture of José Resende; these go far beyond the mere absence of a pedestal, celebrating “the experience of the contemporary urban space, unfiltered by hierarchies.” Although the [...]

Adriano Pedrosa wrote this text on Iran do Espírito Santo’s work for the 1999 edition of the Biennale di Venezia. Pedrosa asserts that any perception of “the real” depends on the language used to express it. That is evident in do Espírito [...]

This text is an introduction to an exhibition of work by the painter Paulo Pasta at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC-USP), written by the art critic Lorenzo Mammì. The writer emphasizes Pasta’s pictorial [...]

This text was written as an introduction to an exhibition of work by Nuno Ramos at the Venice Biennale in 1995. Here, the critic Lorenzo Mammì describes a range of Brazilian art and culture in the context of globalization. After pointing out the [...]

This text by Tadeu Chiarelli discusses the work of Edgard de Souza. According to the critic, de Souza takes to the limit the Dada tradition. The themes he addresses include mass media images, and he represents objects that vacillate between greed and [...]

In the view of Tadeu Chiarelli, Jac Leirner’s art eludes any attempt at generic classification or positivist catalogization. The Brazilian artist works in series, removing objects from the flow of consumer goods until they are captured or grasped. [...]

This text was written by the Brazilian art critic and professor Tadeu Chiarelli about the exhibition Lusco Fusco (1993), by the São Paulo artist Caetano de Almeida, at the Luisa Strina gallery in that city. The writer observes that Caetano de [...]

In this text, art critic Tadeu Chiarelli presents Apropriações, the show that he organized at the Paço das Artes in São Paulo in 1990. Chiarelli discusses the ties between the art object and the real, and reflects on the role of the former in [...]

This is an interview conducted by the artist Luiz Paulo Baravelli with the painter Leda Catunda, who comments on two painting trends in São Paulo in the 1980s: subject and figure. She talks about her approach to art of the prior decade and cites the [...]

The art-making process undertaken by Ivens Machado is outlined here by another artist, Milton Machado. The purpose of the text was to introduce an exhibition of work by Ivens as part of the program Ciclo de Escultura, organized by FUNARTE (Fundação [...]

This text by British contemporary art critic Guy Brett was published on the occasion of an exhibition of work by Jac Leirner, A Bill of Wrongs, held at Galeria Millan in São Paulo in 1989. In it, Brett asserts that Leirner’s work mocks structural [...]

This essay on the work of Antonio Manuel was written by the concrete poet Décio Pignatari, who referred to the artist as “the cock of the golden eggs.” On the subject of contemporary art issues, the author describes the friction between the [...]

This text discusses the Antonio Manuel exhibition that took place within a publication of wide circulation instead of a museum or a gallery. The document “Exposição de Antonio Manuel (de las cero a las 24 horas en los estands de revistas)” [ [...]

In this interview with artist Antonio Manuel by critic Francisco Bittencourt, Manuel speaks of his early career, mentioning specifically the Salão da Bússola [Compass Salon]; the Corpobra [Body-Work] action in which he appeared naked at the Salão [...]

The exhibition Iconografia de Massa, held at the Escola Superior de Desenho Industrial (ESDI) in Rio de Janeiro (1968), was introduced by art critic Mário Barata. Using the theories of Edgar Morin as his starting point, Barata defends the idea that [...]

The art critic Frederico Morais states that one of the main aspects of art involves the participation of the viewer, and in his opinion, without that [element] the work does not exist. Under such conditions and determinants, the artist’s role ends [...]

Interviewed by Vera Pedrosa [Martins de Almeida], sculptor Frans Krajcberg discusses the changes that have occurred in his work since his arrival in Brazil (1947), where he settled. He states he went through a “concrete” phase in the 1950s until [...]

The magazine Arte Hoje published a dossier of brief texts by Brazilian critics Aline Figueiredo, Aracy Amaral, Radha Abramo, Frederico Morais, Olívio Tavares Araújo, and Roberto Pontual; and by artists José Resende, Loio Persio, [...]

In this text, critic Wilson Coutinho asserts that Tunga’s art is an enigma within the Brazilian art scene not only because it involves “desire,” but also—indeed chiefly—because it exceeds the confines of intellectualism. Tunga was part of [...]

This essay, written by the art critic Roberto Pontual, is a biographical and artistic profile of the artist Roberto Magalhães, in which the author underscores Magalhães’ penchant for working independently from his colleagues in the Nova Figura [...]

After the fire that destroyed the majority of the collection at the MAM-RJ (Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro) in 1978, critic Mário Pedrosa presents a proposal for the institution’s reconstruction, one that advocates for the building of a [...]

In this text, Ronaldo Brito discusses artist Eduardo Sued, addressing his professional consciousness as well as his unique perception of art. Brito asserts that the power of Sued’s painting “lies beyond technical tricks and the interplay [...]

This volume from the ABC – Arte Brasileira Contemporânea collection published by the Fundação Nacional das Artes (FUNARTE) addresses artist Wesley Duke Lee. In it, art critic Cacilda Teixeira da Costa provides an overview of Duke Lee’s [...]

This book about Waltercio Caldas is part of the ABC—Arte Brasileira Contemporânea—collection published by Funarte (Fundacão Nacional das Artes). A slim volume, it has a “Preface” and includes the artist’s remarks about some of his works, [...]

Book from the ABC collection (Arte Brasiliera Contemporânea), edited by FUNARTE  (Fundação Nacional das Artes). The volume is dedicated to Rubens Gerchman, and it presents his work alongside a poem by Armando Freitas Filho, using passages that [...]

Volume from the ABC collection – Arte Brasileira Contemporânea dedicated to Lygia Pape; it includes texts written by her, critic Mário Pedrosa, and a poem by Luis Otávio Pimentel, as well as some short passages written by 19th century writer [...]

This volume, which forms part of the Arte Brasileira Contemporânea (ABC) collection, discusses Brazilian artist Lygia Clark. It includes texts by the artist herself—indeed, the book is a sort of anthology of her writings—and by [...]

This book is part of the ABC (Arte Brasileira Contemporânea) collection, published by Funarte (Fundação Nacional das Artes). As the title suggests, Artur Barrio is about the artist; it includes a selection of his essays, illustrated with a variety [...]

This is a satirical article about the Salão de ’31, in which Henrique Pongetti expresses his support for the Brazilian Salon. In his opinion, what has happened is that the conservative (academic) faction has retaken power, a situation he praises [...]

In his review of Oswaldo Goeldi’s exhibition at the Salão do Instituto de Arquitetos do Brasil in Rio de Janeiro, Campofiorito asserts that Goeldi is a unique artist insofar as his work is extremely accessible to critics, yet [at the same time], [...]

The poet from Recife, Manuel Bandeira, was the model for two portraits, one by Cândido Portinari, the other by Frederico Maron, both of which were exhibited at the Salão de 31 de la Escola Nacional de Belas Artes (Rio de Janeiro). He [Bandeira] [...]

In this text, Mário Pedrosa offers a critique of the Tiradentes mural by Candido Portinari, commenting on the event represented and the monumental nature of the work. He analyzes the form and composition of the mural, concluding that it lacks unity [...]

This biographical and artistic profile on Ismael Nery was written a year after his death. The author and friend of the painter, Bruno de Menezes, establishes links to his work with particular times from Nery’s life, as well as with his interest [...]

This text written by North American architect Frank Lloyd Wright is an account of the days in October 1930 that he spent in Rio de Janeiro, capital of Brazil at the time. Wright was invited to Brazil to participate in the jury to determine which [...]

The artist Cícero Dias was the subject of this article that includes a combination of first-hand accounts on his artistic career. The text was originally published due to an exhibition on abstract art by the artist in Recife (Faculdade de Direito) [...]

The second part of a two-part essay published in the Bellas Artes newspaper, this text consists of a lecture given by artist Flávio de Carvalho at the Congrès International d’Esthétique in Paris, and later (in 1937), at the Salão de Maio in Sã [...]

The first part of a two-part essay published in the Bellas Artes newspaper, this text consists of a lecture given by artist Flávio de Carvalho at the Congrès International d’Esthétique in Paris, and later (in 1937), at the Salão de Maio in São [...]

The writer and poet Manuel Bandeira dispenses his opinions relating to the controversy stoked by attempts made by the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes (Rio de Janeiro) to reform the teachings, artistic trends, and guidelines related to its exhibitions [...]

The gender war is discussed here in macro- and micro-political terms. In fact, macro-politics concerns the expression of individual and group reality, since figures portrayed define identities and certain dual categories, such as gender. Micro- [...]

In his book Explode[AB1]  Geração! the art critic Roberto Pontual discusses his thoughts on the emergence of the generation that produced an “explosion” of painting in Brazil in the 1980s. Pontual writes in a very personal style, in keeping [...]

This text by art critic Ligia Canongia presents the exhibition Escultura Plural that she curated at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro in 1997. Canongia formulates a relationship between the notions of “plurality” and the “loss of [...]

The art critic Adriano Pedrosa wrote this essay as an introduction to Daniel Senise’s 1994 exhibition  at the Thomas Cohn Arte Contemporânea gallery in Rio de Janeiro. In Pedrosa’s opinion, the narratives in Senise’s work are as seductive [...]

Guided by certain poetic and fictional considerations, the art critic and curator Adriano Pedrosa discusses Daniel Senise’s paintings. Using short phrases that address various parts of the catalogue in a frank dialogue with the images, the author [...]

The art critic Roberto Pontual wrote this text for the exhibition 3x4 - Grandes Formatos organized in 1983 by the Centro Empresarial Rio. The essay’s confessional tone is nuanced by the author’s description of the driving spirit behind the works [...]

In this essay, written in subsections, several references are made to the work produced by the painter Beatriz Milhazes. The text, written by the curator Adriano Pedrosa, also discusses concepts and issues related to the artist’s various works, [...]

The painter Jorge Guinle Filho discusses the work of Victor Arruda, another painter of his generation. In Guinle’s opinion, Arruda’s paintings reveal a level of “poverty” in terms of their materials and their technique, a quality that became [...]