Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

This is the leaflet produced for the exhibition of works by the German printmaker Hansen-Bahia that was shown in the cities of Salvador, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, and Porto Alegre. In addition to reproductions of the artist’s [...]

This document is the cooperation agreement between the government of the State of Bahia, the Museu de Arte Moderno da Bahia (MAMB), and the Universidade da Bahia that establishes joint efforts in the sphere of culture and efforts to work on the [...]

This is an article by the Italian architect Lina Bo Bardi, who lived in Brazil, about the first exhibition held at the MAP (Museu de Arte Popular) in 1963 in Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia. The exhibit included everyday items handcrafted [...]

This is a letter from Lívio Xavier—who, at the time, was the director of the MAUC (Museu de Arte da Universidade do Ceará)—to the architect Lina Bo Bardi, who was the director of both the MAMB (Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia) and the MAP (Museu [...]

This is a short unsigned article about the opening of the Museu de Arte Popular (MAP) in 1963 in Salvador (Bahia). The writer refers to more than 200 art and craft works by more than twenty artists and artisans. Regarding the exhibition held along [...]

Lina Bo Bardi, director of the Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia (MAMB), explains the title of the exhibition Desenho concreto [Concrete Design], which featured airplane engines and electronic parts. She provides a historical perspective on the [...]

Architect Lina Bo Bardi explains the structural concepts underlying the creation of the Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia. She asserts that because the institution she heads does not have an art collection, it should not be called a museum, but rather a [...]

This is a preface to the book O negro no Brasil. Trabalhos apresentados ao 2º Congresso afro-brasileiro da Bahia (11 a 20 de janeiro de 1937) consisting of a collection of lectures presented at the event. The sociologists Edson Carneiro and Aydano [...]

In this text, José Valladares remarks on the show of prints by Brazilian artist Poty Lazzarotto held in the city of Salvador, in the state of Bahia, in 1950. Valladares sheds light on Lazzarotto’s professional training and the range of techniques [...]

José Valladares writes about the bar “Anjo Azul” in the city of Salvador (capital of the state of Bahia), which he considers a center for culture and the creation of art. He describes the mural paintings there and the decorative objects that [...]

In this critical analysis of Mário Cravo Jr.’s sculpture, José Valladares focuses on four aspects that he deems fundamental: (1) the expressive specificity of the material; (2) the dynamic construction based on lines, planes, and volume; (3) the [...]

The art historian and critic Clarival do Prado Valladares discusses the connections he sees between Genaro de Carvalho’s tapestries and the traditional art of the state of Bahia. The critic insists that Carvalho’s works cannot be mistaken for [...]

In this text, José Valladares reviews the show of work by Carlos Frederico Bastos held at the Public Library in the city of Salvador, state of Bahia. Valladares points out the diversity of the work on exhibit, which attests to the experimental [...]

This text is on the work Pogrom by the painter Lasar Segall. In it, critic Geraldo Ferraz describes the work as “magnificent,” commenting on how the human figure is represented, as well as its compositional elements, and its pictorial unity. The [...]

In this article, the writer Murilo Mendes discusses the balance between social content and visual art values he sees in the paintings of Lasar Segall. Mendes underscores the artist’s independence from schools and aesthetic fashions, stating that [...]

This text is the minutes of the first meeting of the Grupo Seibi (1935). It presents the deliberations that took place in a meeting that stated the following objectives for the group: (1) Encourage ties among the members; (2) Hold a monthly meeting [...]

This text centers on the work of Japanese artist Tadashi Kaminagai, and was published during his show in São Paulo (Galeria Portal, 1977). Critic Antonio Bento writes about the connections between the artist and the École de Paris, as well as his [...]

This newspaper article is about the Grupo Quinze, a group of Japanese-Brazilian artists that was formed in São Paulo in the late 1940s. The critic Ibiapaba Martins explains what led them to form this association. He describes the workshop and [...]

This critical article on the work of the Japanese artist Tsuguharu Fujita was published during his stay in Brazil, in 1931–32. The writer Mário de Andrade explores the links between Fujita’s work (painted in France) and the European pictorial [...]

The synopsis in English are coming soon [...]

In this article, the Japanese painter and writer Tomoo Handa talks to Maria Cecília França Lourenço about the Grupo Seibi, a group of Japanese-Brazilian artists living in São Paulo, which was started in 1935. Handa, who was a member of the group [...]

This is the statement given by the Japanese painter Yoshiya Takaoka when he was interviewed by the researcher Daisy Peccinini in 1976. The artist talks about his life and work, recalling his immigration to Brazil in 1925 and his first jobs as an [...]

The art historian Ana Maria Belluzzo begins her essay by considering factors that suggest links between modern art and primitive art processes, such as the idea of “rupture” in modern times. She discusses certain key paintings by Tarsila do [...]

This is a review of Poemas Negros, the book written by Jorge de Lima and illustrated by the painter Lasar Segall. The reviewer, Rubén Navarra, flatly considers Poemas Negros to be a “transcendental step” in modern Brazilian literature. He [...]

Critic Mário Pedrosa analyzes the work of Ruben Valentim and defines his “authentic Brazilian painting.” His work is removed from the well-known, anecdotal, and picturesque regionalism that abounds in the art of the state of Bahia, where [...]

In this essay on Bahían sculptor Agnaldo Manoel dos Santos, Clarival do Prado Valladares discusses aspects of the artist’s life—in particular, the arduous work he did making blocks of limestone— and of his work. The text describes the [...]

Sculptor Mário Cravo, Jr. shares his thoughts on modern art, expressing his support for universal artistic values and deploring the conflict between formalist versions and those that focus on social issues. In his opinion, contact between Western [...]

In this article the critic Mário Pedrosa discusses the proposed reconstruction of the MAM-RJ (Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro) after it was partly destroyed by a fire in 1978. Pedrosa suggests that the original institution should be replaced [...]

Critic José Geraldo Vieira discusses the participation of Mário Cravo Jr. in various São Paulo biennials in the fifties. In his judgment, at the first biennial held in 1951, the sculptor ushered in a new type of art in Brazil, one characterized by [...]

Historian and critic Clarival do Prado Valladares outlines the criteria used to select the work featured in the exhibition Artistas novos da Bahia held in Rio de Janeiro in 1963. He explains that priority was given to contemporary production with a [...]

This is an excerpt from “Arte afro-brasileira,” a chapter in the book História Geral da Arte no Brasil. In it, the anthropologist Marianno Carneiro da Cunha stresses the importance of black artists and their art in the history of Brazilian [...]

The critic José Roberto Teixeira Leite rates the artist Agnaldo [Manoel dos Santos] as one of the greatest Brazilian sculptors of all times. The critic sees the artist’s work as the product of a syncretism that oscillates between African and [...]

This text by historian and critic Clarival do Prado Valladares discusses the First World Festival of Black Arts held in Dakar, Senegal, in 1966. He places emphasis on the range of perspectives in the lectures by African intellectuals working outside [...]

The artist Rubem Valentim discusses the connection between his work and northeastern Brazil’s popular culture that, in his opinion, is a product of the syncretism of the region’s European, American Indian, and African populations. His goal is to [...]

This text by Clarival do Prado Valladares is a critical analysis of black culture in the visual arts in Brazil from the colonial period through the sixties. The author places emphasis on the crucial role of Brazilians of African descent in the [...]

This text by Arthur Ramos is an overview of art of African origin in Brazil and its importance to the formation of the culture within the country. From a historical perspective, the text discusses Western contact with African art starting in the [...]

This text is an introduction to the catalogue of the individual exhibition by the Brazilian sculptor Maria Martins at the Valentine Gallery (New York, 1943). Using poetic language, Jorge Zarur outlines certain characteristics (both physical and [...]

This essay by Murilo Mendes appeared in the exhibition catalogue for work by the sculptor Maria Martins at the MAM-RJ (Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro) in 1956. Mendes thinks the uniqueness of her work arises from a confrontation at a [...]

This interview by Brazilian artist Flávio de Carvalho with French poet André Breton discusses the assumptions, historical precedents, various strains, and main players in the Surrealist movement that, in a certain way, Breton led. At Carvalho’s [...]

This is an interview granted by the North American photographer Man Ray, conducted by the Brazilian artist Flávio de Carvalho, in which Man Ray discusses photography and painting. He describes how he got his start in photography, and talks about his [...]

This is a literary article written by the artist Flávio de Carvalho, in which he describes his interview with and impressions of the French intellectual Roger Callois. During the interview, Callois states that twentieth-century science is no longer [...]

Art critic Mário Pedrosa wrote this text for the catalogue of the Exposição Infantil held at the MAM-RJ (Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro) in 1952, which he based on the work regarding the creative potential of children conducted at the end [...]

This text by Murilo Mendes was written on the occasion of the death of French Surrealist writer André Breton in 1966. On the basis of certain encounters he had with Breton in Paris in 1952 and 1953, Mendes makes observations on the work and [...]

This is the transcript of a statement made by the poet Tristan Tzara when he was interviewed by Flávio de Carvalho during the latter’s trip to Europe in 1934. Tzara speaks at great length about Dadaist methods, the movement he leads, and the [...]

Doctor Osório César used psychoanalysis to study the artistic expression of inpatients at the institution de Juquerí (in the São Paulo area). The writer compares his patients’ works with certain other modern artwork (created by children, [...]

This is the statement of the British art critic Herbert Read, interviewed by the Brazilian artist Flávio de Carvalho. Read stresses the importance of the influence of black art on international modernism and claims that art is currently split into [...]

This text by writer Murilo Mendes addresses the connections between the work of Brazilian painter Nery and the Surrealist movement. It contains an account of when, in 1927, Nery met Russian painter Marc Chagall and remarks on certain affinities [...]

In his text on the life and work of Ismael Nery, writer Murilo Mendes asserts that, though Nery was mostly known as a painter, his true focus was philosophy. Mendes provides an overview of Nery’s “essentialism”—a philosophical system he [...]

Writer Aníbal Machado published this text on the occasion of the death of Ismael Nery. He points out some aspects of the artist’s personality and work and compares his painting with foreign artists of the stature of Max Ernest and André Masson [...]

This text by noted poet Murilo Mendes presents the book Pintura em Pânico, made of photomontages created by another poet, Jorge de Lima. The author calls the reader’s attention to the challenging nature of the works presented, stating that the [...]