Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

Federico Peralta-Ramos, in eight quite simple verses, defines what art is; primarily from the art-life nexus which is implicit [...]

Interview with artist Nelson Felix conducted by art critic Rodrigo Naves and three artists: Lygia Pape, José Resende and Nuno Ramos (São Paulo, May 24, 1997). Felix comments on his education as an architect; his love of music; his first drawings, [...]

This is the third chapter of the book by Lourival Gomes Machado that analyzes the development of modern art in Brazil, in which the author includes a reference to the contribution made to contemporary painting by the “spontaneous” artists (whose [...]

In this essay the critic Mário Schenberg discusses the political and cultural changes he sees in the wake of the uprising led by Getúlio Vargas that was known as the Revolução de 1930. Schenberg believes that the agricultural oligarchy’s loss [...]

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 [...]

The erudite music composer Heitor Villa-Lobos wrote a letter to a couple also staying in Paris, Oswald de Andrade and Tarsila do Amaral. He comments on the difficulties involved in presenting different types of art produced in Brazil as [what is] “ [...]

Olívio Tavares de Araújo introduces an exhibition of the work of Farnese de Andrade, an artist then known in Rio, but not in São Paulo. The writer brings up the strange nature of this artist from Minas Gerais, under the label of “mineiridad.” [...]

Iveraldo Lucerna clarifies that this text is a simple account of the activities carried out at the Núcleo de Arte Contemporânea (NAC) of the Universidade Federal da Paraíba. That institution was founded to bridge the distance between the realms of [...]

This poem by Flávio Motta describes the career of artist Marcelo Nitsche by alluding to some of his works. It traces the intersection of landscape, object, calligraphy, and brushwork in Nitsche’s work. He concludes by posing a question that [...]

The catalogue for I Salão, the exhibition sponsored by the Feira de Indústrias, includes essays written by the organizers of the event: Elias Chaves Neto, Vittorio Gobbis, and Quirino da Silva. Gobbis talks about the meaning of art and [...]

This text is the monthly bulletin of the Sociedade Pro Arte which includes the list for the catalogue of works presented at the III Salão da Pro Arte, a few of which it reproduces within. The following artists participated in the exhibition: Alberto [...]

This is an illustrated text in which José Geraldo Vieira defines the characteristics of “naïve” or “primitive art” at a time which coincided with Brazilian art critics’ growing interest in the trend. In his judgment, it is an instinctive [...]

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 art critic José Geraldo Vieira reviews the history of Surrealism and mentions Hieronymus Bosch, Albrecht Dürer, and William Hogarth, among others. In the critic’s opinion, these artists created a “cosmogony of the absurd” centuries ahead [...]

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 [...]

The painter Anita Malfatti describes her career in art and the various events that led up to the Semana de Arte Moderna [Modern Art Week] (1922). She discusses her time in Berlin and her training in the workshop of painters Fritz Burger and Lovis [...]

In this lecture, Lúcio Costa discusses the crisis facing contemporary art as a result of the changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution. He explains the intense nature of the reproduction and circulation of a work of art and discusses its audience [...]

In this newspaper article, the journalist Miguel de Almeida reviews Idéias Modernas, the exhibition of work by Guto Lacaz that was presented at the Galeria São Paulo in 1982. The journalist comments on the inventiveness and excellent humor he sees [...]

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, professor Gilda Mello e Souza discusses the contribution that the work of Jean Maugüé, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Roger Bastide—three French academics—made to the early stages of the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) founded in 1934 [...]

This is a news item about an exhibition of work by the artist Frans Krajcberg, held at the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM-Rio) in 1992. It also covers other similar exhibitions held in connection with the international event Eco-92 - [...]

The professor and essay writer Celso Favaretto assesses the parameters that frame the work of Hélio Oiticica, from the experience of pure art to the statement made by environmental art. In Favaretto’s opinion, the path followed by the artist from [...]

This article discusses the artwork of José Antonio da Silva, which was deemed as primitive; it comments on the reception of his paintings during the transition from the 1940s into the 1950s. The writer, Theon Spanudis, points out its initial [...]

This review of the 1940 Exposição de Arte Francesa at the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes in Rio de Janeiro discusses the “backwardness” of Brazilian art compared to its European counterpart. By presenting over a hundred years of French art— [...]

The writer Monteiro Lobato serves up a conservative review of the Exposição de Pintura Moderna — Anita Malfatti in a heated attack on avant-garde art, describing the exhibition as being, in his opinion, the work of “people who see things [...]

This book, from the ABC—Arte Brasileira Contemporânea—collection published by FUNARTE, is about Antônio Dias. The book was written by the critic Paulo Sergio Duarte, who suggests that the artist’s work shattered standards and showed that [...]

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 [...]

In response to a series of overwhelming news published in the press that month, not having enough time to reflect upon it and adopt a position, Mathias Goeritz wonders what type of art should correspond to these, our times. He insists on placing the [...]

This text introduces the catalogue to the Exposição Nacional de Arte Abstrata held at Hotel Quitandinha in the city of Petrópolis, located near Rio de Janeiro, in February and March of 1953. Artist Edmundo Jorge, who organized the show, issues a [...]

This book on artist Anna Bella Geiger forms part of the ABC—Arte Brasileira Contemporânea—a collection published by the Fundação Nacional de Artes (Funarte), a government organization with headquarters in Rio de Janeiro. In this volume, critic [...]

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 [...]

Frans Krajcberg, a sculptor based in Brazil, here traces his artistic trajectory, and his ever growing interest in art that connects to nature. He comments on his work together with Pierre Restany, the French critic of the Nouvelle Figuration, [...]

In his presentation of the exhibition 63/66: Figura e Objeto, Casimiro Xavier de Mendonça asserts that the sixties witnessed an explosion of utopias and changes with the advent of a new generation of creators. Regarding the exhibition, he attempts [...]

In this text presenting the exhibition Objeto de arte Brasil anos 60, Daisy Peccinini describes the research carried out for the event, placing particular emphasis on the publication of a series of critical documents, statements, and interviews with [...]

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 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 [...]

According to Clarival Valladares, folk art and fine art both took parallel approaches in terms of the socio-economic divisions in Brazilian society. He describes the internal migration of people from the northeast to the southern part of the country [...]

Luis Quero Chiesa, an educator born in Puerto Rico, believes that his fellow countrymen are responsible for creating the foundation for their own national art: a simple yet vigorous art that explores serious, profound issues and that “awakens in [...]

Jorge Luis Borges’s response to the survey sponsored by the magazine Contra [Against]: “Should art serve social problems?” Borges asserts that art should not serve political causes. He then continues with his humorous response, distinguishing [...]

Response of Cayetano Córdova Iturburu to the survey sponsored by the magazine Contra [Against]: “Should art serve social problems?” He challenges the response given by Jorge Luis Borges en Contra, issue 3, stating that it is mere humor and [...]

Response of writer Nydia Lamarque to the survey sponsored by the magazine Contra [Against]: “Should art serve social problems?” In her judgment, art, as a product and synthesis of social factors, reflects the reality of society; moreover, she [...]

Among the triumphs of modern art were the rediscovery of an emotional dimension and artistic sentiment in all their purity; something which becomes evident in the work of anonymous “primitive” artists and of the people who still live on a tribal [...]

Here the eclectic artist Regina Silveira compares her serial project Artemicro with an imagined miniature, beautifully crafted version of Lewis Carroll’s book, Alice in Wonderland. To Silveira, the Artemicro project was installed in an open field [...]

Ana Mae Barbosa points out the consequence of the internal diaspora of visual artists from Northeastern Brazil toward the major centers (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) starting in the 1960s. In her opinion, those artists were better prepared for a [...]

On the basis of the festive, bold, and boundless nature of the relationship between the social and the artistic in Latin America, critic Aracy Amaral argues that there is an integral connection between the creative and the political in the region. In [...]

In view of the contemporary events related to raids, censorship, and repression, this report collected testimonials from several artists regarding freedom of expression during the Brazilian military regime (1964–85). The artists consulted included [...]

In this text, art critic Paulo Herkenhoff identifies and describes some of the characteristics of drawing as an autonomous form of expression in contemporary art from South America. He formulates ten categories in relation to the production in the [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Sônia Salzstein wrote this essay for the catalogue accompanying the exhibition of work by Carlos Fajardo that was held at Galeria A. S. Studio in São Paulo in 1997. In it, she discusses the persistence of memory in painting (the medium most [...]