Documents of Latin American and Latino Art

In this text, critic Francisco Bittencourt discusses the work of sculptor Rubem Valentim. He asserts that Valentim’s diverse body of work “effects a synthesis that may yield, for the first time, a language with a Brazilian accent, that is [...]

The distinguished novelist Jorge Amado wrote this text on the Afro-Brazilian exhibition on mundane arts and crafts as well as objects of worship of Afro-Brazilian Candomblé. He referred to these utensils as “mediocre objects that highlight their [...]

In this article Lívio Xavier discusses the production of handcrafts in the state of Ceará, which are brought into town and offered for sale in the markets in Fortaleza, the state capital. Xavier notes the wide variety of artisan products produced [...]

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 [...]

This is the initial text of the book O negro na literatura e na arte. It was originally the text of a lecture given at the Teatro José de Alencar to commemorate the day when slavery was abolished in Brazil (1888). The event was organized by the [...]

This is a book of poems by the Brazilian writer Jorge de Lima, with illustrations by the painter Lasar Segall. The poems address various aspects of the life experiences of Africans and their descendants in Brazil. There are references to the slavery [...]

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 [...]

This article is about the founding of the Museu de Arte Negra (Rio de Janeiro, 1968). The author deplores the lack of study in the field of Afro-Brazilian art and the general ignorance concerning its contribution to Brazilian culture. The Museu de [...]

This is a story written by the African-Brazilian sculptor Deoscóredes Maximiliano dos Santos, alias Mestre Didi. In it, he recounts a legend from the mystic universe of Candomblé (a fairly widespread Brazilian cult with African roots) about the [...]

This text was published in the catalogue of Mestre Didi’s exhibition entitled Poesia mítica e contemporaneidade, organized by the Museu de Arte Moderna in Salvador (state of Bahia, 1997). Written by the anthropologist Juana Elbein dos Santos, the [...]

This book is on the wooden panels sculpted by Carybé, an Argentine artist who resided in Brazil. The reliefs represent Candomblé Orishas, that is, male, female, or gender neutral Afro-Brazilian deities. In his introduction, Afro-Brazilian artist [...]

This book, written by the journalist José Medeiros, includes photographs and text about Candomblé, the African-influenced cult in Brazil. The author provides a detailed description of the various stages in the secret religious initiation process of [...]

This book, written by the sociologist Dilma de Melo Silva and the social communicator Maria Cecília Felix Calaça, presents a historical review of Brazilian art and its African sources, and a discussion of African tribal art produced [...]

This text by anthropologist Rita Amaral covers the collection of ritual art—specifically of the Afro-Brazilian cult Candomblé—which forms part of the collection of the Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia at the Universidade de São Paulo. She [...]

This essay appeared in the catalogue for the exhibition that explored the symbolic cosmogony of Umbanda and Candomblé altars. The author, the Brazilian anthropologist Maria Lúcia Montes, describes these altars as an elaborate symbolic text to be [...]

This is the catalogue of ritual objects related to the Yoruba deity Xangô (written Changó in Cuba) in the collection of the Museu do Estado de Pernambuco in Recife. The 307 works are placed in the following categories: sculptures of [...]

This article discusses what is meant by the term “Afro-Brazilian art.” The anthropologist Marta Heloísa Leuba Salum describes it as an abstract place where Africa and Brazil commingle in an imaginary universe. She stresses that Afro-Brazilian [...]

This catalogue documents the Afro-Brazilian religious art collection known as “Discoteca Oneyda Alvarenga,” which belongs to the Secretaria Municipal de Cultura of São Paulo. It includes 580 pieces, organized within the following groups: (1) [...]

This catalogue for the Perseverança Collection refers to objects of Afro-Brazilian art connected to the Yoruba religion of the warrior-god Xangô [Changó]. Researcher Abelardo Duarte, organizer of the collection and catalogue, enumerates, describes [...]

This is the catalogue for the collection at the Museu Afro-Brasileiro in Salvador, the capital city of the state of Bahia. In it, the anthropologist Jocélio Teles dos Santos explains that this collection is an incentive to make comparisons, [...]

The catalogue for Arte e religiosidade afro-brasileira, the exhibition held at the Kunstverein Museum, in Frankfurt in 1994, introduces the work of contemporary artists of African descent or whose work is inspired by African culture. The exhibition [...]

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 [...]

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 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 article considers the work produced by the Lithuanian-born painter Lasar Segall as it explores the question of how “Africanism” became part of the local identity in Latin America following the emergence of modernism. Jorge Schwartz [...]

Gilberto Freyre, the sociologist from Pernambuco, discusses the I Congresso Afro-Brasileiro, held in Recife in 1934. Freyre briefly refers to comments and discussions concerning the viability of the meeting and the informality of the event, among [...]

This essay was included in the catalogue for the Exposição de Pintura Brasileira held in London in 1944. Organized by the critic Rubén Navarra, the show presented a broad selection of Brazilian paintings that covered the transition from the 1930s [...]