Djanira da Motta e Silva

Born in 1914, Djanira da Motta e Silva came from a multi-ethnic family. Her father was of indigenous descent and her mother was a descendant of Austro-Hungarian immigrants. The artist underwent only a short period of traditional training and discovered painting largely on her own. Probably because of this, and her indigenous background, her painting was often criticised as naive or ‘primitive’. Djanira always vehemently denied this:

“I may be naive, but my painting is not.”

Brazilian modernism was in search of a national identity, of Brasilidade, but even here, the white view of Afro-Brazilians, indigenous people and their cultures still prevailed. They still stood for the primal, the primitive and the other. This is reflected in the way Djanira’s work was judged.

At the end of the 1940s, after returning from a two-year stay in the United States, Djanira updated her style. Her palette became more colourful, her forms more stylised and her compositions more two-dimensional.

The picture featured here shows a folkloric event with dancers in traditional white, uniform-like clothing. They are dancing the Marrapaiá. The men wear a band of bells below their knees – the paiás that give the dance MARRA-PAIÁ its name. Their caps are embroidered with flowers and they wear coloured ribbons crossed over their chests. With their wooden sticks, they perform a mixture of dance and combat. Djanira has painted all the details of the dancers’ and musicians’ clothing. The background is left vague, flat and brightly coloured. Even so, we make out the depiction of a saint behind. With the title Marrapaiá Dance, Paraty, Djanira also evokes the coastal town of the same name. Paraty is a place particularly shaped by the legacy of colonisation, but also by the traditions of its people. From 1964, Djanira lived on a farm in Paraty.