Brasil! Brasil! | Zentrum Paul Klee

Introduction

Brazil is by far the largest country in South America, and one of the most populous countries in the world. Football, samba, and bossa nova are all associated with Brazil. It boasts an incredibly varied landscape, stretching from the Amazon rainforest to the iconic beaches of Copacabana. Nowhere else on Earth has richer biodiversity than the tropical Amazon Rainforest; the country has immense ecological importance for the world climate. Equally impressive is the country’s cultural diversity, which combines Indigenous, African, and European cultures. The megacities of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Brasília are metropolises where the country’s many contradictions come together. The historical origins of modern art in the first half of the 20th century help us to better understand the Brazil of today.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Brazil was a young nation in a state of transition. The first republic was proclaimed in 1889, with Rio de Janeiro as its capital. Economically speaking, the country profited from its near monopoly of the worldwide coffee trade, whose centre was the port city of Santos in the state of São Paulo. In 1888, slavery was abolished. Many formerly enslaved people and exploited workers migrated to the São Paulo region in order to profit from the booming economy there and to build a new, free life. This sense that a modern Brazil was awakening has left its mark on the arts, literature, and music, as well as on the fields of design and architecture. The modern architecture that took on such a distinctive character in the work of Oscar Niemeyer (1907–2012) and Lina Bo Bardi (1914–1992) and the evolution of carnival and bossa nova in Rio de Janeiro were shaped by this energy and variety.

The Semana de Arte Moderna (Modern Art Week), which took place in São Paulo’s Municipal Theatre in 1922, was the first time in Brazil that various art forms were brought together and showcased as an avant-garde movement in pursuit of a uniquely Brazilian brand of modernism. In addition to an art exhibition, the event incorporated concerts, presentations, dance performances, an architecture exhibition, and literary readings. It was conceived as a reaction to the dominant academicism that continued to cling to the conventions of the 19th century. Some of the artists we introduce you to here showed their work at the Semana de Arte Moderna, and in so doing, inscribed themselves into the History of Brazilian art. Others have been rediscovered only in the last few years, having long been undervalued as folkloric or “primitive” artists due to their being self-taught. Here, we present for the very first time the diversity of Brazilian art, exemplified by pieces from ten artists whose work is imbued with the country’s intriguing contrasts. We invite you to join us on a journey of discovery through this extraordinary country.

Chronology

1822

PROCLAMATION OF INDEPENDENCE. On the 7th of September, Dom Pedro I proclaims independence from Portugal and becomes emperor. The Empire of Brazil lasts until the proclamation of the First Republic in 1889. To this day, the 7th of September remains a national holiday.

1888

ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. Brazil is the last country in the Americas to formally abolish slavery. Although “freed,” the formerly enslaved are disenfranchised. In search of work, many move to urban centres, where they continue to be exploited for cheap labour.

1889

PROCLAMATION OF THE REPUBLIC. A military coup leads to the proclamation of the republic. After the abolition of slavery, the monarchy lost the support of the elites, particularly the plantation owners. In the following years, the wealth of the coffee oligarchy is secured while workers remain oppressed.

1889

FIRST CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC. Inspired by the constitutions of Argentina, the United States, and Switzerland, Brazil’s first constitution establishes a Federative Republic. Women and those who are illiterate, which includes most formerly enslaved people and Indigenous peoples, are denied the right to vote.

1891

GENERAL STRIKE. The exploited plantation and factory workers – the formerly enslaved as well as immigrants from Europe and Japan – organise a general strike in São Paulo to implement basic labour rights. Numerous uprisings against the oligarchy follow.

1922

SEMANA DE ARTE MODERNA. With the financial support of the coffee oligarch Paulo Prado, a group of intellectuals organise the Semana de Arte Moderna (Modern Art Week) at the Municipal theatre in São Paulo from 11th to 17th February. In addition to an exhibition with works by Anita Malfatti, Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, John Graz, Vicente do Rego Monteiro and others, there are concerts, dance performances as well as lectures and readings of modern literature. The reactions were extremely mixed, ranging from outrage to enthusiasm. During a period of social and political instability, the Semana de Arte Moderna heralds new forms of Brazilian cultural expression that are not immediately embraced.

1922

MODERNISM BEYOND BORDERS. Tarsila do Amaral and Oswald de Andrade travel to Europe. Their work heightens the awareness of Brazilian culture among Parisian artistic and intellectual groups. The Ukrainian architect Gregori Warchavchik arrives in Brazil, where he designs the first modernist buildings. The artist Lasar Segall moves from Germany to São Paulo. At the invitation of Paulo Prado, the Swiss writer Blaise Cendrars visits Brazil. He not only meets many Brazilian artists, writers, and intellectuals but also discovers the country’s popular culture.

1924

THE FIRST REGIONALIST CONGRESS. In response to the Semana de Arte Moderna, Gilberto Freyre holds a conference celebrating local Brazilian culture in Recife, in the northeastern state of Pernambuco. Freyre publishes the Manifesto Regionalista (Regional Manifest), in which he describes the traditional values of northeastern Brazilian culture as important to the formation of a Brazilian national identity.

1925

SAMBA SCHOOLS. The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro was organised by Grandes Sociedades (Grand societies), who hired artists to design their parade appearances. With the advent of samba schools, such as Deixa Falar (Let them talk), the organisation of the Rio Carnival improved. Thereafter, it is more widely accepted as a form of cultural expression that combines music, dance, and design.

1928

BLACK TUESDAY. The crash of the New York stock market on the 29th of October unleashes a major crisis for the Brazilian coffee oligarchs and throughout the country; its economy depended heavily on the export of coffee and other raw materials. The economic crisis leads to new challenges for the republic.

VERDE-AMARELISMO. As a reaction to the cosmopolitan and internationally connected modern art movement, a group of writers publishes the manifesto Nhengaçu Verde-Amarelo. Named for the Brazilian green and yellow of Brazil’s flags, the group advocated for a conservative and xenophobic form of nationalism.

1929

REVOLUTION. Supported by the military, Getúlio Vargas became the head of the provisional government and established the Second Republic. He served as president of Brazil from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 until his suicide in 1954. During his dictatorship, Vargas advances a nationalist ideology and advocates for labour rights and universal education. The Vargas Era ushers in a new phase of building the Brazilian nation, with forms of popular culture such as samba and carnival understood as the foundations of a Brazilian identity. Most modern artists begin to address social themes. Some artists align themselves with communists, which in some cases led to persecution while others worked with the government.

1930

NEW SOCIAL ORDER. The Brazilian state creates the Ministry of Labour, Industry, and Commerce, and declares the first social laws to protect the rights of workers.

SALÃO REVOLUCIONÁRIO. During his short directorship of the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes in Rio de Janeiro, the architect Lúcio Costa modernises the traditional school. For the annual exhibition, he invites modern artists, including Manuel Bandeira, Anita Malfatti, and Candido Portinar, to serve on the jury. With more than 500 works by artists such as Tarsila do Amaral, Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, Victor Brecheret, Alberto Veiga Guignard, the exhibition gains renown as the Salão Revolucionário (Revolutionary Salon). Cícero Dias exhibits the large panel Eu vi o mundo… e ele começava no Recife (I saw the world… and it began in Recife, 1926–1929.) He comments on the decentralisation of modernism, citing Recife as an important place for modern art beyond Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

1931

UPRISINGS. There is a series of uprisings against the oligarchy of the First Republic. Throughout the country, people demand improved social conditions.

1932

WOMEN’S RIGHTS. Women win the right to vote and run for office.

CONSTITUTIONALIST REVOLUTION. From 9th of July to 2nd of October, there is an unsuccessful uprising in São Paulo against the Vargas regime.

MUSICAL EDUCATION. After having visited more than fifty cities to introduce musical culture to remote places in Brazil, Heitor Villa-Lobos is appointed as the director of the supervisory authority for musical and artistic education. During the Vargas Era, he primarily composes patriotic and educational music, with the exception of the Bachianas Brasileiras (Bach-inspired Brazilian pieces).

FASCISM. Plínio Salgado establishes the Ação Integralista Brasileira (Brazilian Integralist Action), a nation-wide Fascist movement inspired by Mussolini.

1934

CONSTITUTION OF THE SECOND REPUBLIC. The new constitution retains federalism with autonomous states, and confirms social and political reforms, granting rights to the middle class, workers, and industry as well as free education for all. Congress elects Getúlio Vargas as president for a four-year term.

INSTITUTIONALISING MODERNISM. Gustavo Capanema becomes director of the Ministry of Education and Health. He hires the poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade as his chief of staff and surrounds himself with a diverse group of modern artists, writers, and architects.

1° CONGRESSO AFRO-BRASILEIRO. Gilberto Freyre organises the First Congress of Afro-Brazilian Studies. This landmark in the analysis of Afro-Brazilian culture in Brazil is held in Recife.

1937

ESTADO NOVO. Getúlio Vargas leads a coup d’état to overthrow the National Congress and implements the Estado Novo (New State). Afterward, he creates the National Councils of Petroleum, Labour, and Justice as well as the Press and Propaganda Ministery. Several regulations are implemented, including the nationalisation of production, taxing syndicates, and minimum salaries of workers. The republic becomes an oppressive dictatorship that emphasises the centralisation of power, nationalism, and anti-communism.

PROTECTION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE. The Serviço do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (Service of National Historical and Artistic Heritage) is founded. Mário de Andrada designed the organisation dedicated to the protection of Brazil’s cultural heritage at the request of Gustavo Capanema.

1944

SECOND WORLD WAR. The first contingent of the Força Expedicionária Brasileira (Brazilian Expeditionary Force) enters the war, joining the Allies to free Italy from Germany.

1945

FOURTH BRAZILIAN REPUBLIC. Forced out by the military, Getúlio Vargas renounces the presidency, ending the Estado Novo dictatorship. Eurico Dutra is elected president and opens the country to international investment.

1950

VARGAS’S SECOND TERM. Getúlio Vargas wins the presidential election. He protects the country’s economy against foreign influence and creates Petrobras, the national petroleum company, in 1953.

1951

BIENAL DE SÃO PAULO. The first international biennial of São Paulo takes place. The international prize is awarded to Max Bill, whose solo show at MASP the year before had a major impact on the younger generation of artists, including Geraldo de Barros, who eventually become known for advancing Concrete art.

1953

LABOUR STRIKE. Due to high inflation, approximately 300,000 workers strike in São Paulo for better wages and working conditions. There is little improvement, and as many as 700,000 workers rally in 1957 and again in 1963.

1956

KUBITSCHEK ERA. After Vargas’s suicide in 1954, Juscelino Kubitschek is elected Brazil’s president on 3rd of October 1955 and inaugurated in 1956. Having run on the slogan “Fifty years’ progress in five,” he promotes the diversification of Brazil’s economy and opening it to foreign investment.

1957

BRASÍLIA. Lúcio Costa wins the public competition for the urban planning of Brasília, the new seat of federal power. Many of the public buildings are designed by Oscar Niemeyer, and modern art plays an important role.

1960

NEW CAPITAL. Only three years after launching the project, Juscelino Kubitschek inaugurates Brasília, the new federal capital. Jânio Quadros and João Goulart are elected president and vice president of Brazil.

1964

MILITARY COUP. Following a coup d’état, the military takes power and imposes a military dictatorship until 1985. In 1964, the U.S. State Department provides military and logistical support to the coup. The first of a number of Institutional Acts (AI-1) is signed. These acts strengthen the military rulers’ legal and political power while suspending the political rights of critics and other citizens.

1968

UPRISINGS. The murder of the student Edson Luís de Lima Souto by the military police marks the beginning of a series of uprisings that culminated in the Passeata dos Cem Mil (One Hundred Thousand Person Rally) that took place at Rio de Janeiro. The military’s increased oppression following this event leads many to go into exile.

1970

WORLD CUP. The military dictatorship uses Miguel Gustavo’s song Pra frente Brasil (Go ahead, Brazil), which was composed to cheer on the Brazilian soccer team during the World Cup in Mexico, as nationalist propaganda. When Brazil wins, Pelé becomes the country’s most famous star.

1972

FIFTY YEARS AFTER THE SEMANA DE ARTE MODERNA. MASP organises the exhibition A Semana de 22: antecendentes e consequências (The Week of 22: antecedents and consequences). Starting in the 1960s, the modern art promoted in 1922 is revaluated and acquired by museums and collectors. Women artists such as Tarsila do Amaral and Anita Malfatti are rediscovered.

1985

END OF THE MILITARY DICTATORSHIP. A slow process of re-democratisation takes place.

1988

NEW BRAZILIAN CONSTITUTION. Brazil passes one of the most progressive constitutions, replacing the autocratic constitution from 1967.

1998

BIENAL DA ANTROPOFAGIA. The theme of the 24th Bienal de São Paulo, curated by Paulo Herkenhoff and Adriano Pedrosa, stems from Oswald de Andrade’s Manifesto Antropófago.

2022

CENTENARY OF THE SEMANA DE ARTE MODERNA. Numerous exhibitions, publications, and conferences take place throughout Brazil. Scholars question the canon of modern Brazilian art and advance new narratives of diverse modernisms.