Brasil, Brasil - Part 4

Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism - Part 4

at the Royal Academy of Art.

In this part 4 of this wonderful exhibition I am copying the introduction from section 1 so that if people don't want to look at the previous sections which you can see  here ,  here and here they can still get a full understanding. If you do not want to read the introduction again, scroll down to the first artist.

The exhibition is exploring Brazilian art history through the work of ten artists, active between 1910 and the 1970s.  During that time a flourishing in the arts - including painting, sculpture, graphic design, architecture, music and literature - swept across the country, and was known collectively as Brazilian Modernism. This was not a defined movement but rather a coming together of different cultural figures who campaigned for Brazil to move away from the old-fashioned traditional forms of art that were rooted in the colonial (1500-1815) and Imperial (1815-89) periods before Brazil  became a republic in 1889. As a young, ambitious and optimistic nation, Brazil wanted to create its own distinctive identity. It rejected European tastes for academic art and typical subjects such as historical allegories and religious scenes in favour of those that reflected and celebrated the country's cultural diversity.

Brazil has a significant Indigenous population but one that has been increasingly marginalised following the influx of immigrant settlesr that began during the colonial period. Portuguese colonists forcibly brought more than four million enslaved people from West Africa across the Atlantic, with the aboliton of slavery only taking place in 1888. Later, significant populations of Italians, Japanese, Germans and Syrians settled in Brazil, further enriching its extraordinary ethnic diversity.

Although many modernists lived and studied abroad, mainly in  Europe of the US, they returned to Brazil determined to fashion a new artistic identity that looked inwards rather than outwards for inspiration. Aside from incorporating modern approaches to art, artists travelled acrross the country reflecting on the different peoples and places they encountered and integrating them into their work. This exhibition celebrates this 60 year period, revealing the gradual move from the representational to the abstract.

Rubem Valentim, 1922-1991:

Rubem Valentim was a pioneering painter and sculptor whose work bridged modernism and Afro-Brazilian cultural traditions. He initially trained in dentistry, but left the profession by the late 1940s to pursue painting. His early work adopted the social-realism popular among local artists, but by the 1950s he began to develop his own distinct visual language. This geometric abstract style synthesised African symbols particularly those associated with Candomble (a religion rooted in West African beliefs) with modernist forms. His compositions featured vibrant colours and structured arrangements of symbols, evoking sacred Afro-Brazilian totems and spiritual iconography.  By the 1960s he had gained national and international recognition as a leading voice in Brazilian art.

Calling himself an 'artist-priest', Valentim infused his works with powerful cultural significance as a means of preserving and celebrating African identity in Brazil.  'The Afri-Amerindian-Northeastern-Brazilian iconology is alive... and we must drink in it with lucidity and great love'.

Construction, 1953, (oil on wood)

Untitled, 1956, (oil on canvas on wood)

Untitled, 1962, (oil on canvas)

Composition 1. 1955, (oil on canvas)

Emblematic Object, 1973, (acrylic on wood)

Untitled, 1962, (oil on canvas)

Composition, 1961, (oil on canvas)

Emblematic Sacral Altar Set, 1980, (wood)

Geraldo de Barros, 1923-1998:

Geraldo de Barros' unconventional approach to art led to the founding of Concretism, one of the most influential movements in mid-century Brazil.

In 1946 de Barros acquired his first camera, and soon focused his artistic energies on photography. His approach was highly experimental, employing techniques such as photomontage, multiple exposures and physical interventions on negatives to explore the medium's conceptual potential.

In  1952 he founded the Grupo Ruptura which championed geometric abstraction as a means of transforming society, overcoming limits of language, geography and nationality. These ideas became cornerstones of Brazil's Concrete Art movement, although de Barros distanced himself from the increasingly dogmatic stance within it. His progressive approach extended to furniture design, marrying technical innovations with a Concrete aesthetic.

Homage to Volpi, 1983,  (melamine laminate glued to chipboard and metal)

Arrangement of Three Similar Shapes within a Circle, 1953, (enamel over Kelmite on Eucatex board)

Lonely Cry, 1940, (watercolour and ink on paper)

Form-Object, 1952, (industrial paint on wooden panel)