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Tarsila de Aguiar do Amaral (; 1 September 1886 – 17 January 1973) was a Brazilian painter, draftswoman, and translator. She is considered one of the leading Latin American modernist artists, and is regarded as the painter who best achieved Brazilian aspirations for nationalistic expression in a modern style.Lucie-Smith, Edward. Latin American Art of the 20th Century. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2004: 42. As a member of the '' Grupo dos Cinco'', Tarsila is also considered a major influence in the modern art movement in
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, alongside
Anita Malfatti Anita Catarina Malfatti (December 2, 1889 – November 6, 1964) is heralded as the first Brazilian artist to introduce European and American forms of Modernism to Brazil. Her solo exhibition in Sao Paulo, from 1917–1918, was controversia ...
, Menotti Del Picchia, Mário de Andrade, and
Oswald de Andrade José Oswald de Souza Andrade (January 11, 1890 – October 22, 1954) was a Brazilian poet, novelist and cultural critic. He was born, spent most of his life and died in São Paulo. Andrade was one of the founders of Brazilian modernism and a m ...
. She was instrumental in the formation of the aesthetic movement, ''Antropofagia'' (1928–1929); in fact, Tarsila was the one with her celebrated painting, '' Abaporu'', who inspired Oswald de Andrade's famous ''
Manifesto Antropófago The Anthropophagic Manifesto (Portuguese: ') was published in 1928 by the Brazilian poet and polemicist Oswald de Andrade, a key figure in the cultural movement of Brazilian Modernism and contributor to the publication '' Revista de Antropofag ...
''.C. Jauregui "Antropofagia" https://www.academia.edu/6998258/Antropofagia_Cultural_cannibalism_


Early life and education

Tarsila do Amaral was born in Capivari, a small town in the countryside of the state of
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...
. She was born to a wealthy family of farmers and landowners who grew
coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of ...
, two years before the end of slavery in Brazil. At that time in Brazil women were not encouraged to seek higher education, especially if they came from affluent families. Despite coming from a well-to-do family, Tarsila had her family's support in obtaining higher education. As a teenager, Tarsila and her parents traveled to
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
, where Tarsila caught people's eyes by drawing and painting copies of the artwork she saw at her school's archives.Damian, Carol. Tarsila do Amaral: Art and Environmental Concerns of a Brazilian Modernist. Woman's Art Journal 20.1 (1999): 3-7. Tarsila attended school in Barcelona, and later trained privately in her hometown under painter Pedro Alexandrino Borges (1864-1942). She also attended the
Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number ...
in Paris and studied with other prominent artists (1920-1923).


Career

Beginning in 1916, Tarsila do Amaral studied painting in São Paulo. Later she studied drawing and painting with the academic painter Pedro Alexandrino. These were all respected but conservative teachers. Because Brazil lacked a public art museum or significant commercial gallery until after World War II, the Brazilian art world was aesthetically conservative and exposure to international trends was limited. It is believed that around this time (1913-1920) Amaral composed a song in
A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats and no sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: : Changes ...
for voice and piano named "Rondo D'Amour". The song remained unknown until November 2021, when its
sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed books or pamphlets in English, ...
was discovered at her grandniece's house in
Campinas Campinas (, ''Plains'' or ''Meadows'') is a Brazilian municipality in São Paulo State, part of the country's Southeast Region. According to the 2020 estimate, the city's population is 1,213,792, making it the fourteenth most populous Brazilian ...
. On 25 January 2022, the song was recorded at the theater of the School of Music of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte by three professors of the institution: pianist Durval Cesetti,
soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261  Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880& ...
Elke Riedel and
tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...
Kaio Morais.


Brazilian modernism

Returning to São Paulo from Paris in 1922, Tarsila was exposed to many things after meeting
Anita Malfatti Anita Catarina Malfatti (December 2, 1889 – November 6, 1964) is heralded as the first Brazilian artist to introduce European and American forms of Modernism to Brazil. Her solo exhibition in Sao Paulo, from 1917–1918, was controversia ...
,
Oswald de Andrade José Oswald de Souza Andrade (January 11, 1890 – October 22, 1954) was a Brazilian poet, novelist and cultural critic. He was born, spent most of his life and died in São Paulo. Andrade was one of the founders of Brazilian modernism and a m ...
, Mário de Andrade, and Menotti Del Picchia. These fellow artists formed a group that was named the Grupo dos Cinco. Prior to her arrival in São Paulo from Europe, the group had organized the Semana de Arte Moderna ("Modern Art Week") during the week of February 11–18, 1922. The event was pivotal in the development of modernism in Brazil. The participants were interested in changing the conservative artistic establishment in Brazil by encouraging a distinctive mode of modern art. Tarsila was asked to join the movement and together they became the Grupo dos Cinco, which sought to promote
Brazilian culture The culture of Brazil is primarily Western, being derived from Portuguese culture, as well as the cultural and ethnic mixing that occurred between the Indigenous peoples, Portuguese colonizers and Africans. In the late 19th and early 20th centu ...
, the use of styles that were not specifically European, and the inclusion of things that were indigenous to Brazil. During a brief return to Paris in 1929, Tarsila was exposed to
Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...
,
Futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects suc ...
, and
Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it ra ...
while studying with
André Lhote André Lhote (5 July 1885 – 24 January 1962) was a French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life. He was also active and influential as a teacher and writer on art. Early life and education Lhote was born ...
,
Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as " tubism") which he gradually modified into a more figurative, p ...
, and
Albert Gleizes Albert Gleizes (; 8 December 1881 – 23 June 1953) was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a self-proclaimed founder of Cubism and an influence on the School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on ...
. European artists in general had developed a great interest in African and primitive cultures for inspiration. This led Tarsila to utilize her own country's indigenous forms while incorporating the modern styles she had studied. While in Paris at this time, she painted one of her most famous works, ''A Negra'' (1923). The principal subject matter of the painting is a large figure of a black woman with a single prominent breast. Tarsila stylized the figure and flattened the space, filling in the background with geometric forms. Excited about her newly developed style and feeling ever more nationalistic, she wrote to her family in April 1923: "I feel myself ever more Brazilian. I want to be the painter of my country. How grateful I am for having spent all my childhood on the farm. The memories of these times have become precious for me. I want, in art, to be the little girl from São Bernardo, playing with straw dolls, like in the last picture I am working on…. Don't think that this tendency is viewed negatively here. On the contrary. What they want here is that each one brings the contribution of their own country. This explains the success of the Russian ballet, Japanese graphics and black music. Paris had had enough of Parisian art."


Pau-Brasil period

Oswald de Andrade José Oswald de Souza Andrade (January 11, 1890 – October 22, 1954) was a Brazilian poet, novelist and cultural critic. He was born, spent most of his life and died in São Paulo. Andrade was one of the founders of Brazilian modernism and a m ...
, who had become her traveling companion, accompanied her throughout Europe. Upon returning to Brazil at the end of 1923, Tarsila and Andrade then traveled throughout Brazil to explore the variety of indigenous culture, and to find inspiration for their nationalistic art. During this period, Tarsila made drawings of the various places they visited which became the basis for many of her upcoming paintings. She also illustrated the poetry that Andrade wrote during their travels, including his pivotal book of poems entitled ''Pau Brasil'', published in 1924. In the manifesto of the same name, Andrade emphasized that Brazilian culture was a product of importing European culture and called artists to create works that were uniquely Brazilian in order to "export" Brazilian culture, much like the wood of the Brazil tree had become an important export to the rest of the world. In addition, he challenged artists to use a modernist approach in their art, a goal they had strived for during the Semana de Arte Moderna in São Paulo. During this time, Tarsila's colors became more vibrant. In fact, she wrote that she had found the "colors I had adored as a child. I was later taught they were ugly and unsophisticated."Lucie-Smith, Edward. Latin American Art of the 20th Century. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2004: 44. Her initial painting from this period was ''E.C.F.B.(Estrada de Ferro Central do Brasil)'', (1924). Furthermore, at the time, she had an interest in industrialization and its impact on society.


Antropofagia period

In 1926, Tarsila married Andrade and they continued to travel throughout Europe and the Middle East. In Paris, in 1926, she had her first solo exhibition at the Galerie Percier. The paintings shown at the exhibition included ''São Paulo'' (1924), ''A Negra'' (1923), ''Lagoa Santa'' (1925), and ''Morro de Favela'' (1924). Her works were praised and called "exotic", "original", "naïve", and "cerebral", and her use of bright colors and tropical images was commented on.Damian, Carol. "Tarsila do Amaral: Art and Environmental Concerns of a Brazilian Modernist". ''Woman's Art Journal'' 20.1 (1999): 5. While in Paris, she was exposed to surrealism and after returning to Brazil, Tarsila began a new period of painting where she departed from urban landscapes and scenery, and began incorporating surrealist style into her nationalistic art. This shift also coincided with a larger artistic movement in São Paulo and other parts of Brazil which focused on celebrating Brazil as the country of the big snake. Cities also impacted the way that her art was formed. Including vertical representations of the buildings in large cities, like São Paulo, her art became iconic. These pieces of art that she made could include small aspects of the city, like a gas pump, or large elements like buildings. Her mix of detail was important because those details made up the city. Building on the ideas of the earlier Pau-Brasil movement, artists strove to appropriate European styles and influences in order to develop modes and techniques that were uniquely theirs and Brazilian. This Pau-Brasil movement was a concept that was modernistic of Brazil. Tarsila's first painting during this period was '' Abaporu'' (1928), which had been given as an untitled painting to Andrade for his birthday. The subject is a large stylized human figure with enormous feet sitting on the ground next to a cactus with a lemon-slice sun in the background. Andrade selected the eventual title, ''Abaporu'', which is an Indian term for "man eats", in collaboration with the poet Raul Bopp. This was related to the then current ideas regarding the melding of European style and influences. Soon after, Andrade wrote his ''Anthropophagite Manifesto'', which literally called Brazilians to devour European styles, ridding themselves of all direct influences, and to create their own style and culture. Colonialism played a role in her work; Tarsila incorporated this concept into her art. Instead of being devoured by Europe, they would devour Europe themselves. Andrade used ''Abaporu'' for the cover of the manifesto as a representation of his ideals. The following year the manifesto's influence continued, Tarsila painted ''Antropofagia'' (1929), which featured the ''Abaporu'' figure together with the female figure from ''A Negra'' from 1923, as well as the Brazilian banana leaf, cactus, and again the lemon-slice sun. In 1929, Tarsila had her first solo exhibition in Brazil at the Palace Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, and it was followed by another at the Salon Gloria in São Paulo. In 1930, she was featured in exhibitions in New York and Paris. Unfortunately, 1930 also saw the end of Tarsila and Andrade's marriage. This brought an end to their collaboration.


Later career and death

In 1931, Tarsila traveled to the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
. While there, she had exhibitions of her works in
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
at the Museum of Occidental Art, and she traveled to various other cities and museums. The poverty and plight of the
Russian people , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...
had a great effect on her, as seen in her painting ''Workers (Operarios)'' (1933). Upon her return to Brazil in 1932, she became involved in the São Paulo Constitutional Revolt against the dictatorship in Brazil, led by
Getúlio Vargas Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...
. Along with others who were seen as leftist, she was imprisoned for a month because her travels made her appear to be a communist sympathizer. The remainder of her career she focused on social themes. Representative of this period is the painting ''Segundo Class'' (1931), which has impoverished Russian men, women and children as the subject matter. She also began writing a weekly arts and culture column for the ''Diario de São Paulo'', which continued until 1952. In 1938, Tarsila finally settled permanently in São Paulo, where she spent the remainder of her career painting Brazilian people and landscapes. In 1950, she had an exhibition at Museum of Modern Art, São Paulo, where a reviewer called her "the most Brazilian of painters here, who represents the sun, birds, and youthful spirits of our developing country, as simple as the elements of our land and nature…". She died in
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...
in 1973. Tarsila's life is a mark of the warm Brazilian character and an expression of it tropical exuberance."Damian, Carol. "Tarsila do Amaral: Art and Environmental Concerns of a Brazilian Modernist". ''Woman's Art Journal'' 20.1 (1999): 7.


Legacy

Besides the 230 paintings, hundreds of drawings, illustrations, prints, murals, and five sculptures, Tarsila's legacy is her effect on the direction of Latin American art. Tarsila moved modernism forward in Latin America, and developed a style unique to Brazil. Following her example, other Latin American artists were influenced to begin utilizing indigenous Brazilian subject matter, and developing their own style. The Amaral Crater on Mercury is named after her. In 2018
MoMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; ...
opened a solo exhibition of her work, the eighth retrospective on Latin America artists following exhibitions on
Diego Rivera Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez, known as Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957), was a prominent Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the ...
, Cândido Portinari,
Roberto Matta Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren (; November 11, 1911 – November 23, 2002), better known as Roberto Matta, was one of Chile's best-known painters and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art. Bio ...
, Manuel Álvarez Bravo,
Armando Reverón Armando Reverón (May 10, 1889 – September 17, 1954) was a Venezuelan painter and sculptor, precursor of Arte Povera and considered one of the most important of the 20th century in Latin America. While his mental health deteriorated throughout ...
,
José Clemente Orozco José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Si ...
and
Joaquín Torres García Joaquín or Joaquin is a male given name, the Spanish version of Joachim. Given name * Joaquín (footballer, born 1956), Spanish football midfielder * Joaquín (footballer, born 1981), Spanish football winger * Joaquín (footballer, born 1982 ...
. In August 2022 several of her paintings were recovered in Brazil from criminals who had gained them from an art dealer and collector's widow by deception and force. This included ''Sol poente,'' ''O sono'' and ''Pont-neuf''.


Major works

* ''An Angler'', 1920s, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia * '
A Negra
'''",'' 1923, * ''Cuca'', 1924, Museum of Grenoble, France * ''Landscape with Bull'', 1925, Private Collector * ''O Ovo'', 1928, Gilberto Chateaubriand, Rio de Janeiro * '' Abaporu'', 1928, Eduardo Constantini, MALBA,
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
* ''Lake'', 1928, Private Collection, Rio de Janeiro * ''Antropofagia'', 1929, Paulina Nemirovsky, Nemirovsky Foundation, San Pablo * ''Sol poente'', 1929, Private Collection, São Paulo * ''Segunda Classe'', 1933, Private Collection, São Paulo * ''Retrato de Vera Vicente Azevedo'', 1937, Museu de Arte Brasileira, São Paulo * ''Purple Landscape with 3 Houses and Mountains'', 1969–72, James Lisboa Escritorio de Arte, São Paulo


Exhibitions

* 1922 - Salon de la Société des Artistes Français in Paris (group) * 1926 - Galerie Percier, Paris (solo) * 1928 - Galerie Percier, Paris (solo) * 1929 - Palace Hotel, Rio de Janeiro (solo) * 1929 - Salon Gloria, São Paulo (solo) * 1930 - New York (group) * 1930 - Paris (group) * 1931 - Museum of Occidental Art, Moscow * 1933 - I Salon Paulista de Bellas Artes, São Paulo (group) * 1951 - I Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo (group) * 1963 - VII Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo (group) * 1963 - XXXII Venice Bienalle, Venice (group) * 2005 - ''Woman: Metamorphosis of Modernity'', Fundacion Joan Miró, Barcelona (group) * 2005 - ''Brazil: Body Nostalgia'', The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan (group) * 2006 - ''Salão de 31: Diferenças em processo'', National Museum of Fine Arts, Rio de Janeiro (group) * 2006 - ''Brazilian Modern Drawing: 1917-1950'', Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro (group) * 2006 - ''Ciccillo'', Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo, São Paulo (group) * 2007 - ''A Century of Brazilian Art: Collection of Gilbert Chateaubriand'', Museum Oscar Niemeyer, Curitiba (group) * 2009 - ''Tarsila do Amaral'', Fundación Juan March, Madrid * 2017 - ''Tarsila do Amaral: Inventing Modern Art in Brazil'', Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago (solo) * 2018 - ''Brasil: Body & Soul'', The Guggenheim, New York (group) * 2018 - ''Tarsila do Amaral: Inventing Modern Art in Brazil'', Museum of Modern Art, New York (solo) * 2019 - ''Tarsila Popular'', São Paulo Museum of Art, São Paulo (solo)


References


Sources and further reading

* Congdon, K. G., & Hallmark, K. K. (2002). ''Artists from Latin American cultures: a biographical dictionary''. Westport, Connecticut, Greenwood Press. * Lucie-Smith, Edward. ''Latin American Art of the 20th Century''. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2004. * Damian, Carol. ''Tarsila do Amaral: Art and Environmental Concerns of a Brazilian Modernist''. ''Woman's Art Journal'' 20.1 (1999): 3-7. * Barnitz, Jaqueline. ''Twentieth-Century Art of Latin America''. China: University of Texas Press, 2006: 57. * Gotlib, Nadia Batella. ''Tarsila do Amaral: a Modernista''. São Paulo: Editora SENAC, 2000. * Pontual, Roberto. ''Tarsila''. ''Groves Dictionary of Art''. Ed. Jane Turner. New York: Macmillan, 1996. * Amaral, Aracy and Kim Mrazek Hastings. ''Stages in the Formation of Brazil's Cultural Profile''. ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. 21 (1995): 8-25. * Fundación Juan March. ''Tarsila do Amaral'' (Catalogue: published in English and Spanish) Madrid: Fundación Juan March (2009), 295 pp. English * D'Alessandro, Stephanie and
Luis Pérez-Oramas Luis Pérez-Oramas (August 7, 1960 in Caracas) is a Venezuelan/American poet, art historian and curator. He is the author of eleven poetry books, seven recollections of essays, and numerous art exhibition catalogs. He has contributed as Op-Ed author ...
. '' Tarsila do Amaral: Inventing Modern Art in Brazil''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017. * Scott, Andrea. ''Introducing New York to the First Brazilian Modernist''. The New Yorker, 2018. * Cardoso, Rafael. ''The Problem of Race in Brazilian Painting, c. 1850-1920''. Art History, 2015: 18–20. * Ebony, David. ''Brazil's First Art Cannibal: Tarsila Do Amaral''. Yale University Press Blog, 2017. * Jackson, Kenneth David. ''Three Glad Races: Primitivism and Ethnicity in Brazilian Modernist Literature''. Modernism/modernity 1, (1994): 89–112. * ''Latin American Women Artists 1915–1995''. Films Media Group, 2003.


External links


Official website

Official Catalogue Raisonné (English/Portuguese)

Links to various paintings

Search for list of exhibitions

Tarsila do Amaral, The Museum of Modern Art

MoMA Audio: Tarsila do Amaral: Inventing Modern Art in Brazil

New to MoMA: Tarsila do Amaral’s A Lua (The Moon)
interview with
Ann Temkin Ann Temkin (born December 26, 1959) is an American art curator, and currently the Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Early life and education Temkin was born in Torri ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amaral, Tarsila Do 1886 births 1973 deaths People from Capivari Brazilian people of Portuguese descent Modern painters Brazilian women painters 20th-century Brazilian women artists Académie Julian alumni Brazilian expatriates in France 20th-century Brazilian painters