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| Modern Art Week (São Paulo) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Modern Art Week (São Paulo) |
| Native name | Semana de Arte Moderna |
| Caption | Poster for the Semana de Arte Moderna, 1922 |
| Location | São Paulo |
| Date | 11–18 February 1922 |
| Participants | Mário de Andrade, Oswald de Andrade, Tarsila do Amaral, Anita Malfatti, Heitor Villa-Lobos |
| Genre | Modernist art, literature, music, visual arts |
Modern Art Week (São Paulo) The Semana de Arte Moderna was a seminal cultural festival held in São Paulo in February 1922 that consolidated a Brazilian avant-garde by bringing together writers, painters, musicians, and intellectuals such as Mário de Andrade, Oswald de Andrade, Tarsila do Amaral, Anita Malfatti, and Heitor Villa-Lobos. Influenced by European movements like Futurism, Cubism, Expressionism, Dada, and Surrealism, and reacting to local dynamics involving figures like Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Alberto Giacometti, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, and Henri Matisse, the event catalyzed debates among institutions such as Museu Paulista, Academia Nacional de Belas Artes, Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros, Universidade de São Paulo, and patrons including Assis Chateaubriand. The week took place at the Teatro Municipal (São Paulo), attracting participants connected to networks spanning Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, Bahia, Minas Gerais, and international scenes involving Paris, New York City, Lisbon, Madrid, Milan, and Berlin.
The festival emerged from a milieu shaped by intellectuals like Menotti Del Picchia, Plínio Salgado, Graça Aranha, Oswald de Andrade (Brazilian writer), Mário de Andrade (writer), and artists such as Anita Malfatti (painter), Tarsila do Amaral (painter), and musicians like Heitor Villa-Lobos (composer), interacting with institutions including Sociedade de Medicina e Cirurgia de São Paulo, Academia Paulista de Letras, Liceu de Artes e Ofícios de São Paulo, and Escola de Belas Artes (Rio de Janeiro). International currents conveyed by periodicals such as Revista de Antropofagia and contacts with galleries like Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, Galleria d'Arte Moderna (Milan), Galerie Der Sturm, and collectors such as Albert Barnes shaped debates alongside earlier exhibitions by Riposo, Associação Comercial de São Paulo, and private salons influenced by Paul Cézanne, Gustave Moreau, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, and Giorgio de Chirico.
Programs combined lectures, readings, concerts, and exhibitions at venues including Teatro Municipal (São Paulo), Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, and salons hosted by Casa das Rosas and private residences of patrons like Elsie Houston and Mário de Andrade (collector). The schedule featured presentations of manifestos by figures such as Oswald de Andrade (manifesto), dramatic readings connected to Henrique Gonçalves de Mesquita, musical premières by Heitor Villa-Lobos (work), and visual displays invoking techniques linked to Cubism (art movement), Futurism (art movement), Expressionism (art movement), Constructivism, and Regionalism (art movement). Workshops echoed pedagogies from Bauhaus, Académie Julian, Académie Colarossi, and École des Beaux-Arts, while discussions referenced contemporary exhibitions at Salon d'Automne, Armory Show, Biennale di Venezia, and programming models of Teatro Experimental do Negro.
Prominent contributors included writers Mário de Andrade, Oswald de Andrade, Manuel Bandeira, Graça Aranha, Menotti Del Picchia, Álvaro de Campos, Cruz e Souza, and Ronald de Carvalho; visual artists such as Tarsila do Amaral, Anita Malfatti, Di Cavalcanti, Lasar Segall, Bruno Lechowski, Victor Brecheret, Emiliano Di Cavalcanti (alternate), Piratininga School affiliates; and musicians including Heitor Villa-Lobos, Benedito Lacerda, Alberto Nepomuceno, Francisco Mignone, and singers linked to Carlos Gomes. Critics and organizers featured Lívio Abramo, Osvaldo de Camargo, Mário de Andrade (organizer), Guilherme de Almeida, Plínio Salgado (participant), Milton de Lemos, Tobias Barreto, and art dealers connected to Galeria Prestes Maia.
Critical responses ranged from enthusiastic endorsement by periodicals like Klaxon (magazine), Revista de Antropofagia (journal), Bahia (newspaper), and O Estado de S. Paulo to hostile rebuttals in outlets associated with Gazeta de Notícias, Correiow da Manhã, and conservative circles around Academia Nacional de Belas Artes and Conselho Estadual de Educação. The event influenced aesthetic debates involving Modernisme (Belgian movement), Vorticism, Neo-Impressionism, Symbolism, and Primitivism, prompting reassessments in collections at institutions such as Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, and archives held by Instituto Moreira Salles.
The festival catalyzed movements including Antropofagia (cultural movement), Concrete poetry, Tropicália, Neoconcretismo, Poesia concreta, and regional schools in Minas Gerais, Bahia (state), and Pernambuco. Its legacy informed curricula at Universidade de São Paulo, theory at Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas, and exhibitions at Bienal de São Paulo, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Casa-Museu Ema Klabin, Fundação Getulio Vargas collections, and influenced artists who later worked with Galeria Verde and movements linked to Cinema Novo, Música Popular Brasileira, and the theatrical experiments of Oswald de Andrade (playwright) collaborators.
Controversies involved critiques by conservative intellectuals such as Mário de Andrade (critic), Olavo Bilac, Sérgio Milliet, and political figures including Artur Bernardes and Epitácio Pessoa aligned press responses, disputes over nationalism versus cosmopolitanism debated with references to Getúlio Vargas era cultural policy, accusations of elitism tied to collectors like Assis Chateaubriand, and polemics over alleged plagiarism invoking names like Pablo Picasso and Giorgio de Chirico. Debates extended into legal and institutional arenas involving Academia Brasileira de Letras, Ministério da Educação e Saúde Pública, and cultural funding arguments involving IPHAN and later reinterpretations under Military dictatorship in Brazil cultural censorship.