A textbook guide to Brazilian modernism
You won’t find the sunny Brazil of clichés at this Royal Academy show, but you will find something you have not seen before.
Installation view of the ‘Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism' exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (23 January - 21 April 2025). Photo © Royal Academy of Arts, London / David Parry. ©️ Tarsila do Amaral S/A
Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism is a once-in-a-generation exhibition bringing ten of Brazil’s most exciting artists together under one roof.
The Royal Academy has chosen to keep things simple, selecting artists who worked in Brazil during the 1910-1970s and giving each of them a room or dedicated space. It’s a little bit like moving through a textbook, but considering how little these artists are known in the UK, that’s no bad thing.
Installation view of the ‘Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism' exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (23 January - 21 April 2025), showing Djanira, Three Orishas, 1966, Collection of the Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo. Photo © Royal Academy of Arts, London / David Parry. © Instituto Pintora Djanira
The exhibition nevertheless tells a story: a story of artists’ lives – some immigrants themselves, others descendants of immigrants, of colonisers and colonised, of slaves. This is the story of a country that, despite its ambivalence, had and continues to have a history closely entwined with Europe.
The show begins with a room of works that have been exhibited in this same building previously – 81 years ago. The 1944 Exhibition of Modern Brazilian Paintings raised funds for the war effort and underlined Brazil’s position as the only Allied South American country to send soldiers to fight in Europe.
Lasar Segall, Lucy with Flower, 1939-42, Oil on canvas, National Galleries of Scotland. Presented by the British Council in 1945, in recognition of collaboration in a series of exhibitions arranged during the 1939-1945 War. Photo by AT.
Lasar Segall’s Lucy with Flower (1939-42) meets your eye as you enter the show. She is decidedly sombre and devoid of colour: a war-time Mona Lisa. She was painted by Segall when he was already living in Brazil. Born in Vilnius, Lithuania, the artist then lived in Germany before settling in the South American country. Lucy with Flower is now in the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland but the works in the next room have travelled from further away.
Installation view of the ‘Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism' exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (23 January - 21 April 2025). Photo © Royal Academy of Arts, London / David Parry
Segall’s earlier works – from the 1920s, when he first came to Brazil – are full of bright colours and sharply defined shapes. In Boy with Geckos (1924), the leaves take most of the canvas surface and seem to battle for space in it, while the Boy and the geckos of the title occupy the bottom right corner, seemingly unfazed by the impeding foliage. In Portrait of Mário de Andrade (1927) the sitter’s exaggerated head is nestled against a Mondrian-esque background. It seems for Segall the abstraction, to which his art would move to in later years, was rooted both in the European art tradition and in Brazil’s natural landscapes.
Tarsila do Amaral, Second Class, 1933, Oil on canvas, Fanny Feffer Private Collection. Photo by AT
At the heart of the show are the works of Tarsila do Amaral – the leading female artist of Brazilian Modernism. You can see them on the promotional posters, inviting you with their promise of warm climes. They joyfully combine simplified shapes, colourful landscapes, lush greenery. Tarsila (as she signed her works) was an active member of several artistic groups – from the Group of Five in the 1920s to the Sociedade Pró-Arte Moderna in the 1930s. Her work Second Class (1933) portrays a contrasting view to her otherwise jovial depictions of Brazil. A barefoot family with bleak facial expressions and a train in the background seems like a blend of direct social commentary and a chilly premonition of the gruesomeness of the Second World War.
Installation view of the ‘Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism' exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (23 January - 21 April 2025), showing Djanira, Flying a Kite, 1950, Banco Itaú Collection. Photo © Royal Academy of Arts, London / David Parry. © Instituto Pintora Djanira.
A very different, post war ‘family’ or group of people are seen sending up a kite in Djanira de Motta e Silva’s Kite Flying (1950). Both the flat blocks in the background and the kite at the centre of the painting are reminiscent of abstract geometric art. The people around share simplified faces turned towards the central attraction in somewhat convoluted ways. Yet the overall feeling is that of excitement and hope. Largely self-taught, Djanira had both indigenous and European ancestry and established a boarding house for intellectuals in Rio de Janeiro in 1939. Through her travels both around Brazil and abroad to the United States, she brought to her art a combination of interest in her own heritage and knowledge of various contemporary art trends. She dismissed some remarks about the naivety of her art saying, ‘I might be naïve, but my painting is not.’
Alfredo Volpi, Façade, 1963. Tempera on canvas. Collection of Airton Queiroz, Fortaleza, Ceará. Photo by AT.
All artists here bring something distinctive to the show. Even though some of them were in artistic groups together, no two can be confused. Densely painted landscapes by Anita Malfatti are worlds away from monumental god-like nudes of Vincente do Rego Monteiro. The intricate and complex abstractions of Rubem Valentim are altogether unlike Alfredo Volpi’s seemingly simple geometric facades with countless windows and flashes of festival flags. These artists are united by the country that they were born in or called home and their common interest in making modern art.
Installation view of the ‘Brasil! Brasil! The Birth of Modernism' exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, London (23 January - 21 April 2025), showing Vicente do Rego Monteiro, Archer, 1925, Private collection, São Paulo, Brazil. Photo © Royal Academy of Arts, London / David Parry. © Vicente do Rego Monteiro
These may not be artists that we know well. And we usually like what we know. This is true of movie stars and of art in similar measure. A theatre show with Cate Blanchett sells out just as fast as an exhibition of Van Gogh’s paintings. It is to do with names and brands, but most crucially with images. We like seeing what we have already seen, just to confirm to ourselves that we have a great taste. Even if we don’t admit it, we know it. And so do theatre and museum directors. This is why ‘blockbusters’ is a word used to describe both popular movies and sell-out exhibitions.
This is why early this year at the Royal Academy you could go see an exhibition of works by Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael and in the summer, you will be able to catch Kiefer / Van Gogh. These exhibitions are marvellous, full of brilliant art and help institutions such as the Royal Academy (which gets no government funding) to stay afloat. In-between these shows, the gallery can stage something a little more unique. Brasil! Brasil! is one of these special exhibitions that should not be missed – after all, the last time Britain had a show dedicated to Brazilian art was 81 years ago.