Brazilian Avant-Garde

Life is art, isn' t it? Welcome to Art Tropicalia, a blog wholeheartedly committed to Brazil in all its splendor! Free of bad stereotypes and non-related "brazilian" misnames such as waxing. Relax and enjoy our cultural melting pot.

[art-tropicalia]

 Bom Jesus de Matosinhos Sanctuary, Congonhas - MG

Ceiling Painting of the Main Chapel Bernardo Pires da Silva (active in the 18th century) Oil on plaster, 1773–1774

The composition portrays the Burial of Jesus, set within a central medallion framed by rocaille motifs and allegorical figures seated upon a balustrade that illusionistically simulates real architecture.

The artist adopts the “reframed painting” approach, a hallmark of the Portuguese ceiling painting tradition, where pictorial and architectural elements merge to create a dynamic illusion of depth and movement.

[art-tropicalia]

Rescue of the Portuguese Royal Navy ship Vasco da Gama by the Brazilian Imperial Navy frigate Dom Afonso in Guanabara Bay, in 1849

Oil on canvas by Eduardo Martino, 1875

[toyastales]

Art Deco facade of the Roman god Mercury - Former Court building in São Paulo, Brazil.

Built in 1937

[art-tropicalia]

 Henry Chamberlain (1796-1844) 

oil on canvas, 1819.

Views and costumes of the city and neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro.

[art-tropicalia]

By Silvana Mendes.

A young artist from Maranhão, Silvana uses digital collage, street poster art, and effective photography as artistic media to adrress issues surrounding the bodies and identities of black communities.

[art-tropicalia]

São Marcelo Fort, Bahia, Brazil

"Also known as Forte de Nossa Senhora do Pópulo e São Marcelo or Forte do Mar, it is located in small bit of land off the coast in the Baía de Todos os Santos. Standing on a small bank of reefs about 300 metres (980 ft) from the coast, it is one of two forts separated by water from land in Brazil. It is the only cylindrical fort in the country. Its design follows those of Castel Sant'Angelo in Italy and São Lourenço do Bugio Fort in Portugal.

The fort was designed and construction started in 1608 under Francisco Frias Mosque. The first documentary evidence of the fort is in a city plan of Salvador title Planta da Cidade do Salvador, na Baía de Todos os Santos, which dates to 1616. The fort was completed in 1623 during the rule of Governor General Diogo de Mendonça Furtado; it was constructed entirely of wood with 19 artillery pieces of various calibers. The fort was a primary target of the Dutch in 1624 during the Capture of Bahia. It was the first space in Bahia occupied by the Dutch, who used it as a base to fire on the city."

[art-tropicalia]

Church and College of Saint Alexander in Belém, Brazil, inaugurated in 1719

[art-tropicalia]

"The Argentine Hector Carybé (1911-1997) was a visual artist who also made Bahia his home. Together with Pierre Verger, he had a friendship in which the greatest bond was the love for Brazil and more specifically the Afro-Brazilian culture. “He was enchanted by the daily life in Bahian markets, fishing and horseback riding, which would characterize the faceless people and displaced bodies he painted”."

[art-tropicalia]

Gameliform pot with an outward-flaring rim and flat base. The exterior of the body is decorated with geometric motifs, including “X”-shaped figures, painted in red. Object used for cooking and serving food.

Raw Material: Clay

Manufacturing Technique: Coiling

People: Karajá

Self-identification: Iny

State of Origin: Tocantins

[art-tropicalia]

PRINT No. 207 - 1918:

a) Cavalry Soldier, Campaign Dress b) Corporal, Campaign Dress c) Officer Medical Mission to Europe, Overseas Dress during the First World War d) Engineer Captain, khaki flannel uniform e) Offier, Campaign Dress

Brazil was the only South American country to officially join the conflict on the side of the Triple Entente (United Kingdom, France, Russia, later the United States).

By José Washt Rodrigues.

[art-tropicalia]

“Negroes fighting, Brazils.”

By English painter Augustus Earle, who lived in Rio de Janeiro from 1820-1824. The men’s body movements are of Capoeira, a martial art practiced among Afro-Brazilians to this day. Women and children observe, and a white police officer approaches the scene. Original in National Library of Australia, Canberra.

Once classified as a disorderly practice and subject to police repression, capoeira was repressed and persecuted, but not nationally outlawed under the Empire. Considered a vagrant practice, it was finally banned by the Penal Code in the First Republic.

[art-tropicalia]

The photograph shows a poster for the silent film São Paulo, A Symphonia da Metropole (1929), which contained shots of the newly booming city, including cars and skyscrapers.

[art-tropicalia]

“Cinco Moças de Guaratingeutá” [Five Girls from Guaratinguetá] by Emiliano di Cavalcanti (1930)

[art-tropicalia]

A Negra (1923)

The painting “A Negra” (1923) was part of the first solo exhibition by Tarsila do Amaral. Her work was called “exotic,” “original,” “cerebral,” and “naïve” by various critics.

[art-tropicalia]

Burial urn, Marajoara culture. American Museum of Natural History

"The Marajoara or Marajó culture was an ancient pre-Columbian era culture that flourished on Marajó island at the mouth of the Amazon River in northern Brazil. In a survey, Charles C. Mann suggests the culture appeared to flourish between 800 AD and 1400 AD, based on archeological studies. Researchers have documented that there was human activity at these sites as early as 1000 BC. The culture seems to have persisted into the colonial era."

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Hundreds of artworks by mainly Black Brazilian artists are returning home

Pieces from sculptures to costumes are donated to Bahia after being in US and Canada’s museums for 30 years

Amid a global movement to return artworks to their countries of origin, about 750 pieces by predominantly Black Brazilian artists are coming home after being exhibited in museums across the United States and Canada.

The sculptures, paintings, prints, religious objects, festival costumes, toys and poetry booklets have been outside Brazil for more than 30 years and are now being donated to a museum in the country’s Blackest state, Bahia.

About 80% of the region’s population is of African descent – compared with a national average at 55% – and Bahia is the centre of Afro-Brazilian culture, with its cuisine, religiosity and art deeply influenced by Yoruba customs.

The works that will be repatriated – called “popular art” as they were created by self-taught artists – left Brazil after a 1992 visit to Bahia’s capital, Salvador, by the US art historian Marion Jackson and artist Barbara Cervenka.

Continue reading.

[sonicandvisualsurprises]

1908

Francisca Edwiges Neves Gonzaga, better known as Chiquinha Gonzaga (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʃiˈkiɲɐ ɡõˈzaɡɐ]; October 17, 1847 – February 28, 1935) was a Brazilian composer, pianist and the first woman conductor in Brazil.

Chiquinha Gonzaga was the first pianist of "choro" and author of the first carnival march, "Ó Abre Alas" (1899). Her plays and operettas, such as Forrobodó and Jurití, were a great success with the public because they used elements of Brazilian popular culture of the time.

Source : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiquinha_Gonzaga